FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello from Singapore. I've started growing VFTs and brought three plants back from the nursery 3 weeks ago. I repotted all of them from their death cubes into bigger pots with 7:5 peat moss perlite mix. I even managed to split the rhizome from the bulb (followed instructions from YouTube videos) and I think most are doing okay except this plant. It's growing new shoots and that's okay but it has some stems that browned partially in the mid sections of the stems. The new trap is also very small and is browning at the top.

Could this be a fungus infection or root rot or anything disastrous? The other split cousin is doing well and producing pretty big traps with no browning. My plants are all subject to the same sunlight and watering conditions so I couldn't figure out what could have gone wrong with this particular one.

Would someone be able to diagnose this browning of the stem for me please ?

From what I see, I wouldn't worry about the browning. It is probably just from the transplanting. You do have an issue in that the plants are too deep in the soil. The white part of the rhizome should be just below the surface. You don't want to have the leaves force their way up through the soil. Also, the peat moss looks dry. Did you vigorously mix it with water prior to using it? Peat won't absorb water without some mixing.

If the soil is not well mixed with water then I would unpot everything, mix the soil up good and repot them higher up. If the soil is good and damp then you may be able to just wiggle the plants up to move them higher in the soil. If you look for the Flytrap Store on YouTube, you will find a video on potting flytraps that would be helpful.

Thanks Panman, I'll keep an eye on it and watch the development of the new shoots. Hopefully it's just readjustment.

The repotting was done 2 weeks ago, I did mix distilled water with the potting material quite vigorously. Maybe I'll use a skewer to check it again later, perhaps i didn't do it well enough for this pot and it's not absorbing the water.

My plants are located in a pretty windy area and the traps are often gently swaying during windy parts of the day. I think the top of the soil dries out pretty quickly from the wind. I do light top watering every couple of days and bottom watering once a week. I try to feel the pot to know if it's too dry. I think that's why the peat moss looks dry at the top.

The rhizome certainly looks too deep - i was under the impression that it should be well covered to protect it from the elements. I will probably nudge it up a little bit so the leaves are not obstructed.

Thanks you for your help!

VFT's are quite hardy, and the growth point should never be buried. As long as it is properly acclimated, it will survive the elements. As for the soil, (at least with peat IME) the top is not supposed to really dry out, as @Panman mentioned it is hydrophobic when dry. I would recommend tray watering more often if the top of the soil is going to be completely dry a lot of the time. When I tray water my plants planted in peat, the tops never dry out even in extreme wind/heat.
Hope this helps,
Max

The brown doesn't look like anything to worry about, but they are, as mentioned, planted too deep and are far too dry, if you can get the substrate wet, stand them in about 2-3 cm of water. I guess the temperatures ut there are in the high 20sC or low 30sC at this time of year.
Cheers
Steve