What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

HELP WITH VFT b4 it dies!

Hello all,

I had fed my VFT the night b4 yesterday it was a bug barly reaching 1/2 of the trap fit in perfectly only an attena of the bug was barly sticking out... today i went to go check up on it cuz its a fairly new plant and almost died a while back there are 2 really healthy looking traps (1 closed with the bug) and 1 half way open jus startred opening yesterday plus i remember reading somewhere feeding ur plant will help it grow faster (bugs only ofcourse)

so anyways i've been watchin my VFT and i saw the trap i fed even b4 it opened like i saw it open it finally opened then i left it open for a FULL day u know letting tha trap mature up a bit so lets say its been like 1 FULL day right after it has finished opening completely then i fed it idk if i said it confusing i try to make it simpler

1 day i saw the trap opening, the next day i saw the trap completly opened and waited 1 full after that b4 it accured to me to feed it so i fed it a bug and now there is a brown spot on the closed trap right where the bug i would say half the size of the bug and on the other side of the trap seems to be another brown spot formin right where the bug is

did i feed it too early? is it rejecting the bug? is the trap gonna die? is there anyway i can say my trap? maby the trap gets more sensitive to the sun when closed i dunno we do have some pretty damaging sun down here in South Florida please help

there are only 2 really healthy looking traps and like 5 traps but there still pretty small forming
 
that trap is probably dead, what did you feed it? Same thing happened to me when I fed mine ladybugs last year.
 
Sometimes the traps digest the prey and then die afterwards through old age. Sometimes the prey is too big, bacteria gets in and rots the trap. It's perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. The plant will continually replenish its traps and as long as you can see new growth from the centre, it will be fine.

If you've placed it straight into the sun after its been in a darker place, it may suffer 'sunburn' and lose a few traps. New traps growing will be hardier and will be able to cope with the sun. It's usually best to introduce it gradually into the sun.

Remember to only use rain or distilled water. Keep it in a saucer of water all the time.
 
Sorry Alphy, but I had to give up after your first paragraph because it was too annoying to contine.
Try writing in English, and using punctuation, and you will get a lot more help from people.
People can't help you if they don't understand what you are trying to say.

This forum is populated by many people over the age of 15, who don't speak teen internet shorthand.
confused.gif


Scot
 
I believe u fed a bug too big for the trap. I feed mine with catches 1/4 or smaller to the size of the trap.

I agree with the above posts that bacteria might have caused the damaged. The trap is dead. There is nothing you can do but watch it blacken.

Scottychaos: agreed. diffcult to understand. I believe if simple english was used, it wouldn't have cause reading problems.:(
 
Alphy, traps die all the time when being fed - this is VFT 101. Before posting panicky, hastily written questions and expecting us to do the scut work, please do a little basic reading on the subject. If you had, you'd realize that feeding your traps was the last thing they needed while recovering from stress. Your plants will find their own bugs when they are ready. If you're feeding them now, it's only for your own amusement - VFTs don't need to eat on a regular basis.
In any case, I'm sure we can all appreciate your enthusiasm over your plants, but keep in mind that we're hobbyists here, not "how-to-grow-CPs" seminar instructors. Questions are great, but you really should put in the thirty seconds it takes to do a Google search and look in to the answer for yourself. In fact, just searching within the archived threads here on TerraForums will usually yeild all the answers that you would get from making a new post, so make use of what's already available to you.
~Joe
 
I agree with scot... I had a headache after the first paragraph.
 
Well attually i have read alot. i like reading abou interesting stuff. well intersting to me anyways....

but i neva read anything bout brownish spots appearing on the trap that looks like its decaying or bacterial.

but its been 2days i think since i made the post right? that brown spot only got darker if anything but hasnt spread. The trap/leave (besides the brown spots) still look very healthy indeed.

maby the bug tryed to bite a lil a it made the bite wound area sensitive to heat and direct sunlight? Because the brown spots does look like it could be a burn

Since the trap is closed the sun only give direct sunlight to only on side of the plant unless if its right over the plant (i hope u understand wat i was tryin to get u to imagen) anyways 1 side has the bigger trap maby size of a grain of rice and the other side has a brown spot half the size of grain of rice

my point.. i always turn the plant around so the smaller brown spot faces the sun directly so that the bigger brown spot wont get worse. like in the mornign i make it face north and after noon or later i make it face south. and i've been doing this the past 3 or 4 days since i noticed the brown spots

My conclusion: i did it suspecting the brown spot were burn due to bite wound sensitivity. and it worked the bigger brown spot never got bigger and to my amazement the lil bornw spot didnt get bigger either...

any comments....???
 
It sounds like you're worrying over not much! Plants aren't always perfect. Your traps is probably just starting to get old.
 
  • #10
i agree..sometimes it's best to not baby them so much if the conditions are right. Give them a few days to grow and the next time you see them, you'll be amazed at the development. Mine are growing at home right now and I only return on the weekends, but every time I go back they seem to be doing better.

Still, it's good to see you're paying so much attention to details--that's important. Good luck.
 
  • #11
It's perfectly normal if a trap on a VFT dies after being fed. Sometimes the decomposing bug turns a spot on the trap brown, and kills the trap. Don't worry about it. If you keep it in lots of sun and good water, new traps will be produced in no time.
 
Back
Top