Trapless vft

[Martaemus]

Lolita (my first VFT) has had several healthy traps, with a few constantly dying and a few constantly growing ever since I got her about three months ago. However, over the past three weeks, all her traps died and the few new growths don't have traps, but one has grown into a large green leaf. The soil is always moist and her pot sits in a tray always full of distilled water in front of a window with open shades. Can anyone explain what may have gone wrong and what I could do to nurse her back to health?

 

[Mannannan]

Did you let it bloom? Dunno if what you describe can happen, but flowering can take a serious toll on a vft.

/Quensel

 

[Starman]

Sorry mannannan, but I disagree. Flowering stops new growth for about 2-3 weeks, but cant kill the plant. Something may be attacking your plant underneeth the soil before the traps come up. So it might be worth uprrooting your plant. I could be wrong though.

 

[God's garden]

Well I have had traps do this to me. In fact I had three that I thought were goners, but new leaves began to come up. The first 3 or 4 leaves grew but the traps blackened before they developed. I have a hypothsis on this. I believe that with all the traps dying off, and the plant starting over there is not enough leaves to produce the photosynthetic energy the plant need to produce fully grown traps. In time it is my experience that newly emerging leaves will begin to produce traps once there are 4 to 5 failed traps catching rays.

 

[jhaluska]

I had something simliar happen years ago in Texas, I'm assuming the plant was too hot. Make sure it isn't baking.

 

[pond boy]

Quote[/b] (Starman @ June 03 2004,6:00)]Sorry mannannan, but I disagree. Flowering stops new growth for about 2-3 weeks, but cant kill the plant. Something may be attacking your plant underneeth the soil before the traps come up. So it might be worth uprrooting your plant. I could be wrong though.

actualy they can die!

I had 5 in a large pot of peat\perlite about 5 years ago and they lived well for 2 years(although they remained rather small) untill they came out of dormancy one year and flowered and they all died

 

[Starman]

I have heard of a strange condition of the flower stalk on a VFT. Apparently, the stalk can send out root like things that go onto a trap at its source (ryzome), and then the flower stalk kills the traps!

 

[jimscott]

You should see the flowering VFT's in local nurseries. A few traps, mostly black, no air circulation, light starved - and all goners soon thereafter.

 

[FlytrapGurl]

Hmm... I don't know what to tell you... this just now happened with me... a leaf on one of my VFTs came up perfectly healthy, but.. trapless. I'm confused too.. and then on another one, a tall spring leaf came up (they're all coming up spring leaves now) and the trap was mutated.. part of it didn't develop, and so it's almost a half-trap, and it's sorta crunched up, and the cilia are definitely going in a crooked, broken line, definitely not in a neat row, and the trap isn't functional; it has no trigger hairs..

 

[Starman]

Abot the deformed trap, you could have an aphid problem. They will attack developing leaves, but they wont hang around when the trap nearly develops.
Keep that in mind, Flytrapgurl.