FlyTrapCare Forums

Hello all, I was reading up on what might be going on with my pitchers and came across this forum so I figured I'd join. I am a chameleon keeper, which accidentally got me into plants too lol. Carnivorous plants have been a little side hobby for a couple years now. I had several that were thriving until I moved twice and killed them from shock I believe. Now I have 2 plants that haven't thrown off any pitchers since early summer and the ones that were there turned brown and fell off. Otherwise, the plant leaves looked healthy and were still growing. One i got a few years ago, the other I got last spring. I'm sorry, I do not know the species, they were labeled "tropical pitcher plants" heh. These have been in mostly the same conditions for a while now, not much changes. Outside(Pennsylvania) during summer, under shade and a very humid woody area. In our office during winter which gets a lot of natural light. Temps indoors have been low 70s, humidity about 40-50%.

So the main problem I'm noticing is the tips of leaves are turning black and growth seems to have halted. I water with distilled/dehumidifier water. I try to keep the substrate moist as my past nepenthes(which were thriving until I left them out through a freeze ugh) sat in a dish of water. The 'soil' is a mix of sphagnum/perlite/orchid bark in one, the other has what it came in, which I think is peat.

Any help would be much appreciated, would hate to lose these!

Im no expert, but i know neps dont like to sit in water, it rots their roots. id recommend overhead watering, let then dry out a little before adding more water, they hate to be very wet all the time

Hey, thank you! These were never kept sitting in water. I do water often though, should I let them dry out a lot?

LennyL wrote: ↑Sun Jan 17, 2021 8:23 pm Hey, thank you! These were never kept sitting in water. I do water often though, should I let them dry out a lot?

I water them once a week

You said one is planted in a LFSM/perlite/bark mix, and the other is planted in peat. In the 2nd and 4th pictures I can see a little green sphere. Those are usually indicative of potting soil or another soil meant for plants other than carnivorous ones. Are you sure of the growing media?
It's possible that they're in the wrong type of soil, and a repot into what you know to be LFSM might be in order.

That's a good point. I am not 100% sure of what was used for the one plant. Oddly, the one you're talking about is media I mixed up myself. I have several plants around those, it's actually a big free range where my chameleon lives during the winter, so I'm thinking that little green ball fell in at some point. I didn't notice it until you said something.