FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Ugg I can’t figure out how to post a picture so this isn’t going to go too well... anyway I’ll try.
I bought a VFT from a local farmers co-op. It came in a plastic pot with drainage holes and a clear plastic dome top. I have no idea what media it’s planted in. I did all kinds of research on caring for them AFTER buying the plant. It seems ok, but the stem or whatever (leaves?) that the actual trap is connected to is turning a very dark red. It’s almost brown. I know that they can turn pink/red but this is really dark. There was a big stem coming up in the middle that I’ve snipped off. It gets direct sunlight outside (Maryland, USA in April, so lots of sun). Maybe it was shocked by the light?) I learned that I was over watering it, so I’ve corrected that. It’s also just kind of...floppy. There’s not much rigidity to it. I know next to nothing about horticulture (but I am learning!) but I know it just doesn’t look healthy overall. I typed all this up but I guess without a picture there isn’t much you can do for me. Any guidance on how to upload.

Every time I'm about to post and type a text body paragraph, if you scroll further than that down the page before uploading, you should see an option saying upload attachment and then from there, it should be easy to figure it out.

Hard to say without a picture, although its true that every different flytrap also has a different level of anthocyanin pigment. Anthocyanin pigment is what gives the traps their red coloured interiors, so the levels to which they redden can differ greatly. Then there are also the anthocyanin free all green flytrap clones like Burbank's best that don't redden up at all and stay green. Considering you purchased it from a local shop, theres a good chance it also came as an unlabelled cultivar, so you could have a flytrap that goes really red by the sounds of it, could be a very random flytrap, hard to say.

Did they keep the plant indoors in shade when you purchased it? if so, and if it wasn't receiving much sun at all, chucking it out into a full sun location straight away can give it shock, and most of the old growth will burn off, don't worry though, it'll make new growth eventually that'll be acclimated to the direct sun, but gradual acclimation is always best, you start small, first day, one hour direct sunlight, second day, two hours etc and gradually build it up. Hopefully you didn't keep the plastic dome top on your flytrap in full sun, that'd cook it badly.

To be honest its hard to overwater a flytrap, especially in summer if its receiving heaps of sun. For watering, you should use the tray method, anything like a saucer, fill that with water and don't let it ever dry out, and let your flytrap sit in it. And yea, considering you're in the USA, you'll need to use distilled water and not the water from your tap, as tap water has too many minerals that'll kill the flytrap. Although one good rule to remember with watering is more water in summer and less in winter. I fill the tray water level up to 3cm in summer, and only up to 1cm in winter.

hope that helped shed some light onto your question, good luck!