FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi all. Over the last couple of weeks I've been noticing some kind of weird things going on with some of my venus fly traps and I'm very confused. These weird things are:

• Small, thin, single strand spider webs going from trap to trap or pot to pot.
  Some of the teeth on some of my fly traps have been removed- I assume eaten off.
  Some traps have been dying and discoloring weirdly.
  One plant seems to be growing two traps on one leaf.

Anyway, I've included some photos of what I'm talking about as I'm not even sure if these things are related or have the same cause.

I'm in Southern Australia, where it has just began summer. So the environment is hot and dry, the plants themselves are outside in trays with bottom water. I've tested the water with a EC meter, it returns a TDS of 19 PPM.

Mites.

Smooter80 wrote:Mites.

Thanks Smooter80. I knew I wasn't going crazy! I'll treat for mites tomorrow.

I've treated plants with a neem oil dip. Does anyone have any experience on how quickly the plants will start to recover? I need to re-apply as per instructions, but I'd like to see some improvement.

I haven't tried the Neem oil but I have some on hand. Mites are extremely tough to kill and keep away. During the Summer they are a major issue for me. Once you think they are gone, treat at least once more. The plants recover fast once the mites are gone.

If there are webs it would be spider mites, spider mites HATE getting wet. Since I'm assuming its pretty dry where you are you can top water simulating rain by poking holes in the lid of your distilled water jug. Do this often and they should go away.

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Iv had a few mutation occur before on mine but that double headed monster beats it. It looks like they both will still be able to function. Have you posted any pics of it lately? I would love to see it now.

crazidirtbiker wrote:Iv had a few mutation occur before on mine but that double headed monster beats it. It looks like they both will still be able to function. Have you posted any pics of it lately? I would love to see it now.

Happy new year to everyone. Sorry for the silence crazidirtbiker, it's been pretty busy here. I've been watching it closely, and both traps did develop into working mechanisms. One is actually feeding at the moment. Here's a few photos of how it looks today.

lanzad wrote:

crazidirtbiker wrote:Iv had a few mutation occur before on mine but that double headed monster beats it. It looks like they both will still be able to function. Have you posted any pics of it lately? I would love to see it now.

Happy new year to everyone. Sorry for the silence crazidirtbiker, it's been pretty busy here. I've been watching it closely, and both traps did develop into working mechanisms. One is actually feeding at the moment. Here's a few photos of how it looks today.

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If that mutation keeps showing up, you should try cloning it.

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Wow thanks for the update, thats unbelievable!

This might seem weird but actually its surprisingly really effective. I have siblings who like to catch lady bugs. So I make use of this and I put them in my vft pots. Assuming they don't get eaten by the plant (supervising helps prevent this catastrophe), the lady bugs will actually eat the mites that are causing your plant distress. I had the same problem with the web strands going pot to pot or trap to trap. After putting the lady bugs in it and leaving it outside, the mites quickly vanished! Thats if the problem occurs for you again. This problem usually occurs for me every spring. Nice looking plants btw!

idog24 wrote:This might seem weird but actually its surprisingly really effective. I have siblings who like to catch lady bugs. So I make use of this and I put them in my vft pots. Assuming they don't get eaten by the plant (supervising helps prevent this catastrophe), the lady bugs will actually eat the mites that are causing your plant distress. I had the same problem with the web strands going pot to pot or trap to trap. After putting the lady bugs in it and leaving it outside, the mites quickly vanished! Thats if the problem occurs for you again. This problem usually occurs for me every spring. Nice looking plants btw!

That's an awesome idea, idog24. I would much rather use natural controls than chemicals.

You can buy ladybugs on Amazon, believe it or not. Very inexpensive, too.