- Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:59 pm
#18260
Hi, I'm completely new to the plant world, but I've been doing a lot of research on VFT basics. I still have a few specific questions though and I was hoping someone could take a look at my plant and give me some pointers. I have some general questions, and then I've described my plant's situation if that helps.
QUESTIONS:
When pruning, do I just cut off the dead trap or do I cut off the whole/part of the leaf?
Two traps (the two long ones hanging out of the pot) are yellowing, convex, and totally insensitive to stimuli. I found this out when I put the spider in both of them and they wouldn't close. Should I cut it off or leave them alone? I've read it may be due to low humidity, or maybe kids at the store poking the traps until they are insensitive.
One trap apparently caught a bug half way, and now the bug is dried and disgusting and the part where it is contacting the trap is black. Should I prune this or leave it alone until it blackens completely?
My trap is growing outwards and very close to the ground. Will it grow out of the pot? Is it unhealthy, most pictures/vids I saw of flytraps have traps that grow on vertical stalks?
My plant came with green moss stuff and other tiny plants growing under and around the VFT. Is this ok?
MY SETUP
I got this thing yesterday from a seedy little nursery. The trap is in the tiny pot it came in, which is actually a tiny plastic pot (3" i think) inserted in a slightly larger clay one. I've put this into a plastic tray and have just enough water in it so that water covers the inside surface of the outer clay pot. (see pics) I've placed it on the sunniest windowsill I have. It's high 60's here right now, and I'm in the Bay Area, CA, so it's not overly dry.
My plant has about 12 traps of varying size, and a few babies starting to bud from the middle. When I got it there were already 2 traps closed on large flies. There were some dead small flies in one of the open traps, which I closed by stimulating the triggers with a toothpick and then gently massaging the outsides (read that online). I wiped down the pots separately cause they were disgusting and found several bugs which I threw into the traps: a small spider, a small green thing I think was an aphid, and a large slug which escaped his trap. I've now read that I shouldn't feed the plant large items and just let the slug go.
There were also two dead traps and a dead leaf (they were black), which I pruned off just below the dead part, leaving the leaf intact.
Thanks for any help you guys can give me, and I'm excited to learn how to help my plant thrive!
QUESTIONS:
When pruning, do I just cut off the dead trap or do I cut off the whole/part of the leaf?
Two traps (the two long ones hanging out of the pot) are yellowing, convex, and totally insensitive to stimuli. I found this out when I put the spider in both of them and they wouldn't close. Should I cut it off or leave them alone? I've read it may be due to low humidity, or maybe kids at the store poking the traps until they are insensitive.
One trap apparently caught a bug half way, and now the bug is dried and disgusting and the part where it is contacting the trap is black. Should I prune this or leave it alone until it blackens completely?
My trap is growing outwards and very close to the ground. Will it grow out of the pot? Is it unhealthy, most pictures/vids I saw of flytraps have traps that grow on vertical stalks?
My plant came with green moss stuff and other tiny plants growing under and around the VFT. Is this ok?
MY SETUP
I got this thing yesterday from a seedy little nursery. The trap is in the tiny pot it came in, which is actually a tiny plastic pot (3" i think) inserted in a slightly larger clay one. I've put this into a plastic tray and have just enough water in it so that water covers the inside surface of the outer clay pot. (see pics) I've placed it on the sunniest windowsill I have. It's high 60's here right now, and I'm in the Bay Area, CA, so it's not overly dry.
My plant has about 12 traps of varying size, and a few babies starting to bud from the middle. When I got it there were already 2 traps closed on large flies. There were some dead small flies in one of the open traps, which I closed by stimulating the triggers with a toothpick and then gently massaging the outsides (read that online). I wiped down the pots separately cause they were disgusting and found several bugs which I threw into the traps: a small spider, a small green thing I think was an aphid, and a large slug which escaped his trap. I've now read that I shouldn't feed the plant large items and just let the slug go.
There were also two dead traps and a dead leaf (they were black), which I pruned off just below the dead part, leaving the leaf intact.
Thanks for any help you guys can give me, and I'm excited to learn how to help my plant thrive!
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