FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

It’s often clouded in my area, so I bought a grow light, and after exposing them to it, the “mouths” open more every day.
But after exposing them to direct sunlight outside and the grow light, more of them started to get wrinkles and “pores” behind. Starting from those who don’t have much red coloration to the new growths (getting wrinkles), and then to the strong red-colored ones (getting “pores” behind).

Why is this happening? Should I do anything about it? I’m using a mix of sphagnum moss, vermiculite (without anything else added it seems), and perlite, I didn’t have access to distilled- or rainwater so I used tap water. I heard that the tap water in my country should be mineral-free enough for the vfts, but I finally got distilled water today just in case.

Should it be ok watering as usual?

The media looks very dry. The media should always be moist but not wet.

sanguinearocks101 wrote:The media looks very dry. The media should always be moist but not wet.

Panman wrote:Too dry. The light is probably drying out the media too quickly. He would definitely benefit by being set in a dish of water.

I just watered it, but it's a bit difficult knowing when to water it because the media under the surface feels wet or moist, and I'm worried if I'm going to overwater it. Or should I water it when the surface is dry/a bit moist anyway?

And it's in a self-watering pot, how much and often should I fill it? The Sphagnum moss absorbs it quickly.

For quick and easy measuring of tap water mineral content, I highly suggest buying a TDS meter. They are about 10 USD on Amazon. Don't know about the cost in your country's currency. That should solve whether or not your tap water is suitable or not to use. Any water given to CPs needs to be 50ppm or less to be usable.

Panman wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 6:17 pm What do you have them potted in and how big is the pot?

I see, when I bought it I didn't do enough research so I currently have it potted in a self-watering glass pot (originally for orchid flowers). I cover the pot when putting it outside in the sunlight, only exposing the vft. The pot is 4 inches deep and 4 inches broad, but the media is currently 2,5 inches deep and 4 inches broad. I know it should be deeper.
But I'm going to buy new pots tomorrow. What do you think suits the most when the media is sphagnum moss? Here, the climate is similar to Canada, and it's currently warm outside.

And I'm thinking of making a new media with only sphagnum moss and perlite, but it's only 4 days since I repotted it. What do you recommend?

I actually saw one small insect the day I bought it. It was thin, shaped like a line (I), white, kind of fast and it probably had legs. I haven't seen it after that, but I hope it won't cause any problems.

Panman wrote:Also, how close is it to the grow light. The water may be fine and you are baking the leaves.

It's 3 inches from the light. It was first 4 inches from it, but I read here that the closer the better so I put it a bit closer, and I noticed the leaves opening faster.

I don't know much about this, so I don't know which info is important, but the instruction says:
•20W
•220-240V AC
•Beam angle 120
•1100lm
•PPF 20 umol/s
•CCT neutral white 3500K
•The LED lights are tuned to a specific spectrum that allows plants to have natural photosynthesis.
•Very high CRI (Color Rendering Index).
•Plant should be more than 2 inches from the light
•On for 16 hours and turns off for 8 hours.

As others have already mentioned, but I agree with, it looks to me like the plant got cooked under very hot lights and/or got too dry.

Artchic528 wrote:For quick and easy measuring of tap water mineral content, I highly suggest buying a TDS meter. They are about 10 USD on Amazon. Don't know about the cost in your country's currency. That should solve whether or not your tap water is suitable or not to use. Any water given to CPs needs to be 50ppm or less to be usable.

I see, thank you. I'm thinking of buying one later.

@Panman, @Matt,
Update
I gave it more water and it looks more plump and fresh now, I can especially see the difference in the new growths. Even my older vft looks greener and is opening some traps faster that accidentally got closed. I put them both in their own new thick plastic pots (5 inches deep and 4-6 inches broad), with a water dish.
But I have a question.
I'm a little worried that the green coloration looks pale.
I give my older vft the same kind of water (distilled water) and it looks more green and plump, so I don't think it's the water that's causing it. Maybe the light/sun is too harsh? The temperature on the vfts feels normal under the grow light.
I bought a shadow cloth that gives a greenhouse effect too, maybe it'll help with the coloration?

What are your thoughts?

Panman wrote:The more sunlight, the deeper the colors and the redder the traps. They need really bright lights.

I see, thank you.