FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello Everyone!

I first posted here about three months ago, thanks to everyone who gave me advice at that time!

My plants are still alive. It is just now becoming warm and sunny enough for me to bring them outside.



So, I have a few concerns that I'm hoping someone can help me with. First, here is all that I'm currently doing:
- Watering with reverse osmosis/purified water only
- Watering roughly once per week or when medium seems dry
- High-powered 5000k LED for 12 hours per day + any available sunlight. Light is placed anywhere from 8 inches to 2 feet above plants.
- Feeding ants and other small insects to a few traps as available (I expect feeding to improve as it warms up)

...and here are my concerns. Recently I notice that some of my new growth is a reddish color. I'm not sure if this is due to too much heat/light, not enough moisture, a medium problem, or maybe it's not a problem at all. Any thoughts?


Next, I notice that some of the new growth is also coming up with blackened heads that do not grow. I've read on another post that this could be caused by overwatering, but it's not happening to all or even most of the new growth, so I'm not sure what to think. This leaf pictured also is reddish at the tip, again not sure if that's a heat/moisture issue or something else:


I'd appreciate any thoughts, including whether or not you think the plants are doing well based on these pics.
Thanks much!

Jhereg wrote: So, I have a few concerns that I'm hoping someone can help me with. First, here is all that I'm currently doing:
- Watering with reverse osmosis/purified water only
...
- High-powered 5000k LED for 12 hours per day + any available sunlight. Light is placed anywhere from 8 inches to 2 feet above plants.

When you say RO/purified, do you mean RO and also water purified by some other means? Or only water purified by RO?

Jhereg wrote: ...and here are my concerns. Recently I notice that some of my new growth is a reddish color. I'm not sure if this is due to too much heat/light, not enough moisture, a medium problem, or maybe it's not a problem at all. Any thoughts?

The red here is a sign that it's getting good light and is healthy new growth! Looks good! In the larger pictures, I first thought they weren't getting enough light, but maybe most of that grew under lower light conditions? How powerful is your grow light? 2ft is usually a bit too far.

Jhereg wrote: - Watering roughly once per week or when medium seems dry
...
Next, I notice that some of the new growth is also coming up with blackened heads that do not grow.

If you're letting it get all the way dry, that might explain the blackened heads. Make sure the soil stays damp below the surface. If not, I'm not sure what might have caused it.

xr280xr: When you say RO/purified, do you mean RO and also water purified by some other means? Or only water purified by RO?

As part of my job I get free bottled water. The water is usually Member's Mark "Purified Water". On the back of the bottle it says "Purified by reverse osmosis". This is almost exclusively what my VFTs get.

xr280xr: The red here is a sign that it's getting good light and is healthy new growth! Looks good! In the larger pictures, I first thought they weren't getting enough light, but maybe most of that grew under lower light conditions? How powerful is your grow light? 2ft is usually a bit too far.

Great, thank you! So happy that I'm not entirely killing it The plants have been indoors since I bought them three months ago, it's only just now that I've been able to take them out. So yeah, it's fair to say they've been subjected to poor lighting.

The lamp is a 5000 Kelvin daylight LED, a single-bulb spotlight in a clip lamp (you can see it in that link in the original post). For 5 days per week it's 8" away from the plants, but for the two days my house is moving it has to be 2ft away so that it doesn't fall and crush the plants. I realize that something larger would be better, however my room is very small and because it moves I cannot safely have a standing lamp. If I ever find a better alternative I'll get it

xr280xr: If you're letting it get all the way dry, that might explain the blackened heads. Make sure the soil stays damp below the surface. If not, I'm not sure what might have caused it.

Entirely possible, that's what I do with my other houseplants. I'll start watering twice per week and see if that helps.

Thank you so much for the tips!!! I'm relieved that you think the plants are doing well! *thumbs up*

Jhereg wrote: As part of my job I get free bottled water. The water is usually Member's Mark "Purified Water". On the back of the bottle it says "Purified by reverse osmosis". This is almost exclusively what my VFTs get.

If they were mine, I would double check the label to make sure it doesn't say anything about minerals added on the label and I'd check the water with a TDS meter. Bottled drinking water that is purified by RO frequently has minerals added back in after purifying to give it flavor.
I guess people don't like tasteless water. But VFTs do! Blackening heads can be a sign of too high a level of TDS.

xr280xr wrote:If they were mine, I would double check the label to make sure it doesn't say anything about minerals added on the label and I'd check the water with a TDS meter. Bottled drinking water that is purified by RO frequently has minerals added back in after purifying to give it flavor.

I guess people don't like tasteless water. But VFTs do! Blackening heads can be a sign of too high a level of TDS.

According to the Sam's Club site, the ppb for their Member's Mark water is between 17-30 (https://help.samsclub.com/ci/fattach/ge ... b_BWFA.pdf).

I saw elsewhere here on the site that the ideal is below 50ppb...so I think that's ok? I hope?

the plants look good!!! pretty much all of my new growth has the reddish/pinkish to them lol. like it's been stated that means they are getting enough light. the other leaf could be mineral burn, could be from them getting too dry, or could just be weird growth that they do sometimes lol. the black could be from dryness...I've started trying the tray method for mine on advice from a couple of growers (put 1/4" of water in the trays, once it's sucked up I let it be for 3-4 days so the roots can dry out a bit, then refill). I think I've been keeping mine a wee bit too dry, because when I put water in the trays some of them sucked it up within 5 minutes lol!

Nice

Earthy wrote:the plants look good!!! pretty much all of my new growth has the reddish/pinkish to them lol. like it's been stated that means they are getting enough light. the other leaf could be mineral burn, could be from them getting too dry, or could just be weird growth that they do sometimes lol. the black could be from dryness...I've started trying the tray method for mine on advice from a couple of growers (put 1/4" of water in the trays, once it's sucked up I let it be for 3-4 days so the roots can dry out a bit, then refill). I think I've been keeping mine a wee bit too dry, because when I put water in the trays some of them sucked it up within 5 minutes lol!

Awesome, thank you! As a total amateur it means a lot that you guys are saying the plants look ok! I'm doing SOMETHING right haha!

My room can get pretty dry. I'll subscribe to your watering method and see how it goes! We are going to Colorado and Vegas this year so I'm a bit worried about altitude/climate there...we'll see what happens. But for most of the summer we'll be in TX and luckily it's fairly humid there!

Thanks again for the feedback!