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Akai ryu's leaves doing weird things...

I know that akai ryu's are supposed to turn red...but why would green leaves on it turn a light red, then yellow, then look like they are dying off? I'm kind of confused. I have a smaller plantlet in the same pot, but it's producing leaves and little traps. I thought at first that this might happen when it comes out of dormancy, but it really has me confused now.

Any ideas?
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I had a Akai Ryu last year.

It died.
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It turns out that it needs large amounts of light to survive. My normal Vft's and South West Giant are still fine, growing very well, but have limited red coloration (more pink than red).

Mine did the same thing as you did, the leaves came up green, then yellow, then black, then death
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Best think you can do it get some artificial lighting as soon as possible, and keep them warm (min 20dc)
 
Hmm, they're not turning black yet...just going from green to red to orange to yellow and starting to look a little limp. I'm going to try some more light, right now I have 60w fluorescent on them...one more at least should do it. Just wondering what else it might be...I have a smaller one that's doing fine right in the same pot. The temp is usually about 82 degrees F. Do akai ryu's need a different amount of water than other vft's?
 
In my experience they do need less water, and less humidity.

Another thing which happened to mine was that it turned mouldy, whilst my other green Vft's in the same conditions were fine.

Keep the soil moist at all times, about 1cm of water at all times is what id recommend. (compared to 1" for normal Vft's).

As soon as you see any dead leaves, cut them off as soon as possible.

Good Luck  
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You may be over/under watering or have too little light. However, I've had a few VFT decide to go dorment this spring and it could just be suisiding a few leaves. You may also have a more serious problem, but if the two plants live together, and only one is having trouble, I would guess shock or dormancey issues. Just keep an eye on it, and remove the leaves as they die. Like I said, I have one right now that is doing the same thing, today I just removed the last of it's leaves from last summer, now it's got all little mutant winter leaves (this proticular plant is a "typical" with a mutaion that sort of pulls it's own traps appart, very weird)
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Darcie @ Feb. 20 2003,1:24)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">You may be over/under watering or have too little light.  However, I've had a few VFT decide to go dorment this spring and it could just be suisiding a few leaves.  You may also have a more serious problem, but if the two plants live together, and only one is having trouble, I would guess shock or dormancey issues.  Just keep an eye on it, and remove the leaves as they die.  Like I said, I have one right now that is doing the same thing, today I just removed the last of it's leaves from last summer, now it's got all little mutant winter leaves (this proticular plant is a "typical" with a mutaion that sort of pulls it's own traps appart, very weird)[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
As far as the water, I have them sitting in a quarter of an inch about maybe a little less, they're about six inches from the light source, but I moved them to about four last night. I think that the leaves were lifting the bulb out of the peat, I was looking at it last night and it's pretty close to the surface now. How deep should a vft bulb be?

I'm most likely going to try to repot it. Hopefully that does the trick.
 
Hi Vertigo,
The rhizome (bulb) is usually just below the surface, not more than a half inch in most cases.
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (BigCarnivourKid @ Feb. 20 2003,3:52)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Hi Vertigo,
 The rhizome (bulb) is usually just below the surface, not more than a half inch in most cases.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Ok, well i'm going to try and lower it a little bit, it looks like it is basically at the surface...see if that helps a bit. I was just suprised to see it go through that many shades.
 
  • #10
No don't!
You'll push it over the edge!
NEVER EVER repot a VFT unless you absolutly positively have too (or you have had them for a real long time and know how to time it properly).

As to your problems, it is dieing because it is to wet and it is lifting it'self out of the soil to try and get away from the water.

Hopefully you get this befor you replant, but if not just follow instructions anyways and hope for the best.

To water you plant take distilled water and poor onto tray/plate, pick pot up and set in water for a few hours or untill soil stops drinking in water. Take pot off of tray and put on serface not holding water. If plant normally sits in cool terrarium repeat once a week, if plant is in warm terrarium repeat twice a week. If plant is in average home, stick your finger into the edge of the pot's soil every 1 to 2 day and repeat when soil has about 1cm-.5inch of dry peat followed by moist soil below that.

If you have repotted, your plant will shock and you may wish to do a modified care mathoid, but you'll have a green plant for a while.

Move light away from plant about 1 to 1.5 feet. Use above watering, watering will be required about once per week.

Good luck
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(yes, I too have a red dragon and mine is new to the collection and is just now coming out of shipping shock. It is very healthy and growing wonderfully, but 90% of it's leaves are green because of the special way I astablish my plants, but I don't mind)
 
  • #11
Darcie,

Thanks a bunch for the info. Last night I took some peat out of a pot last night that's in my terrarium and squeezed it to see how much moisture the plants are getting, and a whole lot of liquid came out. I'm going to let my plants drain for a little bit...I was letting them sit in water in the terrarium, but some of them seem a little too damp. I'll definately take your advice. Thanks again.
 
  • #12
No Problem, we have all overwaterd the "bog" plant at some time or another.
 
  • #13
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">NEVER EVER repot a VFT unless you absolutely positively have too (or you have had them for a real long time and know how to time it properly).[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

While this is generally a good idea.  I have transplanted my VFTs many times and at different times of the season, with no more care than that given to my other houseplants.  I have never lost any plants to transplant shock and most recover from the shock in several weeks.  It is almost impossible to transplant a VFT without some shock, but with care it can be greatly reduced.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">As to your problems, it is dieing because it is to wet and it is lifting itself out of the soil to try and get away from the water.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

I really doubt this.  They are bog plants!  According to The Bog HomePage: bog n. 1.a. An area having a wet, spongy, acidic substrate composed chiefly of sphagnum moss and peat in which characteristic shrubs and herbs and sometimes trees usually grow.  b. Any of certain other wetland areas, such as a fen, having a peat substrate.  Also called peat bog. 2. An area of soft, naturally waterlogged ground.
The VFT evolved to take advantage of these conditions.  Why would it try to get away from them?  It is more likely that the soil wasn't compacted around the roots properly and the soil settled or it was top watered and some of the soil washed away from the plant.  I have done both and no, top watering has never caused crown rot in  my plants.  Possibly due to the low humidity here.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">To water your, plant take distilled water and pour onto tray/plate, pick pot up and set in water for a few hours or until soil stops drinking in water. Take pot off of tray and put on surface not holding water. ...If plant is in average home, stick your finger into the edge of the pot's soil every 1 to 2 day and repeat when soil has about 1cm-.5inch of dry peat followed by moist soil below that.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

This will work for plants in larger pots and terrariums.  If it is in a 3” pot like several of mine are then you should use the tray method to water.  This avoids sticking your fingers into the pot and damaging the roots and it is less maintenance.  It also gives you a little leeway if you get busy and can’t check the plant and it also keeps the soil moisture at a constant level rather than fluctuating between wet and dry.  Again this is a bog plant and I  think that this wet/dry cycle repeated every other day or two can stress the plant.
 
  • #14
Actually, VFTs are not like other bog plants, most actually live in sandy soil with little more water than a typical forest. I don't know for sure if the plant was trying to escape, but I do know other plants will when over watered. All my pots are 3 inchers, thats why I said stick finger in edge of pot. I am a ferm beleaver in not letting pots sit in water because I have seen tons of plants killed that way, you can't give blanket instructions like that without knowing the rest of the conditions the plant lives in. And it's not like you have to stick your finger in forever, just untill the individual pots absorption rate is determind. Besides, burned plants seem to have a higher survival rate then ones that rot out from overwatering.

-Darcie

P.S. please don't think I'm saying your wronge, I'm just saying better to play it safe then sorry. Besides
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like you said, you live in dry conditions so of corse your plant needs more water then most.
 
  • #15
Darcy,

I have checked my info and have to continue to disagree with you about the water.  I checked several different sites on VFT habitat, as well as ’The Savage Garden’, and they all said that like many bog plants, VFTs live in water logged or very wet conditions.  A couple of them stated that VFTs where able to live with the occasional submersion caused by flooding.  One, utexas.edu, stated that “Submerged plants have been known to catch small aquatic animals.”  Sites that had growing information usually mention the tray method.  It is one of the most frequently used and recommended methods for growing VFTs and other Cps and it is used by growers world wide.

I found all my sites using a Google search for ''Venus Flytrap habitat''.

As I stated above, the tray method is used world wide so I don't think my dry climate (low humidity) affects how well the tray method works for me.  The low humidity is what I think allows me to top water all my plants without crown rot problems faced by growers in areas with higher humidity where the water evaporates slower making it easier for rot to set in.
 
  • #16
I never said the tray meathoid doesn't work, thats exactly what you call the meathoid I was refering too, it's leaving the tray always full of water that causes problems. In a dry climent, water is continually pulled through a leaf at a faster rate meaning more water is needed and used so FRESH water is added often and the soil still dries slightly bwteen waterings. In wet conditions, less water is used by the plant and a pool becomes stagnent. The only differnce between what I sugested and classic tray meathoid is that the classic meathoid assumes you know how much water to give and how often to do it. By letting the water be absobed untill full a person can start to get the feel of watering, but not risk overwatering while learning. Like I said, once you get the hang of it you can water directly, I only use the carefull meathoid when learning how a new pot works because root rot from stagnent water is most likely going to occur when the plant is already stressed from shipping.

Oh and I should note that with enough light a typical plant can be left sitting in water because the sun helps draw the fluid through, but unless you have max light... it can be deadly.

Also, please note that it is not so much the water, but the STAGNENT water that causes problems of VFT and that a closed container is much more likely to sprout a deadly pathogen then the constantly flowing wild ground water.

You may disagrea with me in that I feel VFT are wet soil dwellers more then bogy dwellers (a very thin line does exist between the two), but thats okay, after all, they live in a range of enviornments, even if it is in a small area.

Heck, I don't even know what we are debating, it sounds like you are giving the same instructions I am, but for an experienced grower.
 
  • #17
I totally agree with BigCarnivourKid
I let mine VFTs sit in ½ in of water at all times
I repot mine a lot with great results
give them as much light a possible
 
  • #18
I have transplanted VFTs, I top water, my VFTs sit in saucers with 1/4-1/2 inch of water, they are potted in peat/sand/perlite mix, they eat lustily outdoors in the warm sunshine...and they all do just fine. Watering is no complicated process. I watch the soil moisture and water when needed...and thats only when rain doesnt take care of it.

Just my 2 cents.
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Suzanne

And just a thank you to the Mother for blessing us with so much rain, snow, sleet and ice to get us through the extreme drought we've had for the last 2 yrs
 
  • #19
Amen to that Suzanne
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, We can use all the wet stuff we can get here in the mountains too.
 
  • #20
I use the tray meathoid.
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