FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

recently i have bought a flytrap and grow it,first i didnt know how to warter it so i have water some...drinking water (with zero percent sodium or calorine ect) yesterday i just bought a gal of distilled water and water it...so i guess i was doing a bunch of serious mistake that make my flytrap dying here the problem :
1/my trap have several damage,1 have 3 traps,the first is small and just open for few days,the second one is closing with a bug i fed inside,the third one have some damage and the jaw is burning...not turn into black yet.i just fed the third one with a fly but it the trap wont close. Im worrying that my trap is dying because of my stupid care

ok guys i took some picture of my plants please take a look and tell me what should i do to help my flytrap thank you in advance
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Welcome to the forums

It would be good to put a photo of your plant here aswell

Since you havent had the plant that long you need to give it some time to settle in
There is no need to feed it anything just make sure you give it loads of direct sunlight and distilled water rain water or RO water (keeping it moist not soaking)


also after using the wrong water on i would sit it in a bucket of correct water til the surface of the plant goes moist (just to remove traces of the other water)

or repot into fresh peat moss etc

Well if you were using drinking water for a while, it could be high in TDS, which burn the plants roots. if that is so, then traps just forming will most likely not close because the plants trigger hairs are not formed right because of the water. i bought a trap in very bad condition and the first traps it made didn't close at all. this is because department stores water them with tap water, which really hurts the plant. what you should do is leave the plant alone for a while ( as in don't feed it or close it) and keep watering it with distilled water, rain water, or reverse osmosis. if you bought your plant from a department store, then acclimate it to light. read these two pages http://www.flytrapcare.com/the-importan ... traps.html http://www.flytrapcare.com/the-importan ... traps.html



after a week or two, the plant should produce healthy traps that close




oh and welcome to the forums!

thank you guy and i realized i made another serious problem :-s ...
i grow my plant in a plastic bowl and yesterday i put to much water in it,now its soaking in water
will the plant die because of this ? what should i do now?
oh and now im living in Arizona..in Surprise city,so i think its too hot for the plants,in the morning i let the plants stay outside from 6am-10am and then bring it inside then in the afternoon i bring it out again from 5pm til there is no sun light
is it ok for the plant?

you can put the whole plant in a bucket full of water but you dont leave in the bucket lol

Basically if its soaked atm just leave it to dry out then when it needs water again put a tray underneath and put 1" of water in it depending on the size of your pot (if the pot is 6" try with 1" of water in the tray)

Go to a weather site for the Carolina's where the fly trap comes from and check its natural habitat

I live in the UK and i know the weather here well

I know the fly trap can live in direct sun all the day long if you know how to setup the water pot plant etc remember the bigger the pot size the more protected the roots are the longer it can take to dry out etc so find the happy medium between all the these points

so...you mean i cant water directly in the surface? im using a..bowl so it dont have hole in the bottom so the water wont come out

sofarsogood wrote:so...you mean i cant water directly in the surface? im using a..bowl so it dont have hole in the bottom so the water wont come out

well you can, or use a tray on the bottom. whatever you prefer.

Get rid of that bowl lol

So you planted in a bowl right ? If so what soil to you use ?

Get maybe a 6" plastic pot with holes in and get some Sphagnum peat moss or buy ready made VFT soil mix from someone that knows then place a small tray under the pot then put in 1" of water in the tray

thank you guy im going to move my flytrap to a pot and use the bowl at a tray now
i use the sand in my backyard is it ok? i choose the sand with no fertilizer at all

careful with using sand from the back yard lol

Make sure its a type that's ok for CP's eg Silica sand basically its stuff that's used for filtering swimming pool water or get some play sand for kids that's been washed (play sand is finer but will do the job as drainage) or horticultural sand lime free etc for a garden center


Also just fill the bowl with 1" of water to start then place the pot inside after an hour stick your finger in the soil to feel the moisture if its too dry try another 1/2 " in the bowl

i hope it gonna be ok..thank you again ^^!

sofarsogood wrote:i grow my plant in a plastic bowl and yesterday i put to much water in it,now its soaking in water

The container must have drainage or you must periodically remove and replace the water with fresh water, in order to avoid a toxic buildup of dissolved solids that will damage or kill the plant. In addition, Venus Flytraps will rot if kept too wet for too long. They should be grown "moist, not wet all the time" for best results and healthiest plants.

Photos of your plants and containers in the environment they are experiencing right now would be helpful in order to receive better comments.

thank you im going to take a picture and upload it today

sofarsogood,

Your pot/bowl setup looks pretty good, but if I were you I would probably use a different potting medium. Although that sand doesn't have any fertilizer, it looks pretty dark, which probably means it's river-bed sand or something similar. These sands usually contain a decent amount of dissolved minerals just by their nature. If I were you, I would look into getting some sphagnum peat, perilite and silica (quartz) sand for growing.

95slvrZ28 wrote:sofarsogood,

Your pot/bowl setup looks pretty good, but if I were you I would probably use a different potting medium. Although that sand doesn't have any fertilizer, it looks pretty dark, which probably means it's river-bed sand or something similar. These sands usually contain a decent amount of dissolved minerals just by their nature. If I were you, I would look into getting some sphagnum peat, perilite and silica (quartz) sand for growing.

I agree, that doesn't look like silica sand.

if i were you i would get some silica sand ( aka pool filter sand, sand blasting sand, and coarse grade commercial sand) and some sphagnum peat moss ( where you can find at a local nursery, hardware store, home improvement store, and a lot of other places that have gardening supplies) but don't buy Miracle Grow or Scott brands, because these are nutrient enriched soils which can kill your plant! instead of silica sand though, you can use perlite as a substitute for silica sand, but it floats to the top when you water the soil if you want to know more on soil, they are easy to find in stores, but don't use Miracle Grow or Scotts. read the flytrap care page all about soil http://www.flytrapcare.com/media-soil-f ... traps.html



Hope this helps!