FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi, my new VFT''s arrived today. All of the traps are closed!! What does this mean? Is there anything besides getting it good water, light that can help?

Here are the pics.

The first pic is 2 typical VFT's (1 is 1 year old, the other is 3)....




The second Pic is my B-52 trap (3 years old) and a drosera paroxida (which was thrown in for free!) I think i shouldn't have them together but I only had enough of the medium for that... As you may not see they are in a plastic tray with distilled water in it, i also moistened the soil significantly, they are in a spot where they will get great sunlight! Anything i'm missing?

Hi CanadianFlyTrapper,
The traps probably got closed from when it was in shipping .I'd say that you are doing good so far.(Congrats on your new plants.)

good luck taking care of them. you should of put more soil in the top one so there is more room

I usually try to fill my pot to the top with dirt. No matter how hard I pack it, it ends up settling down more. This way, the plant also receives the most light because it is still able to be hit by rays of sunshine even if the sun is low in the sky.

Adam wrote:I usually try to fill my pot to the top with dirt. No matter how hard I pack it, it ends up settling down more. This way, the plant also receives the most light because it is still able to be hit by rays of sunshine even if the sun is low in the sky.

I totally needed this advice a few weeks ago Ah well live and learn.

Aren't new plants so exciting??? Your plants will be in shock for a bit. Be patient, and don't expect much out of them for the first week or so. Give them the best care you can without over-caring for them (ie. don't over water them as I tend to do.... although in the middle of summer that's tough to do). I've had my plants for about 2 weeks and my Scarlet Bristle flytrap is JUST starting to look like it's going to be all right. Most of the leaves that were on it are going black (or have already), but there's a new trap forming.

These damn plants are teaching me more patience than I ever thought I'd need in life

Hey,

I use a spray bottle to mist the dirt off the little buggers after potting them to let light get to them and clean them up for pretty sakes.

And as already said, VFT'S like TALL pots for their LONG roots; AND FILL IT UP. That way also, You can have the roots plenty wet at the bottom tray method without having a soggy rhyzome which they don't like, especially if indoors, and if outdoors, the pot won't get so hot if it has moist dirt to the top.

Good luck!

Gary

Excellent points about the soil and growing indoors, Gary!

So they are all growing well, I've been cutting the dead traps off as soon as i notice any black on them. I have fed all 3 traps, 1 with 2 bugs, they seem hungry! Haven't had much sun, but they are outside in the rain, fog and all. I notice almost everyday since i got them, there is a dead trap on at least 1 of them. Assuming they were in shock from shipping, I am just thinking this is normal? I see new traps growing on them all, almost all the traps aer a nice shade of red inside.

Congratulations on your new plants!

Giovanni

Redneck_Angel wrote:

Adam wrote:I usually try to fill my pot to the top with dirt. No matter how hard I pack it, it ends up settling down more. This way, the plant also receives the most light because it is still able to be hit by rays of sunshine even if the sun is low in the sky.

I totally needed this advice a few weeks ago Ah well live and learn.

Aren't new plants so exciting??? Your plants will be in shock for a bit. Be patient, and don't expect much out of them for the first week or so. Give them the best care you can without over-caring for them (ie. don't over water them as I tend to do.... although in the middle of summer that's tough to do). I've had my plants for about 2 weeks and my Scarlet Bristle flytrap is JUST starting to look like it's going to be all right. Most of the leaves that were on it are going black (or have already), but there's a new trap forming.

These damn plants are teaching me more patience than I ever thought I'd need in life

Surprisingly, the only plants for me that actually go in shock are the nepenthes which take a little longer, when I get flytraps, usually the traps open the next day or two, and then they start putting new leaves and color after about 3 or 4 days. Sundews make their dew the next day for me, and sarrs put new leaves after about a week. Its pretty fast honestly.

CanadianFlyTrapper wrote:So they are all growing well, I've been cutting the dead traps off as soon as i notice any black on them. I have fed all 3 traps, 1 with 2 bugs, they seem hungry! Haven't had much sun, but they are outside in the rain, fog and all. I notice almost everyday since i got them, there is a dead trap on at least 1 of them. Assuming they were in shock from shipping, I am just thinking this is normal? I see new traps growing on them all, almost all the traps aer a nice shade of red inside.

Sounds like they're doing great! Don't worry about cutting off the leaf if the trap is only starting to turn black. The green bits still perform photosynthesis for the plant. I generally won't cut off a trap or leaf until the ENTIRE thing is black and shrivelled up, and then I only trim it for looks.

Great advice, thank you so much!!!


Here is something I noticed, on 2 of the "stems" where I cut the blackened traps, the end of the stem itself is now turning black, should I trim it back further?

I have pics which ill post here later today.

Here are my 2 typicals, traps finally all open, HUNGRY for bugs!!!!

Let me know how they look!

one of the reasons that the traps turn black is that the root system is not working 100% yet. The plant needs to deliver water everywhere and that's why the extremities will turn black. In a couple of weeks, the plant will have died back just enough so that the roots are proving water to everything. Then the roots will grow and the number of leaves on your plant will increase.

In the summer, I rarely see a lot of black or dying leaves. it seems they last many months each.