FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Ordered some new cultivar VFTs from the forums here to expand a bit. I bought a typical from lowes for my first CP. Got them in the mail but lots of black and dead traps. I'm guessing that's just from being stressed in the mail & no sun for about 3-4 days. As long as the rhizome is ok it should bounce back in spring or summer during growing season, right? I believe I read you should trim off any black and dead traps & leaves?

Here are a few pics of my new VFTs setup. Forgive the clutter all over the table. I will get better pics once everything is cleaned up. I have some Sarrs from a fellow forum member as well on the way. I will have to get pics of those as too once I get them planted.

i've only ordered about 3 or 4 VFT's over the net, the only ones that became weak were ones that came from a nursery/shadehouse, and i had put in full sun.
i don't think that would account for this much damage though, perhaps just badly packaged?

I could be wrong but what most of the dead growth looks to be older growth which has started to die back due to dormancy. The only one that, to me, doesn't look that way is the trap labeled Mirror. That one looks like it had a couple of divisions and ones dead. Looking at the FTS Maroon Monster and B52 both look like plants entering dormancy.

That's what dormant plants look like in my conditions.

Black crispy dead leaves tend to be the least worrying look of a VFT. It's the mushy dark green/brown stuff that's frost damage.

cegha04 wrote:I'm guessing that's just from being stressed in the mail & no sun for about 3-4 days.

No sun for 3-4 days won't normally cause any visible signs of stress. It would more likely be excessive heat or frost to cause this in the mail.

cegha04 wrote:As long as the rhizome is ok it should bounce back in spring or summer during growing season, right? I believe I read you should trim off any black and dead traps & leaves?

Yep, they should be ok. You don't have to trim off dead leaves, it's cosmetic. I try to wait until they're nice and crispy to cut them off ... or at that point usually they'll just pull off.

jwbates26 wrote:I could be wrong but what most of the dead growth looks to be older growth which has started to die back due to dormancy.

Agreed. They all look like flytraps entering dormancy and shedding summer traps. And they all look very health too.