FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey everyone, Nice to meet you all!
As you can probably see I am new to this forum and have a poorly plant that I hope it's not too late to save.
My friend has given up on the thing and I wanted to give this amazing plant a better life.
I have read all the beginners guides so I know what to do, I just feel this plant needs emergency attention before I start.

What I know:
My friend has watered this plant for 4 months with tap water
It should have had at least 5 hours of light a day on kitchen windowsill
The leaves have little if not any red on the inside when they originally did
The traps them self have started to grow outwards with the hairs pointing out not in.

Is it too late?
Can I flush the soil in any way or should I prune the traps to keep it going?

Thank you in advance for all the help!

Do you know what the potting media is? It might be worth repotting in fresh sphagnum peat moss/perlite mix. Water with distilled water.

If your climate allows it, keep it outside. Keep it in the shade first and slowly acclimate it to full sunlight. Looks like the plant has been a bit light-starved.

Overall, it doesn't look too bad. Just give it some love and time and it will bounce back!

Thank you for the quick response! Honestly I think it's just compost, so will look into repotting!
Do you know why the hairs (not sure if that's what there called) are facing out and not in like teeth?
Will get it in the light but I think London is a bit cold for it to be outside haha
Thanks

divstarr wrote: Do you know why the hairs (not sure if that's what there called) are facing out and not in like teeth?

"Cilia" or the teeth (both of which are acceptable) can turn out like that during die off, and to me that is what it looks like. Die off can happen for any number of reasons, most of which you can control.

Now that it is yours, I would advise for your next few watering to give it a good flush. That will aid in removing a lot of the mineral build up and/or contaminants.

As for your soil: I would personally hold off re-potting for a while and try not to introduce too many changes at once. You could potentially knock out any suspect water problems with fresh media that you know to be correct, however.

Lastly: die off could occur because of a change in it's environment which also isn't uncommon. Each of us has our methods, and nobody is technically wrong. I'm a less is more person.

On the positive: I think I see a new leaf in the center, so that is certainly a good sign.

Certainly gather as much information as you can, before making a decision.

also, the saucer looks dry, but using normal compost will kill the plant zap-pow

MrsMuscipula wrote:Do you know what the potting media is? It might be worth repotting in fresh sphagnum peat moss/perlite mix. Water with distilled water.

If your climate allows it, keep it outside. Keep it in the shade first and slowly acclimate it to full sunlight. Looks like the plant has been a bit light-starved.

Overall, it doesn't look too bad. Just give it some love and time and it will bounce back!

+1 Maria Great advice.

Also i like to add a bit of Canadian oak bark

Wash the VFT with low TDS water then Repotting it. Use spaghnum moss. I use silica sand : spaghum moss here 1 : 2.