FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Is there a way to tell if your vft has root rot without haveing to uproot it? and is it possible to over water your plant if you put to much water in the dish under the pot. Thank you

I'm not sure if you can definitively tell if your plant has root rot without uprooting it. I'm sure that there are symptoms that you could recognize, but I'm not sure what those would be.

And yes, you can over water your plant by keeping it sitting in water all the time.

so do you jest check the roots and see every one in a while to make sure nothin is wrong with it? also do u have to uproot your plant to see if fungus gnats are one it? thanks again

lil_mike227 wrote:so do you jest check the roots and see every one in a while to make sure nothin is wrong with it?

No need to uproot a plant if it's growing well unless it's time to repot. If it's sick and I couldn't figure out why, then I would probably uproot it.

lil_mike227 wrote:also do u have to uproot your plant to see if fungus gnats are one it?

No, you'll know when you have fungus gnats. They fly!

so what do you think the chances of getting fungus gnats on these plants are. and if the chances are high how do you suggest getting rid of them?

Matt wrote:I'm not sure if you can definitively tell if your plant has root rot without uprooting it. I'm sure that there are symptoms that you could recognize, but I'm not sure what those would be.

And yes, you can over water your plant by keeping it sitting in water all the time.

I know root rot in other plants shows the same symptoms of underwatering- I'm guessing that the same would hold true with flytraps. The leaves begin to wither and look starved for water- because they are! No water is getting from the roots to the leaves because the roots have rotted away and CAN'T get the water to the leaves. As you can guess, this can be confusing- do you add more water, or less water? You'd have to know what your plant has received recently in order to diagnose from what the leaves are doing in order to take corrective action to fix it before it gets too late.

I think if there's something wrong with the plant, you can probably see it in the leave. And fungus gnats fly? They don't fly! Really? They fly?

lemonlily wrote: And fungus gnats fly? They don't fly! Really? They fly?

yeah adults do

Redneck_Angel wrote:

Matt wrote:I'm not sure if you can definitively tell if your plant has root rot without uprooting it. I'm sure that there are symptoms that you could recognize, but I'm not sure what those would be.

And yes, you can over water your plant by keeping it sitting in water all the time.

I know root rot in other plants shows the same symptoms of underwatering- I'm guessing that the same would hold true with flytraps. The leaves begin to wither and look starved for water- because they are! No water is getting from the roots to the leaves because the roots have rotted away and CAN'T get the water to the leaves. As you can guess, this can be confusing- do you add more water, or less water? You'd have to know what your plant has received recently in order to diagnose from what the leaves are doing in order to take corrective action to fix it before it gets too late.

Of course it would be more sensible to water moderately I water them using water tray and then let it evaporate and water and evaporate....Ah,you guys geddit

Mike,
As I recall, you recently got your VFT (although I could be wrong). If you are seeing signs of distress in your flytrap, it is probably just settling in. To prevent root rot, let the tray dry out before watering (but don't let the soil dry out - thats waiting too long to water it)

As for fungus gnats, yes they fly, they are just tiny bugs that are annoying. Some will tell you not to worry about them, as they really don't do much harm to the plants (with the exception of the larva possibly eating the roots of seedling sized flytraps). Personally, I find them incredibly annoying and have tried get rid of them (for my indoor plants at least)

You can try some Neem oil - available locally at Lowes and maybe Home Depot, or some Ortho Rosepride incecticide. I use the Rosepride and it works wonders at keeping bugs out of your soil, but it smells terrible and you will probably have to buy it on Ebay, as I wasn't able to find any US sellers online or in stores.