FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I just bought a VFT for my four year old son and I've already made one mistake (I gave it a little bit of tap water). After doing some reading on this site, I see that I also need to put it in a new pot since it's in pure sphagnum moss right now, straight from the store, and I don't want it to get root rot.

Anyway, so far we've fed it one live ant which it digested in about four days, but now the pads are turning convex, along with the cilia pointing slightly outward (instead of inward, like they were when we bought it). There are two traps that look mature enough to digest bugs, one that is still closed (immature). The immature trap is turning black on the inside edges (where the cilia would be if it were open).

This convex phenomenon is occurring on both mature traps. Is it not getting enough sunlight (I put it outside today, but it's been in the brightest window sill in the house)? Would the little bit of tap water do this (it really wasn't that much)? The sphagnum moss is still moist to the touch.

I tried to feed it another ant in the other mature trap, but the trap did not close (it is convex to the point that I was really just curious to see what would happen, because it obviously wouldn't close *around* the bug, but might squish it. Any ideas as to what might be causing the traps to point outward instead of inward?

Thanks for your help!

Congrats on the new flytrap!

The convexity of the traps is most likely caused by the change in growing conditions. Did it come in a plastic cube or cylinder? If so, the humidity was likely 100% inside the chamber and now the plant is trying to adjust to the lower humidity levels. It could also be due to over watering or even mineral burn, though if you've only watered it once with tap water, that's unlikely unless the tap water is extremely mineral laden.

Give the plant a little while to adjust to its new conditions and if it's still showing abnormal growth and traps, then try to figure out what you're doing wrong.

That sounds like it might be the issue. It did come in a plastic cube with a tight top (there was visible condensation inside). I've only watered it the one time since we've had it (roughly a week now), since the sphagnum is still moist.

Would it be a good idea to transplant it to a new pot with the CP mix mentioned on the site, or do you think that would be too much shock all at once?

lintmonkey wrote:Would it be a good idea to transplant it to a new pot with the CP mix mentioned on the site, or do you think that would be too much shock all at once?

If it were my plant, I'd repot it. Given proper care, VFTs can deal well with transplant shock.

Awesome. Thanks for your help!