Well the pics aren't great, but the VFT looks like it might be on its last leg. If the plant went from a windowsill into direct sunlight, you might run into problems. Like acclimation to humidity, they need acclimation to light. Additionally, the energy expended by trapping and trying to digest the bug might have been too much.

That being said, 2 days ago my well established VFT caught a ladybug and today the sillhouette of the ladybug was "burned" into the trap. Maybe ladybugs and other bugs have defenses to VFT's.

I suggest you get another, give it another shot knowing what you know now, and compare it to this one. I think you'll be amazed at how vigorously these things grow when they're happy.
Good Luck
Bob

Ah, thanks bob. I always want to say that it is potted in a planter with holes on the bottom. I put rocks in a shallow bowl (not shown in pics) and fill it about a 1/2 an inch above the bottom of the planter. So it is wick watered, but occasionally I top water it. I'll consider buying another one, but hopefully this one will thrive!! Thanks, Christy

One problem you may have encountered without realizing it is that the plant isnÂt "freshly shipped", in other word. It may have been in the store more then a couple of weeks in display before you bought it. Unfortunately, plants go into shock when shipped and whatÂs worse. Store clerks water the plants with regular tap water, making the media mineral rich and no longer suitable for your plant.

So once you purchased it and moved outside in direct light, the poor guy just couldnÂt take it. The reason why the leaf that captured a bug is dying, it may have drained its reserved of energy.

It is better to keep an eye for new fresh shipment of CP. These are still growing vigorously and can tolerate shock easily.

Still, I can see that you have 2 plants. Keep working on it now that you have an idea what to do. It obviously too weak to have it repotted to a new media. So maybe watering heavily a couple of times would leech out the build-up minerals on the soil. Maybe thatÂll work.

Other then that, its normal for someone to loose a plant the first time. Keep on trying and learn from your mistakes, and ask question in this forum. Anyone here will be more then happy to give you advice on how to grow your plants.

Flytraps are really pretty forgiving if you get the basics right - and you've got them right at this time. To me, it looks like the plant is going to make it. It's showing signs of sunburn, but I burned ALL my flytraps this year. It's not a big deal. I got a little too excited to get mine outside. I think I see some new leaves coming up and those are going to be much more resistant to sunburn. It's gonna grow slowly at first until it gets past the sunburn thing.

I had a mouse eat all the exposed leaves of one of my flytraps during dormancy this year. Then he started on the bulb. It is doing fine now, but it's really goofy looking. They are tough little plants.

2 words, TAP WATER. NEVER use tap water. Rainwater or distilled or RO water only unless you get your tap from a well. You've learned that already but give the plant some time to recover and see what happens...

Tom

Well, I bought the plant about 2 months ago, and watered it once with the tap. Shortly thereafter, I read these forums, and dumped out the tap. So, I would assume it has gotten over the tap water shock. I want to see how this guy recovers. I'm assuming that the fact that it is making new traps, means it is happier? Hunterkiller suggested that it didn't have enough energy for the new trap that caught the bug to survive. Could that be the case, and new traps be forming? I hope so. And I think hunterkiller is right, that there are two plants. Does that mean there are two bulbs? It was a fresh shipment, it was beautiful when I bought it. I did buy it at a reputable nursery (not specializing in CP's). I think it was just quite unhappy with the tap water, and the quick loss of a greenhouse. Thanks for your suggestions, I had the impression that they are pretty hardy, and it had the chance to bounce back. I'll just let it be, and keep it wet!!

Christy :)

Hello Christy,

Yes, they are quite hardy when they have a chance to get adapted to conditions. Best bet is to get the plants out of the old soil as the tap water has done it's evil work and altered the Ph of the soil from acid. Repot in fresh sphagnum peat moss from the dry bales that say premium Canadian and mix it with 50/50 perlite for drainage. Just rinse off the rhizome before replanting and then keep giving it plenty of sun and clean water. The plants are not dead yet and if the rhizomes are still alive (white or red colored and firm) the plants are far from giving up the ghost. The problem with the insect killing the leaf is that it was probably too large or the plant is just still weak. Give it time and let it regrow. As long as it continues growing new leaves, it is possible that it will recover.

It's hard to say whether the plant is too far gone or just severely weakened, by a variety of factors. As said above, just get in the best possible conditions you can and wait it out. And give a Lowes a call as to when they get in a new shipment. Those are always health, upon arrival.

Hola- My VFT's are planted using half peatmoss and half sand, and I have a deep plate to sit the plastic pot on.
It is always wet! And it sits outside but not in direct sun.
I believe that if it was planted in a very large pot it could be in the full sun, but if it is in a small pot it would burn up! Keep it wet all the time!
Luis

Hi Christy -

If it recovers, or if you get a new one, I would strongly suggest repotting into a 6 or 8 inch pot. VFTs grow from a small bulblike base with roots attached that can get to be up to 5 inches long.

My preferred mix is the 50:50 peatmoss/sand mix with the addition of some chopped up Long Fibered Sphagnum moss - which helps lighten the soil a bit. With a pot this size I always try to maintain at least one inch of rainwater in the tray the pot sits in.

Good Luck.

Well, I'm guessing this one needs to be repotted, but am afraid it isn't strong enough to handle repotting. I'll look around for another one, new shipment. If I do find a new one, would slowly acclimating it out of the greenhouse and then repotting it be accurate? Then slowly acclimating it outside? I have a bag of Scott's 100% Spagnum Peat Moss, would this be a fine choice of Spagnum Moss, or should I be looking for something different? I can mix it with Perlite or Sand, would a fine sand work okay, or does a coarse sand work best? Thanks so much, Christy

Slow is best way to go. Check to see if your Scott's brand has fertilixer in it. If it does, don't use it. the bigger bales (2.2 or 3.8 cf) sizes are good for CP's. Long fibered sphagnum, in small bags are the best. Rinse sand if you use it. Rinse everything first.

I recently discovered sphagnum growing naturally in my yard. Can i use it with my CPs? Are all types of sphagnum safe?

I wouldn't, since there are many types of mosses (Bryophytes)and unless you are sure of what you have, it may not be beneficial.

It's just indegestion. It happens sometimes.

What a difference a month and a half makes :) It seems much happier now, hopefully the traps will start getting bigger soon. I intend on replanting it in a bigger pot, but was afraid that it was too weak before. Should I just leave it be until the dormant period? Or is it safe to attempt it now? Thanks, Christy

It is virtually impossible to get a good shot of this plant, I took A LOT of photos. This was the best I could do!

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I've been using a decent but not deluxe camera, one that I borrow from a friend. What I do is stage plants near a light source, but not where it would reflect back at the camera. I also have the camera ~1.5' away and them depress the shutter partway, so that it focuses. I keep re-positioning closer or farther or at an angle, until the shutter puts the plant into focus. Then click. I also use the Zoom feature.

Each camera will have a different resolution, pixel, and zoom feature, so each will require different range from the object. It appears that your using a cheapie 10 dollar cam with extremely low resolution and low zoom features. I went the exact opposite and bought a Kodak with 12X zoom with moderately good pixels, I think about 6.1, which is actually too good in some cases since the photoes are too big to post in some forum formats without massive amounts of compression and cutting down. Of course, I can get great shots of a gnat getting grabbed by sundew tentacles (could even get its facial expression if they had any), but to photograph the entire plant would eat up over 1000-2000kb per shot. A moderately good cameral would have 3-6X zoom and could get resolution around 3-6 pixels. That would probably be good enough to get decent clear photos of your plants and cost around 70-150 dollars probably.

I use a fujifilm 3800 with 3.2 mega pixels and 6x optical zoom. I take great pictures everywhere else, I just can't get the right shot of this plant. I think if I had more contrast in the size of the pot, I could focus on the plant, and not what is beyond the rim. I'll keep trying :) Christy

Okay, my camera just cannot zoom in that close. So I got my DH's Sony Cybershot with 6.0 megapixels and 3x optical zoom. Got the shot!!
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There is sawdust on the plant, DH is sanding furniture :)

I'm no photographer, but below is a link to my Photobucket account and how good my friend's camera is.

And here is what my old supervisor's deluxe camera did, even with me taking the pictures!

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And here's what my very first digital camera can do... a complimentary Earthlink thingy:

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That's as good as it got!

Anyhoo, waiting until dormancy, especially if you are relatively new, would be best. However, it isn't absolutely necessary to either wait until then, or in your case, to re-pot right now, anyways. They're not overcrowded. But if you want to re-pot, I would prepare the new pot first, with a depression in the center. I would then coax the plant and soil media out of the existing pot, as one unit, so as to avoid disturbing the roots. I would place the "plug" in the depression and water from above, to mesh the media and fill in any gaps.

Here is a link that might be useful: My friend's camera

Hello Christy,

Great shots there. Looks like some young Flytraps and they look healthy enough. Just keep that tap water away from them and give them lots of sunlight.

I understand the zoom problem. I have to stand across the room to get a good close up zoom shot with my camera or the entire picture comes out blurred like the tiny cheapy cameras that are sold for about 10 dollars. The smart focus is also usually not so smart as we would like it to be, so several adjustments to the range and angle sometimes help.

I am still an amature photographer myself, so it took me a few hundred photos to get some half decent ones myself.

Hey Christy -

Way to go on the recovery.

Now this sounds nuts, but trust me. Get some fruitflies or pinhead crickets, some decent tweezers, and feed every single trap. You will lose some traps initially, you know, they'll turn black if the insects are too big. However, in a few weeks to a month you will get a SURGE of growth that you otherwise wouldn't. It will get bigger much faster and be a more robust plant.

Here's a picture of one of my plants growing in a 10 inch pot. If you look carefully you can count 11 flower stalks:

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Thanks Wildbill - could I just let a peice of fruit rot next to it, and let it catch them on it's own?? Christy :)

WOW WILDBILL! Spectacular!

I just got a Canon A630, great closeups! Here's d. adelae flowers, they're 1/8th inch in diameter (I'm still getting the hang of macro with this camera):

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Hi again Christy -

I would catch a bunch of the fruitflies in a plastic bag, put the bag in the fridge for a while until they are still, then feed the traps by hand with the tweezers.

That way you make sure every single working trap gets fed!!

christy2828:

Remember, your traps started turning black upon eating as you mentioned in your first post. Make sure they are getting enough sun first, then when they are healthy, they will catch plenty on their own. If they dont, then you can feed them something after a few weeks. Flies rate very low on the needs hierarchy of Flytrap survival tips. Like any plant, they first need light, water, and proper soil. Flies are fertilizer, so think of them as vitamin pills for the plants. If you dont eat enough regular food, no amount of vitamin pills will allow you to survive. Same with Flytraps. They can go for months and years without flies, but only a couple of weeks on insufficient light.

Well, I have yet to change the soil, I was afraid because the plant was not doing well. But, it has been getting full sun - morning, afternoon, and evening - for 2 months now. They have not yet caught any bugs, at least that I have seen, and I check regularly. So, one question (out of many :). How, wildbill do I catch a bunch of fruit flies?? And how do I convince my DH that I am not crazy when he sees a bag full of fruit flies in the fridge???? Christy :)

I wish I could give you some of mine... but the sundews are eating them all. In any case, I would think that a few pieces of old fruit in a jar would attract plenty of fruitflies. You could just check every day and when you see some, put the lid on the jar... They will be trapped and you can do with them as you see fit...

One really easy way to deal with them (along with refrigeration that is) is with some water. Just drop them fruit and all into a tray of water and pick the flies out as they try to escape drowning. I use a toothpick dipped in sundew dew to grab them and manipulate them to whatever plant I choose. Of course I rarely have to employ such tactics as the fruitflies find their way into the house and make their way automatically to my young Flytraps and sundews.

You can set up a spot near the plants that will attract fruitflies. I have staged plastic containers of rotting fruit it water. It's a little gross, but it does work!

UPDATE!! Made it through the winter, and came out of dormancy nicely. Had a few run-ins with squirrels, so it isn't as happy as it could be, but what a difference a year makes!! Christy :)

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Congratulations! Always a good feeling when the plants come through the winter. One almost holds one's breath, as it were.

Totally off-topic - Seeing your name reminds me of the DVD my wife had myself and our 3 boys watch on Sunday night.

Goes along with the entire 7th Heaven series we are plodding through!

Here is a link that might be useful: Christy link

Congratulations Christy and all the experienced folks who helped make it happen.

I got my "snappy" a couple of years ago, found this place and learned all I needed to know about VFT's. We've made it through 2 winters and a major repotting. He is BIG and getting bigger all the time. I need to repot again and will when his blooms turn to seeds and I snip them off.

It has been posted here that lots of folks don't let their plants flower. Someone said "let nature take it's course" and so I do. Their nature is to bloom. I haven't noticed any weakening of the plant at all after the blooms are gone.

What I don't know is if I can start my own plant from these seeds like other plants. I'm going to try. By the way, each blooming stalk has a "bouquet"...4-6 blooms it is beautiful. I have pictures I'll try to post later.

Thanx to everyone here for helping me have big healthy fly trap. crylady

Hi guys,
I just got my VFT 2 days ago, its a pretty decent plant already, lots of leaves and traps.
After reading some advice from places I have placed it on a windowsill which receives a reasonable amount of sunlight each day, but not constant sunlight (i live in the UK so it wont be going outside). Its only in a small pot at the moment and is sitting in about a cm of rain water, which is keeping the soil nice and moist.
Just a couple of questions:
1. A lot of the traps are closed, only a few of the smaller ones are open, should I be worried by this?
2. I've read the inside of the traps should be pink in colour, but all of mine are green, what is the problem here?
3. Although I am a beginner I really want to try plant a few more of these next year (providing I get seeds from this one this year) and am wondering if anyone can give me a step-by-step, from harvesting, to planting and growing?
4. There is a lot of talk about hybernating through winter, bearing in mind i know nothing at the moment, what should i be prepared to do when winter comes, and about what time should i be doing it?

Any help will be much appreciated, I'm so excited about having my first CP and I really want it to thrive n grow big :D

Thanks
Phill

I'm still a newbie to this stuff too, but, lets see:

1. No, don't worry about some of the traps being closed unless they're all closed and never reopen. They should reopen soonish, I would think.

2. There are a large number of types of VFTs some are all green, some are all red. As I understand it, however, a VFT will only get red in them if they get enough sun.

3. You really, really don't want to harvest from nature, unless what you are talking about is taking some cuttings from your VFT to make new VFTs, which is called "propagating" not harvesting. You might want to take a look at this:
http://www.world-of-carnivores.com/flytrap_propagation.html

I haven't done it yet, but from what I understand you just yank a leaf off (getting some of the white nubbin at the bottom with it), put it in a humid box with pure peat moss with a clear lid, half bury it, and let it do it's thing for a while.

4. Yes, you should be planning on letting them sleep through the winter, although I'm still figuring that part out myself. What zone are you in? Presumably you could just put them outside for the winter and they'd be ok...

In a nutshell, VFT's (and American pitcher plants) really need to be kept oustide. They are not indoor plants. There isn't enough light energy to sustain them, in the long run. And the lack of dormancy cues exacerbates the situation. They need lots of direct sunlight and they need a dormancy that terarriums and artificial lighting can't provide.

As to the flowering of a VFT, I wouldn't let a plant flower if it is kept inside and not put through a proper dormancy. That's a setup for failure / death.

Dormancy is a process. It actually begins right after the summer solstice and continues until winter solstice.

thanks guys :)

putting it outside isnt really an option for me as we dont have the right climate and the weather varies a great deal just day to day (it was 23oC, blue skies and sunshine yesterday, today its foggy and about 12oC)

the same goes for putting it outside for dormancy as in winter it can drop to about -5/6oC over night and jan/feb time we have very heavy frost which i presume would kill it within a day.

i believe the breed of mine is "dionaea" unless that is simply the latin name for a VFT? :S

does anybody have any idea what kind of size i can expect the plant and the pods to get?
(currently the leaves average about 4-5cm in length with a pod about 1.5cm across at the widest point)

again thanks for the help :)

Dionaea Is indeed the Latin name for the VFT. Dionaea muscipula specifically.

I think the biggest trap in cultivation is B52 at like 2" traps. Normal ones are like 1" I believe?

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq2180.html

yesterday my VFT caught a fly in one of its traps, but today the trap has re opened and although the fly is now dead, its body is still there as and has not been digested by the plant.

any explanation?

The fly's INSIDES get digested, he'll still look "good" on the outside. Also, if the trap caught it yesterday I highly doubt the trap would be opened today. It usually stays sealed for much longer before opening. Maybe he was traped longer than a day ago?

no im positive the trap was shut less than 12 hours before it reopened, could this be a problem?

I wouldn't worry about it. Let the plant do it's thing. Nature knows better than we do.

Nice going with your Flytrap Christy!!

The only alternative to get your Flytrap to thrive indoors would be florescent lighting and that window at the same time. Venus Flyraps are like garden plants, like roses and spinach. They need huge quantities of bright sunlight to develop coloration and to grow well. The less light, the less color and the slower the growth until the plant just gives up and dies.

Place a minimum of 12000 lumens of florescent shop light right over your plant, about 4-5 inches above for 16 hours a day, and keep it in that window. You should notice faster growth, more coloration if the cultivar is anything but a Green Dragon, and long lasting digestion and absorption of nitrogen from insect prey.

Flytraps take one to two weeks to digest prey, but can only do that if they have enough energy from sunlight. If they do not have the energy they will simply reopen or die trying. If the prey was dead to begin with, the plant would also simply reopen the next day like nothing happened since it takes live prey struggling inside the trap to make it go into the narrowing phase about 30 minutes to an hour later after trapping.

All was going well with my VFT and my Sundews till my automated sprinkler system went off this morning without me being aware and flooded by VFT and Sundews with TAP WATER!!. As soon as I noticed I removed them from their drip trays and threw out the tap water. I then flooded them with rain water, squeezed out the medium that they are in as best I could, and have now left them dry until tonight when I will once again give them rain water in their drip trays. Will one spray of tap water kill them and should I repot them in fresh medium or can I just flood them with rain water and see what happens? I would hate to lose them as they are so big and healthy. Can someone please advise urgently. If I need to repot, I can only do on the weekend as I work all week and have no time to buy the medium they need - will this affect them badly or not?

All was going well with my VFT and my Sundews till my automated sprinkler system went off this morning without me being aware and flooded by VFT and Sundews with TAP WATER!!. As soon as I noticed I removed them from their drip trays and threw out the tap water. I then flooded them with rain water, squeezed out the medium that they are in as best I could, and have now left them dry until tonight when I will once again give them rain water in their drip trays. Will one spray of tap water kill them and should I repot them in fresh medium or can I just flood them with rain water and see what happens? I would hate to lose them as they are so big and healthy. Can someone please advise urgently. If I need to repot, I can only do on the weekend as I work all week and have no time to buy the medium they need - will this affect them badly or not?

I think the rain water flush will be sufficient. A gallon jug of distilled water, from Walmart would also be good to have on hand. Happy Thanksgiving!