FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So i bought a King Henry Venus Fly Trap on Oct 5th, and it looked healthy at the time.

Picture of it the day i got it (October 5th):


I re planted it to another plastic container of the same size, placed it next to my other VFT that i've had for a year now which is healthy and has grown a lot. They both get about 4-5 hours of direct sunlight on sunny days, both get distilled water and the occasional bug (id say once a month, only one trap). I then fed my new King Henry a fly that flew into my apartment on Oct 11th, and one week later, i noticed it started to turn yellow and black... even a new small trap that was starting to grow. All i know is that this plant sure didn't get that much direct sunlight where it was growing before.

Could this be due to a change in sunlight hours? (Barely any direct sun to 5 hours of direct sunlight) or maybe the fly i fed it had some kind of fungus, or pesticide that now the VFT is absorbing? Maybe a mineral burn? or it might be adjusting to new container (This container looks and feels plastic to me but it seems to have a slightly different texture to the regular pots used for growing plants). If you notice, the trap that i fed the fly to is the only one rotting from the trap-outwards, the others are turning yellow from the leaflet on the base.

King Henry VFT one week after feeding. The trap with the red circle is the one i fed.








I should mention that the other healthy VFT gets the same water, same temp, same sunlight, same tray for holding water, and its growing just fine...
Any thoughts? Please help :O

Some cultivars do better than others when in the same conditions.

My concern is that you are keeping it far too wet being that it is inside. I wouldn't doubt your other vft would do even better if you let the pot dry to barely moist before watering.

They look like they are sun burned, they will grow new traps that are suitable for the current sunlight and conditions they get.


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Your using the tray method with long fibered moss and it's not outside= too wet. If you pulled the whole plant with the moss intact you will probably find the bottom few inches of moss completely soaked like a sponge. I could be wrong, but that's definitely what it looks like to me. I'm not saying you can't use the tray method ,but you have to be very careful with over watering the plant with that method especially indoors. This is probably the number 1 problem people have when caring for these plants and then it starts to rot your rhizome and in a week or two your plant is mush. You can make it recover if you catch it before it's too late. Best of luck to you bud

Could also be minerals in the water or soil that is affecting the plants


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Thanks everyone for the quick replies
I might cut back on water then. I do wait for the tray to go completely dry, and then i add some more water... but even that might be too much for this substrate?

Im going to give it some time and hope it recovers. What worries me is that i dont see any new growth :/
Lets hope she makes it.

Thanks again!

Give it the right conditions and it will eventually have new growth as long as it's not too far gone. They are slow growers so it can take a while.

Being inside that is watering way too much.

You should be able to let the pot dry out for a week or more before watering again.

When you water it just leave it sitting in the water long enough for it to absorb as much as it can. Then poor out the remaining water. You should be able to go at least a week before doing it again.

Fieldofscreams wrote:Being inside that is watering way too much.

You should be able to let the pot dry out for a week or more before watering again.

When you water it just leave it sitting in the water long enough for it to absorb as much as it can. Then poor out the remaining water. You should be able to go at least a week before doing it again.

Ah, it seems like ive been doing it wrong all along. What i was always told, and what i read online, was to keep the substrate moist at all times. I will follow your advice then! I hope its not too late D:

They do not like being constantly wet.

They really shouldn't even be inside. They are outdoor plants.

jaysolorzano wrote:

Fieldofscreams wrote:Being inside that is watering way too much.

You should be able to let the pot dry out for a week or more before watering again.

When you water it just leave it sitting in the water long enough for it to absorb as much as it can. Then poor out the remaining water. You should be able to go at least a week before doing it again.

Ah, it seems like ive been doing it wrong all along. What i was always told, and what i read online, was to keep the substrate moist at all times. I will follow your advice then! I hope its not too late D:

The tricky thing is they can’t tolerate drying out, but they also need a fair amount of oxygen in the soil and especially around the rhizome. So they need a well-draining soil that never dries out.

If you keep them soaking wet all the time, they won’t get enough oxygen to the root system to grow well and they’ll be susceptible to rot.

The exact moisture level they should be at depends on your medium, your growing location, and what season it is. It might take a bit of trial and error to find out exactly what’s best for you.

Ya and if your growing indoors I would recommend top watering method because there isn't enough evaporation going on especially since we are getting into fall and winter.