FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey guys,

Its been a week since i repotted my first vft and i thought i would see some big improvement. I feel as if shes almost doing worse now then she was before. Ive been slowly adding sunlight (1 hr) a day for 4 days and ive been adding a half hr every 4th day and im using distilled water only. Here are some picture:

Do you think its doing fine or what course of action should i take?

She needs to be outside, there isn't enough sunlight getting to her. Your Medium may not be healthy either.

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my new to this also guess is not enough sunlight, not sure on the potting material it looks off to me, what is the medium/how old is it? with it being in doors and just in front of a window I'd not use tray watering also not enough sun / too much water = quick and easy way to cause issues

Its long fiber sphag moss not even a week old. The surface is all in tact the middle and bottom of the pot is all cut into small pieces to drain. And maybe its not enough light but she was in rough shape because of the type of water i gave her and the sun i was giving her before. My other 2 vtfs are perfectly fine. Based on a lot of opinions and from what others have done the tray seemes to be a great option. Light will be introduced slowly as i made that mistake once. But i do know shes not happy.

She has to go outside. I believe your bringing her inside for The time she's not in the sun? she still have to be outside exposed to air and light, at least the non direct sun is better than that windowsill

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D3z02 wrote:Its long fiber sphag moss not even a week old. The surface is all in tact the middle and bottom of the pot is all cut into small pieces to drain. And maybe its not enough light but she was in rough shape because of the type of water i gave her and the sun i was giving her before. My other 2 vtfs are perfectly fine. Based on a lot of opinions and from what others have done the tray seemes to be a great option. Light will be introduced slowly as i made that mistake once. But i do know shes not happy.

just giving my opinion and what i've read countless of other folks here tell people day in and day out. windowsill + tray indoors = more potential for rot / plant not being as healthy and robust as it could be. I personally use tray water also but changes depending on weather outdoor/rainfall and they are outdoors in the direct sun all day.

if the LFSM is only a week old I wouldn't worry there - more sunlight and time and I bet it will bounce back no problem - the sooner you can get it acclimated to full sunlight the better in my not so expert opinion! as it seems you have the other parts of the equation down (sounds like you have corrected the water issue) if you can provide a cover or shaded area/anything over the plant outdoors while acclimating to full sun the plant will most likely do better than also as taking it inside and outside overall puts it in completely different humidity/air/temperature conditions.

riveraXVX wrote:
windowsill + tray indoors = more potential for rot / plant not being as healthy and robust as it could be.

This right here.

When you repotted it, was the rhiozome firm and white or black and mushy?

Depending on your climate where you're located should dictate how you should acclimate the plant to full sun. It'll be slower if you live in the dessert as opposed to say Ohio. Yes you can just throw them in full sun, but I would be very cautious doing that since your plant is in bad shape. You can continue on acclimating it the way you are which is essentially the same as throwing it in full sun only giving it a day or two to adapt isn't giving a slow growing plant time too adapt.

My recommendation assuming the rhiozome is still in good shape would be to start it at four hours of morning sun shaded the rest of the day until you see a new trap start to develop. Then go to five hours of morning sun until you se another new trap start to develop, then six and so on. Let the plant dictate when its ready to move on, not you.

The leaves dying off in the middle first tells me that plant is severely stressed. Typically the trap dies then the leaf follows.


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The rhiozome was completely white nothing mushy or black, it looked very healthy. Even now from the portion i can see it is still white. Point well taken. What i have been doing is leaving it on the window sill and i have white construction paper covering one half of the window so it is shaded and then when i leave the plant in sun i move the tray over for the hr or two.

Why don't you grow it outside?

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in your bottom photo of the plant in front of the window is that the plant in the windowsill receiving "full sun?" if so the screen that is in the window is already providing a shade to the plant and reducing the sunlight it is receiving substantially (50%?). so not only is the time in the sun...indoors minimal (1-2 hours a day) it is also filtered light and not full sun - combined with the water tray indoors - that seems to be the main source of your problems IMHO.

The bottom photos were taken around 7:30 est time. I never even thought of the screen being a shade. When i left her in the sun for a day and came back the next she was completely black. I freaked out. So my intentions is to be cautious so the remaining leafs are not toast. But if 1-2 hrs arent enough how many hrs should i bump up too with the screen and tray? Im sorry for my ignorance just trying to learn.

Well i found new growth today on my stuggling VFT. Thank you all for the advice and great info. Its not much but im sure over the next few months it will prosper.

Man that's awesome, it feels good when you know your efforts are working! Keep us posted.

awesome! hopefully once it re-establishes itself it shall be more robust and ready to grow! slowly watching progress on ours that faced some setbacks also feels nice!