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!

VFT's turning black

  • Thread starter JMurphy97
  • Start date
I planted something like 6 VFT's in LFS and they all seem to be turning black and dying. The only thing I see that is good is new traps forming. So is it good for only LFS or should I change it?
 
Murph, when you DO NOT see new traps forming, new leaves growing, and old growth dying back but being replaced, THEN you have a problem.
 
Sounds like they went through a bit of shock and are just now recovering. As Bugweed suggests, new growth is a good sign that they are acclimating and recovering. Don't worry about the old traps anymore. Remove anything that is black (only).
 
mad.gif


I've had the same problem. I am on my second VFT, first one lingered for about six months, finally all leaves and traps turned black and it died.

On my second VFT now, I figured I'd learned enough the first go around that I'd do better. So, my plant is in a medium size plastic pot with a water dish on the bottem about one inch deep that is always full of distilled water. My planting medium is perylite and peat moss, I put it all in a pot of distilled water, thoroughly mixed it, and put it in the plastic pot. Then, I planted my VFT. It did okay over the winter, nothing spectacular over the first year. Grew some new traps and leaves. I kept it in my sunroom where is was protected from the weather, got about four hours of direct sunshine a day. I keep the peat moss wet and only use distilled water. In March, it grew the long shoot from the middle of the plant, I had read that you could cut that and save the plants energy. That if you cut the shoot it would redirect the plants energy into producing new leaves and traps. Seems to not have been the case for me. Untill I cut that shoot, my VFT showed signs of really starting a growth spurt, but every since I cut it, my plant just languishes. It isn't dying, but it isn't growing either. I don't feed it insects. And I have not been covering it either, the other day I thought I'd try and increas the humidity so I cut a plastic milk jug in half and placed it over the plant to see if that will help. Remains to be seen if that will help.
Any thoughts?
 
4 hours of direct sunshine isn't enough. VFT's really do best when placed outside, with at least twice as much sunshine as they are currently getting. Is that do-able for you? Cutting the flower was a wise move. It would have likely set the plant over the edge. Personally, I wouldn't let a VFT flower unless I know it went through a proper dormancy and kept outside.
 
Okay, yes, more sunlight is doeable. But I'm afraid of shocking it by moving it outside from the sunroom. I should gradually increase the amount of time I place it outside? Like one hour for a week, two hours for a week etc?
 
Yes, gradual is best. Do you have a porch? Put in the shade for a week or so and gradually move to the southern exposure.
 
Yea I probably shocked it seeing as though they were potted in little 3 inch pots, had a plastic cup over them, and were inside the store by a window that really was not getting any sun. I did though wait to repot them and put them in the sun a little by putting them in the shade a little and sun a little everyday. Oh well new leaves/traps are coming up so that's a good sign. If I don't cut the black off now will it affect the new leaves?
 
ssgrock - the flower stalk takes up a lot of space on the rhizome and often the traps need to sprout from a new part of the bulb. Sometimes no growth appears for 10-14 days, but you should see a new trap shoot soon.
 
  • #10
Clean'em up, Murph. Remove the dead black to prevent fungus' and molds.
 
  • #11
That's gonna be like everything in there except a few traps. Darn, I had some nice big huge traps too. Gotta do what you gotta do.
 
  • #12
All traps eventually wear out and turn black. So even with perfect conditions, that's still going to happen to even the best of traps. Snip off the black part to keep the plant clean and wait for the new traps to form.
smile.gif
 
Back
Top