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Did everything right, still dying . . . help!

P

psyconautR

Guest
Ok, I've only ever used distilled water with a ppm of about 30. I never fed it anything. I keep it in a semi-sealed terrarium where the temperature stays about 80 farenheit all day, and it's pretty humid. It's about 3 feet away and off to the side of a 400 watt HPS with enhanced spectrum.

For a while it was doing great. It was responding really well to all the red light. The traps were mature (getting all pink). I was about to get it some crickets when the last mature trap closed and died, and no new ones have made it yet. They curl up and die before they even have a chance to open fully, and now the leaves are all turning black.

2 questions: 1)What did I do? 2)What do I do?
 
Hi psyconautR.

Welcome to the forums!
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I don't know why your new traps are dieing.  Some people have noticed this on their plants as they come out of dormancy in the spring.

A little more info about your plant might be helpful in pin pointing the problem.  Like what kind of soil is it in, how long has it been in the terrarium, was it repotted lately, did it have a dormancy this winter, how long is the light on for your plant, does it get any direct sunlight and .... I can't think of anything else, though someone else may.
 
How long have you had the plant ?

Maybe the strong light you have has burned the plant, if it was not used to strong light and high heat.
 
It does sound a lot like burning, but if you have it in really wet condition you may be getting some crown rot. Like the others said, more details will help pinpoint the problem.
 
I bought the plant in December, and it has been in the terrarium since then. It's in sphagnum moss. No, it has never been repotted. I'm not sure if it's had a dormancy, I'll have to ask the greenhouse I bought it from. In the greenhouse the lighting was very low, probably less than 1000 lumens per square foot, and the traps were all on a lower shelf, almost in complete darkness. It has never received any real sunlight in my care, as it's in the basement. With the light I have it next to now, there are probably about 12, 500 lumens per square foot. Hope this helps with the diagnosis.
 
You should have slowly increased the light. You said it did fine for awhile. How long is a while? If you gave it the light levels you said as soon as you got it you should have noticed the burn right away. Judging from just the info you gave I think it may be a ventilation problem. Which will cause fungus or root rot like darcie said. If this plant can't be saved try again. Next time increase the ventilation and lower the humidity a little. With the temps around 80 like you said it will do fine with a little lower humidity.
 
Okay, it sounds like you are erm, cooking it. Start out by taking the lid off the terrarium for a few days, then get rid of the terrarium entirely and tray water, letting the tray go dry for 24 hours between watering. See if you can reduce the temp a bit and remove all the black leaves. You don't want to repot while it is stressed, but pure sphagnum (or is it pure peat? their is a difference) is not a good medium for terrarium growing because it doesn't drain well enough. If you actually have pure peat, that also isn't all that great for terrarium, but it's better the sphagnum. Right now, focus on stabalising the plant and if that is successfull I can help you with setting up a more practical terrarium
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I forgot to mention, the plants are still in the little 3 inch pots I bought them in, which are resting in plastic cups, which are inside the terrarium. I think the problem might be root rot, as I let water sit in the bottom of the cups, which was constantly evaporating and keepin the bottom of the pots fairly saturated. Does anyone know how VFTs might respond to small doses of peroxide? Let's say 1ml of 3% for ever liter of water?
 
I never tried it. I never even thought about what it'll do.
There's only one way to find out what it'll do, but remember you're risking your plant.
 
  • #10
hi, welcome! not to say it is the problem. i just wonder how you are getting distilled water with a ppm of about 30?
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all distilled waters i have ever seen read 0 ppm. just by the process of which it is made. are you refering to reverse osmosis water maybe?
Later,
 
  • #11
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2--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (psyconautR @ April 10 2003,06
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2)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I forgot to mention, the plants are still in the little 3 inch pots I bought them in, which are resting in plastic cups, which are inside the terrarium. I think the problem might be root rot, as I let water sit in the bottom of the cups, which was constantly evaporating and keepin the bottom of the pots fairly saturated. Does anyone know how VFTs might respond to small doses of peroxide? Let's say 1ml of 3% for ever liter of water?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Ah! No, not a weak plant.  Bad bad bad!... granted it would eather hurt the plant or decompose so fast that nothing would happen anyways, but still, bad!

Just let them start to be less saturated.
 
  • #12
Really? Just to make sure, you are aware that adding peroxide to the water is very beneficial to a lot of plants, right? Are VFT's just more sensitive in general? What if I allowed it, say, 18 hours or so to decompose in the water, that way I'd just have aerated water?
 
  • #13
[/QUOTE]i just wonder how you are getting distilled water with a ppm of about 30? all distilled waters i have ever seen read 0 ppm. just by the process of which it is made. are you refering to reverse osmosis water maybe?
No, I'm pretty sure it says distilled water on the bottle. I see 3 possibilities: 1)my ppm meter isn't properly calibrated, or something's wrong with it, 2)I didn't allow the meter enough time to adjust to the water temperature, 3)safeway has crappy distilled water.
 
  • #14
I recently bought two ppm testers. and I bought a bag of that calibrator stuff. turned out both of them were pretty far off. I would recommend getting some and checking it.
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  • #15
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (psyconautR @ April 12 2003,05:17)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Really? Just to make sure, you are aware that adding peroxide to the water is very beneficial to a lot of plants, right? Are VFT's just more sensitive in general? What if I allowed it, say, 18 hours or so to decompose in the water, that way I'd just have aerated water?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
The chemistry of CP soil is very different from other plants. VFT's grow in O2 poor soils and upping the amount in the soil will only serve to help any unwanted critters in their.
 
  • #16
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (psyconautR @ April 11 2003,3:17)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">...What if I allowed it, say, 18 hours or so to decompose in the water, that way I'd just have aerated water?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

The cheapest way to aerate water is to fill a water jug ½ to ¾ full of water and shake it vigorously for 30 to 45 seconds or until your arm comes off.  Which ever occurs first
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  • #17
Your VFTs don't need to be in a terrarium. If you just like the look of it, that's fine. But some people do that thinking they need real high humidity which is not the case. Being enclosed, heat can build up quickly and they don't get much air circulation. Its possible they are getting "boiled" by the heat and humidity. Personally, my VFTs did not do well in a terrarium. Once I put them outside, they have done fine. Humidity is good, lots of air and sun, and they feed themselves quite nicely.

Just my 2 cents.
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Good luck!

Suzanne
 
  • #18
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (PlantAKiss @ April 14 2003,11:40)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Your VFTs don't need to be in a terrarium.  If you just like the look of it, that's fine. But some people do that thinking they need real high humidity which is not the case.  Being enclosed, heat can build up quickly and they don't get much air circulation.  Its possible they are getting "boiled" by the heat and humidity.  Personally, my VFTs did not do well in a terrarium.  Once I put them outside, they have done fine.  Humidity is good, lots of air and sun, and they feed themselves quite nicely.

Just my 2 cents.  
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Good luck!

Suzanne[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Yep, I think he has started deterrariuming them already. Granted, some times you need a terrarium, but the care requirments are WAY different from open potted plants.
 
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