FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

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!

Hello Chompy,

It sounds like the traps have become insensitive, alot of people probobaly stimulated the trap for no reason. They wanted a "free sample", I bought an aloe plant today and some of the stalks are broken, just because people wanted to see the healing properties of the plant.
For pruning, Just cut off the dead trap, and when the petiole begins to die back, start cutting off the black part.
For the yellowing, it sounds like the plant hasn't been getting enough sunlight. Be sure to give it plenty!
The trap with half the bug, leave it on until it blackens completely.
For the ground-hugging, it sounds like not enough sunlight. Gradually it becomes more straight after alot of sun.
The green moss is algae, it makes the pot look a little gross, but it won't harm the plant.

From the pics It looks like you have two plants there bud.

First: Cut only the black parts leave green.
Second:leave them It's not due to humidity most likely that they're dying leave them till they turn fully black.
Third:Leave this one alone as well until it turns all black.
Fourth:This probably means that you're not giving it enough light, try keeping it outside.
Fifth: the green moss is very important for the plants health it's used as a medium ( they grow on it in their swamps), the little plants aren't a bad thing but if they're not vfts you could pull them out if you want I reccomend it.
Other then that your plants seem to be doing really well. :]

Hi and welcome to FlytrapCare

Your plant will be in shock for a bit from the change in scenery. Just be patient and don't expect too much from the traps that are currently on it. Traps will paralyze after opening& closing a few times, but so long as they're still green, they still feed the plant through photosynthesis.

I just wanted to mention that if you're bottom watering (as it looks like you are from your pics) you may want to pull the plastic pot out of the clay pot and just use the plastic one. Terra cotta or clay pots can leech minerals into the soil and water around them, and flytrap roots don't like that- which is why you need to use Distilled, Reverse Osmosis, or rain water when watering them.

Other than that, it looks and sounds like your plant should recover to full health soon. Just remember the 3 key golden rules of flytraps- pure water, lots of sunlight, and slightly acidic soil (peat moss is the most commonly used to grow them).

Cheers!
Gillian

Thanks for all your replies! I spent all day yesterday (bad use of paid time I admit) researching these things online. I agree that the plant may not have gotten a lot of light, the "nursery" I bought it from was made out of planks and plastic tarp in an industrial district, so it was humid but not very bright. My windowsill gets a lot of light and I'm in an urban environment so I can't put it outside. I'll let it soak up what it can from the window and if that doesn't work I might get a grow light. How long do you think it will take to recover?

The trap I manually closed cause there were dead bugs inside re-opened today, I think I'll leave such traps alone from now on. Im just worried the dead bugs will rot and bring the young trap with it.

I've already snipped the blackening trap before I read the replies, from now on I'll wait until the trap completely blackens. Incidentally I opened it up and the bug inside was digested, it was probably some sort of crane fly or something.

I bought a gallon of distilled water for it. Is the risk of the terra cotta pot leaching minerals into the water very great? As in should I change out the water because minerals might have leaked into it? At the nursery, they had all their CPs in a tub with water at the bottom, and they were all in clay pots. Also, is there a pot I can put it in that is as aesthetically pleasing? I took the clay pot out (pic) and it looked horrible, also the little raisers on the bottom of the water tray were too far apart to hold the pot aloft so I left it in the clay until I can find a replacement.

A question on lighting:

I'm in the Bay Area, CA. The humidity is 80% right now, it's very overcast, and usually gets very sunny for 4 hours or so in the afternoon, which is when direct sunlight comes through the windowsill to the point where I pull the blinds down because it's too bright. It's usually less overcast and maybe a bit less humid (still above 50%). Are these conditions ok? Do I need supplemental light, like make a lamp with a fluorescent bulb next to the plant?

Thanks again!

its fine if the humidity is 50% more or even less its ok i would recommend 2 leave it out side so it could get more sun light

yes, indeed well humidity isn't really that important.. i live in NM an it rarely goes up to 25% an they grow fine hehe



allen,

Even on foggy or cloudy days, your plant still gets sunlight. The clouds and fog act to disperse the light, not block it.

A cheap way to supplement lighting is to go buy the cheapest desk lamp you can find that takes a standard screw in style bulb, then go buy a Compact Flourescent bulb with the highest wattage equivalancy you can find. CFL bulbs don't heat up too much, so you can keep it close to your plant (mine is never closer than 6") without cooking it like a standard bulb will. I think I spent $5 on the lamp, and $10 on a 125w CFL bulb at WalMart.

And good for you for doing your research!!!! That's awesome that you're taking the interest to learn how to give your plant the best care you can

As far as the clay pot goes, you may want to flush your media out by top watering until the water is pouring out the bottom. Do this a few times, and the risk of mineral build up is minimal. Also, if you're wanting to decorate your plant up with a pretty pot, you can put it in a clay/ceramic pot IF it is glazed on the inside. Basically if the clay is sealed away from the water, you're fine.

Welcome Chompy (Great Name)!!
Sounds like you have gotten a lot of good advice already from members of the forum.
Remember the golden rules and I am sure your plant will thrive

Hope to see you around the site.
Peace!
E.S.

You guys are great, can't thank you enough and I will keep you posted on how it's doing. My goal is to get those tall, standing traps. Plants are so much more complicated to care for than animals because they don't respond to changes immediately, and I have to wait so long to see the effects of my fussing. I'm a little worried because I've changed so much of its conditions from in the store, and it seemed to me to be doing relatively well under those conditions. Are there some obvious signs of it improving, and how long till these are evident?

I placed it on my roof (only alternative) for a while while it was really sunny, but I live in a communal situation and it would definitely get disturbed (plus I missed looking at it on my window sill). It's back on my windowsill, but should I move it with the sunlight for max exposure, or will constant movement upset it?

"Chompy" is what my girlfriend and I decided to name the plant . She's not as into it as I am and gives me looks like I'm being a huge dork when I tell her all this stuff I'm learning from you guys.

I will try to find a glazed or ceramic pot, because it just looks so naked out there in its tiny cup and sits at a slant since it's too small for the tray. I will also try out the lamp idea if I stumble across a small enough lamp to fit on the sill. Will definitely post photos of any changes, I am loving this thing and I'm getting addicted.

Thanks for the support and advice!

your welcome if u want 2 get standing traps make sure it gets LOTS of light vft love light a quick question wat type of vft do u have cuz if u want standing traps there is a few types of vft that don't stand up like the low giant here is a pic of my low giant as u can see it grows low 2 the ground and it make BIG traps u should get 1 i got mine at www.cascadecarnivores.com its pretty cool

No problemo, chompy. Just be sure not to love it to death and overwater it!

I don't really know what type of VFT it is, but I would bet that it's just your typical, everyday VFT. I got it for $8.50 at a cactus nursery.

As to overwatering, if I'm bottom watering the plant, do I just keep water in the tray at all times or do I let it dry out for a day between? Not sure what the specifics of watering are, the media always looks damp but no standing water anywhere.

well u could let it dry out from now and then but i personally dont use the water tray but it is ok 2 use it