My vft care sheet

[elaine32358]

Hope you can help me, I just got my Venus Fly Trap today and tonight it is drouping, what can I do? I sure don't want to loose it. I live in North Floirda around the Tallahassee Area. I am new to this fourm and to the Venus Fly Trap. Thanks for any help you can give me.
Elaine

[Bugweed]

Elaine, One of the biggest men in carnivorous plants lives in Tallahassee. Name of Jim Miller. If you would like to contact him, let me know since you are in the same town anyway. I will give you his home phone, and his e-mail address, and you can get to know him. Good man.

[pond boy]

Welcome to the forums Elaine

[HVFT]

this was very helpful and thank you much!

[JMurphy97]

Why is my plant turning black? I got it in a 10 gallon tank. I have about 3 inches of perlite on the bottom then peat moss on top of that mixed with some perlite. Then I have some long fibered moss stuff on that with a fluorcenst light above it. I only use distilled water on it. I fed it night crawlers a couple times but it just turned black and now it looks like the whole thing is dying. What should I do to save it?

[ssgrock]

Mine is turning black too, from the edges of the traps, then it slowly spreads and the traps begin to wither and die. I don't know what to do about it.

[BigCarnivourKid]

JMurphy97 & ssgrock, plants turn black for any number of reasons: transplanting shock, wrong soil media type, and old age being the three most common in my experience. The first just takes time 'til the plant adjusts to its new home. It can be lessend somewhat by not changing its conditions too fast. If it comes with a cover, don't remove the cover and stick it outside in bright sun immediately. Do it in stages so the plant has time to adapt slowly to the changes. The second can usually be corrected by changing the media to sphagnum peat moss (either straight or mixed with sand or perlite), LFS (Long Fiber Sphagnum peat moss) or any other media lacking nutrients. Coconut fiber (coir) has been used by many. The third is part of the natural cycle of the plant and should not be a problem. If the black withered parts bother you, they can be trimmed off. Most people, if they trim their plants, just cut off the blackend portion of the leaf and leave the rest to continue photosynthesizing for the plant.

If you use the search feature, the button near the top of the page, to search the VFT topics, you'll find a lot of info and tips.

[ssgrock]

I have repotted my VFT into a large plastic container with drain holes, I placed the plastic container into a base plate filled with water so the bottem two inches or so of the pot are in water. I have begun using bottled water to water the plant, I replaced the cactus potting mix with a mixture of 1/3 perlite and 2/3 peat moss. I placed the plant outside underneath my deck so it gets part sun, part shade throughout the day and I fed it a wood louse yesterday and it accepted it, so its still alive, and I hope the nutrients from the bug will help to pep it up a bit. I feel pretty confident that the VFT is going to spring back pretty well and eventually flourish in its new home.