FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey all,

I have a question for everyone, and hopefully it's nothing to be worried about. I have a pot of flytraps that I have had for a few years that have always been really healthy, and a newly purchases Sarracenia Leucophylla. Today I noticed some of the flytraps are getting a ton of really small black spots that almost look indented. The sarracenia have it too, but to a lesser extent, and they are developing large white spots that seem to be wilting the growth. Any ideas as to what they could be/how to treat it?

Looks a bit like mite damage on the flytraps. I am on my phone right now so I can't get a good view of the photo to say for sure.

If that's the case I proactively sprayed Orthenex on them after I posted this, which has acephate in it, will that hopefully take care of the problem?

You should first identify the pest, if it is in fact pest damage, so you know what you're dealing with. Acephate will work on pretty much all pests, but I've found that the Orethenex tends to burn the leaves of flytraps. For that reason, I purchase Acephate 75 and mix my own.

But if the damage is caused by mites, acephate alone will not kill them permanently. It might slow them down, but they're hard to kill and the only thing I've had success with is a dedicated miticide, which are expensive. But we sell small portions of 3 types of miticide in the store for those hobbyists who do not wish to purchase a large bottle.

I have the same damage on my VFTs, and I noticed that it was from mites. I sprayed it down with a miticide and the new growth is looking much better.

I actually have some miticide laying around that I sprayed on and the new leaves look much better. Thank you both for the advice!