FlyTrapCare Forums

Not many posts that discuss how to care for rhizome rot so I'm hoping someone can help. I noticed when prepping the VFT for dormancy that there were some brownage on the rhizome. To clarify, the majority of rhizome was firm and white (with some areas tinged with red). However, there are some stems coming off the rhizome that was brown and mushy (other stems/growth were fine also). Overall the plant smells and feels fine (no clear root rot) but the portions that were brown I snipped off the best I could and placed them in the container for fridge dormancy.

Is there anything I need to do and care for to hopefully reverse/stall the rotting?

That's a tough call. You're sure that it's rot? When this happened to me, Matt basically told me to scrape as much of the rot as possible and get it into the sun. It broke into a bunch of plantlets but the plant survived. It's kind of unfortunate that the timing put it in the fridge immediately afterwards. If you have grow lights, I'd consider breaking off a couple leaves and propagate it to be safe in case the plant doesn't make it. I don't do fridge dormancy but if it were me, I'd keep the media lightly damp, treat the media with a fungicide when needed or as a preventative and hope for the best.

The mushy brown portion touches the rhizome so it looks like the beginning stage of rhizome rot if I was to be neglecting it. It sounds like you just scraped off whatever you could and it turned out fine? I am hopeful that I was able to cut off enough of it so it doesn't spread down.

And yea, I recognize it is a bit of a pain with the timing. If it wasn't so close to dormancy then I would just do what you did ie cut off the bad part and be more vigilante on the moisture

Is the brown part on the opposite side of the rhizome from the growth point? If so, it's the remnants of old leaves and completely normal.

Not understanding what you mean. Are you asking if the brown spot is showing up on the other side as in that whole portion of the rhizome is brown too? Only the growth point was brown and mushy

Venus fly traps grow directionally. They put new leaves out one side of the rhizome as the ones at the other end die off.
If the brown mushy leaves were the ones at the back, then it's likely just the old stuff dying rather than root rot.

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