FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

This is my first VFT I bought it from Homebase in the UK for £3.99. I chose this one because it looked the healthiest out of the lot the rest looked really lifeless

It's got quite a few new traps springing up so I think it's doing ok. Some of the traps have got black and look dead as you can see in the pic above. Should I cut these traps off or just leave them as they are?

2 plants so a good value purchase!! I always leave the traps untill they have blackened all the way down then just pull them off.

If it is a new purchase you may benefit from top watering with rain water for a while and throwing out the water after, they use tap water which leaves loads of nasties in the soil.

cookie0117 wrote:2 plants so a good value purchase!! I always leave the traps untill they have blackened all the way down then just pull them off.

If it is a new purchase you may benefit from top watering with rain water for a while and throwing out the water after, they use tap water which leaves loads of nasties in the soil.

2 plants? Are you saying I have more that one VFT in this pot? If so how can you tell?

I have been giving it plenty of rain water from the top. Bought a water but and I have also ordered a TDS monitor from ebay which should be on the way

How you can tell, there are 2 separate places for new growth. Look toward the bottom, where it "flowers" out at the base. 2 plants.

Yep, looks like there's more than one growing crown in there to me as well. You can tell because not all of the new leaves are coming up from the exact same spot. It's not unusual for plants that size to develop offshoots on the side. That's how they multiply and spread in the wild. In the spring, you'll be able to separate them, if you want, and have two (or more) plants.

The black traps look like the normal process that occurs as the older traps wither and die off. As long as they're being replaced by newer leaves shooting up from the center, everything is fine. It looks like most of your traps are closed and personally I've noticed that when my plants start catching a lot of bugs outside, it seems like a few more traps than usual start dying off. So if you're feeding it by hand, I'd back off, especially since it will be wanting to go dormant for the winter pretty soon.

You can trim the black traps off if you want for esthetic reasons, but it's not really necessary. If you do, just be sure not to remove any green living tissue because it can still perform photosynthesis for the plant. Also, be careful not to trigger any open traps into closing because that wastes energy when there's no bug to be caught.

Do you know what kind of soil your plant is in? It looks like it's been staying pretty wet judging by the moss growing on top of the soil. They do need consistently moist soil, but if it's kept *too* wet it can lead to fungus and rot, so it should drain very fast as well.

Congrats on a great purchase!

wow looks like I got quite a bargain then. Looking forward to repotting them in the spring.

I have fed it a few wax worms by hand every now and then but I will stop that now winter is on the horizon.

I have no idea what sort of soil my plant is in at the moment but in the spring I plan to put it into a deeper pot with 100% Sphagnum moss. Do you think that is a good idea?

I won't bother cutting off the black traps ill let nature take its course.

Thanks guys learning I have two VFT has made my day =D

Yes, a deeper pot does sound like a good idea. Flytrap roots grow mostly straight down and can get at least six to eight inches long.

Personally, I've never grown anything in 100% sphagnum, but I've heard people say here on the forum that it's harder to control the moisture level when using that. I've only been growing CP's for just one season so far myself, and I seem to have had the best luck with the 50/50 peat moss and perlite combination.

I was just curious about the soil because most store-bought CP's (at least here in the U.S.) don't usually have them in the right kind of soil even to begin with. They're usually sold in very small, shallow pots inside a clear plastic box that's "affectionately" known as a "death cube" here on the forum! They can probably survive in those for a few weeks, even without being watered, but it's definitely not the optimal growing conditions for them. The bar code on the side of your pot though seems to suggest it's probably been treated better than that before being put up for sale.

Homebase and B & Q are the 2 main large DIY/Garden Centre chains here in the UK. They do not encase the plants but are general sold in shallow 9cm pots filled with pure peat. To say they are cared for better may a stretch, they are an insignificant part of their business and are stuck in the house plant section. The care instruction given are very generic for any house plant:

"Place in a sunny window sill. Water regulary, feed once a month with the shops branded house plant food. Keep above 12C during winter."

Is the care instruction from B & Q. When purchased they are generally dry and have been watered with tap water inbetween dring out periods.

Geez, I guess flytraps are like Rodney Dangerfield - they just don't get no respect!