FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

This is my second VFT and it seems to be dying, just like my last one. When I got it I waited a few days before I transplanted it into plain peat moss with perlite. I rinsed the perlite before I mixed it with the peat moss. I have been putting it out in the sun a few hours a week. I started it off with two hours and just worked it two hours a week. I am up to fours hours just this Wednesday. Some of the traps are turning black. I am buttom watering it only for half an hour every week. I seem to have a hard time telling if the soil around the roots are dry or not. I got a pamplet from the place I bought the plant and it said to water once a week and I think I read it on this website as well. What could I be doing wrong? I live in Indiana. When the plant is inside I have it in an East facing window. I think my last VFT got root rot, because I was told that if the soil is light the plant needs to be watered, but I was top watering it only. The plant had eaten before it came to me. Just this week I gave it a fly that I caught, while it was outside it caught it self another fly. I just can't figure out why most of the smaller traps are turning black. I would appreciate any and all help I can get. My mother's plant is dying as well. She was top watering hers, but recently I told her to buttom water only and only for half an hour to an hour. I was told that if we stop top watering and let the soil dry out that the plant should recover, but I have only been watering mine from the buttom and only once a week. Please, please help!!!!

Also could ants have anything to do with it dying? I brought it in tonight and I noticed that there were little black ants crawling around.

what type of water are you using. Only because you have not specified.

More sun is probably better than worse. I brought mine home from the store, transplanted then immediately into the soil that is sold on this site, left them out in the sun and bottom watered with distilled water only.

bottom watering once a week may not be enough, though I don't know what the weather is like at your location, where I am, mine actually sit in the water until the dish is dry, and I let it sit dry for 12-24 hours depending on heat and humidity. Then I fill the dish back up. They LOVE the sun! The more you can give them the better!

tc3driver already covered the questions that I had for you. They are, what type of water are you using? And how damp is the soil?

In the summer, I water my plants every 1.5 days or so. They use a lot of water when the temperature rises and the air gets drier.

And, as tc3driver already said, the more sun the better. Of course, if the plant isn't hardened off to direct sunlight, it will burn. But it sounds like you've already attempted to harden it off.

I am using rain water. And I take it outside like I said I started it out at 2 hours, then just this Wednesday (23) I started out in the sun for 4 hours. Tomorrow it will be worked up to 6(if I can get it out there for that long). It has been hot here, but I had trouble last time with my plant getting to much water and it got root rot. I just don't know what to do. My mother leaves hers in an East facing window all the time. She uses distilled water and it now buttom watering only. Just not sure what could be the problem as to why they are dying.

Also would it hurt a VFT if I used smelly rain water? I haven't yet, but with the last two storms we have had the water that I have collected has been smelly. I have been just pouring it out, but I am on my last gallon of water.

From what you've told us so far, I can't say I know what the problem is either. Are you sure that the plants are dying? Sometimes even when given proper care, if they're not used to the conditions, they'll look pretty horrible for a while until they get settled in.

Sbrown,

Would you mind defining hot?

We define hot as 95F and higher.

To my mind, smelly = bacteria.

Do you see any fresh growth... can you post a picture... even a cell phone snap is better than nothing... could help us help you

I hear four things that might be a concern.

1. Flytraps need about 6 hours of direct sunlight per day to maintain health, I'd put about 4 hours per day as the minimum to maintain health. They may not be getting enough light.

2. Changing its environment (indoors to outdoors to indoors) can be a bad thing. It fluctuates the temperature and how much light it's getting too much, as well as possibly how much humidity is in the air around it (especially if you have central air conditioning). Try to find a way to keep it in one place and don't keep moving it around. In nature their environment doesn't change much; having to spend their energy re-adapting to changing environments is probably at least part of the problem. They do best when kept outdoors.

3. You mentioned rain water. Are you gathering this via your rain spouting or off the roof, etc? If so, the rain water may be picking up a lot of dissolved solids on the way to your collection container that eventually build up and kill the flytrap; especially if its metal spouting. You might want to switch to distilled only if this is the case, get a TDS meter to make sure the dissolved solids (ppm) measures less than ~25 or 50. Or you could rig up a way to catch the rain water that only involves tarps and/or plastic if you aren't doing it that way already. I agree with tc3driver about the smelly rain water.

4. You said you bottom water and aren't sure how much to water. Here's two important notes: first, top-water at least every other watering. You don't have to top-water the entire watering amount, but much of the water should pass downward over the roots, which will pull oxygen into the soil and oxygenate it (like what rain does). Without this, flytraps may decline. Secondly, your watering habits should be based in part on where it's kept. A flytrap outdoors or that gets more than 6 hours of direct light per can utilize more water than one that gets 4 hours or so, as well as tolerate generally damper soil.

When you water, the soil will be completely soaked in general. After the water tray dries up completely, stick your finger about an inch into the soil. If the soil feels damp, don't water just yet. Once the soil an inch down starts to feel more dry than damp (but still not dry), water it again. Usually the top layer of soil starts to look a little dry by this point. Don't let that scare you; remember it's the soil around the roots that counts.

Hope this helps.

I have been bringing it in and taking it out a few hours at a time for a week to get it used to being outdoors. Where I got it from I have a feeling they kept it in doors. For they wanted me to leave it covered by a plastic cup and only take it off to feed it. They also wanted me to keep it indoors. I had heard that if you take a VFT outdoors and leave it that it could burn it when it is not used to outdoors. The temp here had been warm and yes I do have my air on, but the VFT was in an east facing window that isn't by a vent. The plant looks like it is drying up. I was told that top watering could be bad, that that is how you can get root rot, which is what I think my first plant died of. For I have trouble knowing when to water. I will try the inch feel technique. So I should top water every other time? I had read on here that the roots would get what they need by soaking up the water from the bottom.

Are there any real good pics of the rhizome? When I took my VFT out of the plactic terra colored pot the soil would not fall off from around these long white tenicals or worm-like things. I am not sure if this is the rhizome or if I should peal that away from the plant. It seems to be part of the plant.

Oh and by the way no my collected water is no where near metal. It is out in the middle of my porch.

Have you tried getting your flytrap from somewhere different? Maybe its like dead when you buy it, then your good conditions that you are giving it upset it due to change. Mine are always going inside then out, and are fine.

you should top water your plants, it flushes out the dissolved solids that are in the soil. as long as your pots has holes for drainage, you shouldn't have to worry about root rot. you should also just leave the plant outside permanently, they don't need as much of an acclimation period as you might think.