FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Before I ask the question, here is my set up. Now, keep in mind that this is TEMPORARY. In early April, all these plants will be moved outside in bog planters and take part in cycling with nature's seasons. But, for now, this is where they are residing.

Made with manila folders and tin foil, they're all positioned in front of a southwest facing window. The backing and top were made to reflect the incoming sun, as well as the overhead artificial lighting, back onto the plants.

A view from the outside of the window -


The bulbs in the overhead light (one bulb 6500K/860 lumens and the other 5000K 1,600 lumens). The photo makes them appear dimmed for some reason, but I assure you they are new and very bright. -


The bedroom is kept at a constant 70F with humidity in the 60% - 65% range. In the set up where the plants are sitting the conditions read 77F and the humidity in the 40% range. I'm sure on a clear day with full sun this gets a bit warmer. The light is on a timer and turns on and off with the rising and setting of the sun (currently - on at 7:00am and off at 5:30pm)

My Fly Traps and Sarracenia are looking awesome, and are developing in a positive direction more and more every day. The rotundifoilia started to worry me, but in the past few days it's started producing dew and has some decent looking developing leaves.

The plant was ordered from petflytrap.com and arrived about two weeks ago. Upon arrival it was in decent condition, most leaves were dry with one or two still dewey and another two leaves developing out of the base.

The plant now -

All the leaves appear to be dying off and even the new leaves that have just opened up two days ago are following suit. It's kept in 1" - 2" of distilled water (reading 1% - 2% ppm TDS) and the soil medium (same pot and medium it arrived in) is wet at all times.

I'm left to ponder - am I off on something? Is the plant trying to go dormant because of the short light cycle? I don't see a dormancy bud. I can't imagine it's too hot given the wild range of this plant. I also can't imagine they die off because of 40% humidity. Maybe the foliage isn't used to the light and is soon to produce more that is more adapted? If someone notices something that doesn't look good, I'd like to catch it as early as possible. Anyone have any ideas?

As a new plant, it's probably just adjusting to your conditions. Changing your conditions to try to help it will probably do more harm than good. Give it time.

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I agree with Adelaide. I might suggest bagging it, in my (limited) experience I have found that bagging new plants is very beneficial to quick recovery.

A ziploc sandwich bag snugs around the mason jar quite nicely, and after an hour the humidity has some nice condensation forming. I'll remove it every few days and allow some fresh air in. Fingers crossed...