FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello everyone, I've been lurking here for months now and bought four fly traps a few weeks ago from the store. My question is about the Justina Davis. It's been almost 2 weeks since it came in the mail and I think it might be completely gone. It was very yellow and droopy when I opened up the package. I started hardening it off the next morning and it almost immediately turned black within the next couple of days.

I had been placing it in gentle morning sun and never got a chance to build up to full sun. I tray water it for 30 minutes with distilled water once the moss starts to dry off. The plant is in the original flytrapstore pot and medium. I don't want to dig it up to look at the rhizome just in case it's still trying to pull through.

I bought the starter Justina Davis. It was a pale green/yellow plant with 8 traps and one unopened new trap. I've been babying it to stop the blackening, but now all but one trap remains. I don't see any new growth. Is this a particularly delicate type of vft? Or was I just unlucky? The other three I had bought around the same time are thriving and look great.

This is what it looks like right now: Is there any chance that this plant will make it?


**UPDATE**

I left it in the sun without watering it. The last leaf is turning black. I think it'll be dead by tomorrow

I received a Justina Davis from FTS right about the same time and it's doing well. It sounds like you are doing everything right. For your media only being two weeks old, that seems like a lot of algae growth. Maybe try letting the media get slightly drier before watering.

There is still life in the plant so I think if you adjust the watering it will pull through.

I would quickly take a leaf pulling of the last good leaf because it doesn't seem like there is any new growth.

Looks like it has been very much too wet for too long. Algae only grows like that when the plant is extremely wet. And to have that much algae growth in just 2 weeks, the plant has obviously been water logged.

It appears to have a bad case of crown rot. I'm not sure if it can recover, but put it outside permanently, somewhere that gets plenty of sun and allow the moss to dry to the point where it's just damp before sitting the pot in a tray or bowl of water to rehydrate.

Plants from anywhere but local garden centers do not need to be acclimated to full sun. I assume that the lack of hot sunlight caused your soil to remain too wet with little evaporation around the rhizome.

I was worried about the algae, too but I honestly don't know how it could be water logged. It's only been in a water tray for 30 minutes at most every 3 days or so (whenever the top of the moss felt almost dry). The moss on the typical vft that got shipped with it is even greener and its getting full sun now, but the plant itself looks great. Big, healthy traps and green leaves.

Should I dig my finger in to the moss to get a better sense of moisture retention? It has been outside the whole time in Maryland. The past few weeks have been extremely hot for the area, mid 90s and humid. Maybe I didn't account for the rise in humidity at night? My other vft plants are doing really well, so I was hoping I wasn't causing the Justina Davis' poor condition. I'll put it with my other plants tomorrow and let it soak up as much sunlight as possible. Fingers crossed that it'll pull through. Thank you everyone for the advice.

VFTnPups wrote:
Should I dig my finger in to the moss to get a better sense of moisture retention? It has been outside the whole time in Maryland.

Yes, I'm recommending you to dig a bit with your finger. I like to squeeze the pot a bit to see if I hear the sound of dry sphagnum moss or damp.

I wouldn't say its a lost cause but the media definitely needs to dry out a bit. I am having the same issue with my LFSM right now because of all the storms we've been getting. It'll bounce back, just keep it away from water until the point it almost feels 10lbs lighter because the water is gone. I would honestly let that go without water for a week or so.

I updated my original post because I don't know how to add a pic in the reply section. The last leaf is turning black I added a picture in the original post. Thank you everyone for all your advice.

I did not mean to bump this, but I guess I can answer my own question, lol. My Justina Davis is alive and well. Almost five years ago I dug up my “dead” plant and found a tiny sliver of white on the mostly mushy brown rhizome. It’s now three medium and two small plants happily sharing space with a red typical. Never give up

Good to see!
Many deadish or dying plants can be resuscitated by correcting their growing conditions.
Good growing,
Mike

Horray! Well done, your flytraps are looking good!

Nice job saving the little guy!

March 21, 2022 freshly divided. ‘Justina Davis’ next to red typical.
After near death and years of slow recovery, JD turned out to be fairly vigorous. 5 rhizomes turned into 13.