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Damaged Venus Flytrap

  • #21
Darn :-( busted
 
  • #22
[MENTION=9149]fredg[/MENTION], the term THAT I HAVE HEARD, for that method is leaf pullings. I would believe that the term THAT I HEARD would originate from the fact that the method involves pulling a trap with a downward motion.

[MENTION=8730]DragonsEye[/MENTION], thank you for correcting my spelling.
 
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  • #23
Yes you have Curtis and I believe I said who you'd heard it from :-))
 
  • #24
Well, I guess the term is cuttings.
 
  • #25
Good lad :bigthumpup:
 
  • #26
Clean the whole plant first and then repot it. East-facing windowsill will be good at the moment, once you see active growing of new traps (which means it's fully recovered and adapted) you can move it outside. Don't feed it, the only trap looks pretty sad to me, I don't think you want to make such a stressed plant invest more energy on capturing and digesting insects, it should save energy for recovering!
 
  • #27
I don't think you want to make such a stressed plant invest more energy on capturing and digesting insects, it should save energy for recovering!

Now now, let's think about this. If these plants don't benefit from trapping and digesting prey, why have they been doing it for millenia? Having said that, on the last update there's not a trap on the plant so there's nothing to do but wait.
 
  • #28
That's why they do photosynthesis as well, and traps usually dont function well when they are really stressed.
 
  • #29
Photosynthesis is their main source of synthesising nutrients. It's what plants do. Unless of course it's one of the vegetable vampires like Dodders and Boomrape.

( Nice try at a save :-O)
 
  • #30
Photosynthesis is their main source of synthesising nutrients. It's what plants do. Unless of course it's one of the vegetable vampires like Dodders and Boomrape.

( Nice try at a save :-O)

Photosynthesis is like having a simple meal like burgers, fast energy source and low cost; eating bugs is like having a big french style dinner, a lot good things but cost more as well. When you are sick, all you need is some fast and efficient way to produce energy.
 
  • #31
charlie-brown_good-grief.jpg
 
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  • #32
Why are you even arguing? The vft does not have a functional trap, so the whole conversation is completely irrelevant.
 
  • #33
Thanks for all the replies . . . especially the ones that stayed on topic and actually tried to help this plant. :D

As for the VFT, I've noticed that the two remaining leaves started to die at the bottom and then fell over, could that be telling, or something of concern?

l would not leave it constantly in standing water. I suggest letting the soil surface get almosy dry before watering again. Don't let the soil dry out thought.
Flower stalks can take a month or longer to show new growth so don't give up on it just yet. Leave it alone and no peeking.
The plant now has an empty tray under it. I'll let it dry a little over the day, and some water later, or tomorrow depending on how the substrate looks.
The flower stalk cutting has now turned completely black and (like the leaves) has fallen over on it's own. My guess is that it won't be producing any plantlets, but I'll let it remain and hope for the best.

Clean the whole plant first and then repot it. East-facing windowsill will be good at the moment, once you see active growing of new traps (which means it's fully recovered and adapted) you can move it outside.
Clean the whole plant? I'm open to it, but what will that do? And what is considered "cleaning"? Rinsing it off, using soap, or what?

As for repotting, I thought that would only give the plant more stress, thus harming it further.

I can place it in an east facing window, but it's currently under lights, and as mentioned before, it will remain inside, as outdoor growing is not an option for my situation. So it's either an east facing window, or under lights.
 
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  • #34
If this were my vft i would take it out of the soil and check the bulb to make sure it isn't mushy. If it isn't mushy go ahead and put it back, but I wouldn't plant it so deep. Only the white part of the rhizome needs to be buried. If the rhizome is mushy you might have to peel it back to get to non-mush parts (if there is any). Good luck, Jack
 
  • #35
Time for an Update:

I checked on the rhizome today. There were just one or two roots that actually had it anchored into the peat/perlite mix, the rest were flimsy. Part of the "bulb" was mushy so I scraped out the mushy part and washed it off with distilled water. I found three small earthworms while digging out the rhizome, so I imagine more might have been deeper down in the pot.

Please check out the photos below, and let me know what you think and what I should do to help this plant survive.

Here is the plant, it had mushy stuff in the middle. It's difficult to see how deep it goes.
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How do the roots look to you?
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Here is the right side.
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Here is the left side.
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Here is the back (brown part is not mushy).
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Here is the bottom. Is that red part a new root growing in?
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