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One out of 5 VFTs is looking to be dying in my 10gal terrarium. I raised the temp up by 5* to 81*F and upped the humidity so my Adelae sundew would be happier & that's when one VFT started turning colors and going limp & mushy. A newly opened leaf closed back up, turned yellow and mushy. Other old leaves are black and kinda wet looking with tiny white bugs running around on them. This is about 10 days after feeding two of the traps on this plant. It has a couple of new leaves popping up from the center but they look skinny and an unhealthy color of green.
This was a plant I transplanted (as a rootball) from a small pot to the mix (peat & perlite) in the terrarium about 20 days ago. Another VFT that I transplanted and fed at the same time looks okay so far.
This might be one of those freak things you know... like you lose around 20% of your new plants. I haven't had this one a month yet.
I have been using distilled RO water.
Anybody have any theories as to what happened with this one?
 
It might be too hot for they are going into dormancy.
I would use an insectacide.
Those "bugs" might kill or harm your other plants I'm not sure.
Hope I could help
Spectabilis73
 
A dramatic change in temps and humidity could cause the plant to die. It could also be weakened so taht it is succumbing to the attack of these small bugs. Or it could just be the bugs. I would take it out. My plants sit on my window sill and it is dry here. S73 is right that it is close to dormancy unless you are in Australia or that side of the earth where the seasons are switched and the temps should be gradually going down not up. I'm not an expert though and would not take my advice for fact. Anybody know for certain?
 
Yes I would say maybe the change in temp & humidity from it's location at home Depot store.
I also suspect that it was too humid or stale for the VFTs because of me keeping the terrarium lid mostly closed. The sundews like it that humid but the VFTs don't seem to like it, and the mold started.
I've been venting the tank more lately and the mold hasn't come back. The plant isn't dead yet, but it doesn't look good. Two other VFTs are looking a little unhappy now too. The new developing leaves look really scrawny.
 
I also bought CP's from Home Depot and found that they really don't know how to take care of these plants so when they come back, they either are damaged or in "shock" to begin with. Anyways, if your plant is growing mold, I would seperate it from the other plants in the terrarium and set it outside. By keeping it in the terrarium, it'll just get worse. Also, if your plants are very close together, you don't want the mold to spread. I keep 2 vft's, 1 sarracenia, and a nepenthes in a terrarium (all bought from Home Depot) and the Sarra started to mold because originally, there was a decayed pitcher in the pot at the time of purchase. I quarantined it before it got really bad so nothing could spread but it was too late for the plant itself. A worm and fungus gnat attacked it and now it's gone to CP heaven
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I now have a new Sarracenia I bought from a nursery
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</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (cchang @ Oct. 03 2002,9:23)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I also bought CP's from Home Depot and found that they really don't know how to take care of these plants so when they come back, they either are damaged or in "shock" to begin with.  Anyways, if your plant is growing mold, I would seperate it from the other plants in the terrarium and set it outside.  By keeping it in the terrarium, it'll just get worse.  Also, if your plants are very close together, you don't want the mold to spread.  I keep 2 vft's, 1 sarracenia, and a nepenthes in a terrarium (all bought from Home Depot) and the Sarra started to mold because originally, there was a decayed pitcher in the pot at the time of purchase.  I quarantined it before it got really bad so nothing could spread but it was too late for the plant itself.  A worm and fungus gnat attacked it and now it's gone to CP heaven  
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 I now have a new Sarracenia I bought from a nursery  
smile.gif
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You know that mold is good for the plants right? People always say OMG mold it's hurting my plant, but that isn't nessasaraly true. The mold you'll most often see keeps the plant clean by decomposing it's dead leaves. The sphagnum will then use the nutrients the mold releases to build it'self up (Whenever the mold is healthy on my plant the moss grows much faster). This mold helps to prevent most dangerious molds and bacteria from growing and hurting the plant. The only time mold should be feared is if it is on a living part of the plant or is out of conrole. I fined it stupid how many people use anti fungle stuff on their VFT befor winter, all it seems to do is kill the good mold and let the bad stuff get a better grip later on.
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so don't freak about mold, just remove it (and it's food) if it gets a little crazey. Also, I've noticed people getting upset about mold on CP seeds lately. It isn't like the mold just appears, it probubly came off the parent plant and moves in with the seed. Mold can help to break down the seed coat and speed germination! It's easy to jump to concluetions and in this case the mold may be dangerious but I thought I'd point out how importent it can really be to your plants health.

-Darcie

P.S. My VFT has had it's moldy friend for three years and it currently averages 25 adult trap on it's single crown (a little lower since I er burned it by mistake this spring).
 
In my case, the mold was on the plant and I ignored it for a couple of days. It started on one pitcher and then spread to another and then to root, turning everything brown with white specs.
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