I have a quick question about my venus fly trap. I have it in a perilite mixture soil and only give it distilled water, however the new traps growing are turning black and dying off even before they get large enough to open im just wondering what this could be from, it has a plant light on it all day and a decent distance so it wont get burned. anyone have any ideas as to what could be causing this? could provide photo if necessary.
The same thing is hapening to mine. Its just the trap that is turning black, onley 3 traps are donig this for me.
Two of mine are turning right now, one just sprouted out of the leaf. there are new sprouts in the middle of it coming up real fast, im just so confused as to what is causing this. ive only ever had one trap shut by accident, that shouldnt cause the problem should it? Im wondering if i should change the potting mixture since this is the only logical reason for this problem i can come up with. By the way you have some very impressive plants on that forum. Makes me want some different ones, perhaps i will once i can master the art of the vft :)
Not sure what is causing the black tips. Do you mean a peat mix? Perlite could work, but the typical mix is either pure peat, or a peat mix with silica sand or perlite. Try that and see what happens. Also, fly traps like it a bit drier than other CPs, so just keep it moist, not soaking wet.
So i just replanted my poor venus fly trap in a nice high quality peat moss that i got from the store, organic no growth hormones or plant stimulators...i sure hope this helps the new growth from turning black.... :(
Traps can handle more than one closing, but you don't want to trigger falsely, because it takes a lot of energy for the plant to do that.
I've dealt with Flytraps in the past and the only time the traps ever turned black was when a trap had caught quite a few bugs or when the plant started to go dormant. I've had traps that trapped wasps and the trap was still good for another couple of more closings before turning black. If I were you, I'd put the plant outside where it's getting full sun since it does much better outdoors then in a terrarium. The more sun, the better. Also, sit it in a dish of distilled water because the soil has to be constantly wet. You can use bottled water or tap water as long as the Mineral Salt content is below 100ppm but since most of the time, the mineral content is more then that, distilled water is the best option since it has none. Just make sure the pot is not completely submerged in water. What I do is I get a dish where the rim of the dish goes about half way up the pot. As for soil, I've heard of many people having a lot of success with Sphagnum moss with Flytraps so perhaps you might want to try that to see how your plant takes to it. You also have to be careful when buying peat or moss for Flytraps because sometimes these soils come in contact with fertilizers at the factories when they are bagged and those fertilizers can kill Flytraps.
Good advice, but SummerBug appears to be from Edmonton, so outside is not a good idea just yet. Wait until the last frost, or check the weather each day, and if it's nice out put the plant out, but make sure to bring it back in if the temps drop below freezing. It will be too much of a shock to go from house temps to freezing - especially in spring. I leave mine outside all summer, and as long as possible in the fall. They are dormant inside now, and are starting to grow again.
I'm convinced mine is getting enough light. I just don't understand why the new growth even before it forms a trap its turning black. It must be my soil...any ideas on where to find the appropriate. Moss in edmonton..and is this the same moss my orchids come in?
Don't use moss. If anything, use live sphagnum. Be careful though, that the moss doesn't overgrow the plant. I mostly use peat (pure peat - nothing with additives). Either straight peat, or a mix of half peat and half silica sand or perlite. I got my silica sand from Rona, but it was in a big bag. Washed play sand might work, but it is hard to get all the minerals out, so is not recomended. The easiest is just to use straight peat.
I am very happy to say that i have transplanted my VFT into pure sphagnum moss, watered thoroughly with distilled water to remove any remaining soil from the roots and waited two weeks...the 2 newest shoots that are popping up have not turned black yet like the others that are much smaller, i did just cut off the flower the darn thing was growing, doing well!!
My research tells me that the flowering process takes unnecessary energy from the plant and can kill weak plants. Mine is weak and I didn't want to lose it.maybe next time the plant will be strong enough to handle it
Yes, I agree. I have also read that you should never let them flower, which I do not agree with, and thought that is what you may have read as well. Good job with your plant!
