FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Purchased this last year but it's been an absolute nightmare to look after, looks like one of the ones in this pot is dead/dying even though the other is okay? I don't think the distilled water I'm using is the problem as my D. Capensis and Nepenthes are doing really well. If anyone has any idea of what might have gone wrong and if there's aything I can do, please let me know!

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I tried repotting the third plant that was sold in the same container and it looks similarly glum - link)


Apologies for the bad picture quality, my phone has a rubbish camera.

Could be a fungal infection Id recommend looking at the roots and inspecting the plants very good to make sure you don't see any signs of mold or mildew growing. Also might be fungus gnats. Fungus gnats just look like gnats but thrive in moist conditions and lay eggs in the soil which give rise to a swarm of root eating maggots. Also your soil looks very damp which may may mean that you've been overwatering.
Also have you recently change growing conditions I.E.( more light, more heat, less humidity, temperature.)

Couple questions: How much light and what is the soil mix?

I can already tell you it's not getting enough light, and is being watered too much in comparison to the light it's receiving. It's proportional in general : more light - more water, less light - less water. I have my alice standing in shallow water but it's also 7 inches under my lights.

Thanks so much for all the replies!

TheTrapper wrote:Could be a fungal infection Id recommend looking at the roots and inspecting the plants very good to make sure you don't see any signs of mold or mildew growing. Also might be fungus gnats. Fungus gnats just look like gnats but thrive in moist conditions and lay eggs in the soil which give rise to a swarm of root eating maggots. Also your soil looks very damp which may may mean that you've been overwatering.
Also have you recently change growing conditions I.E.( more light, more heat, less humidity, temperature.)

I haven't recently changed my growing conditions - they're still in the same window as a drosera capensis and a few orchids. It's odd because up until recently they seemed to be doing okay - no rot and covered in dew. I just looked and there's a bit of orangish mold growing on some of the pads on the two dying plants, none on the healthy(ish) one so it may well be a fungal infection. Is there anything I can use to get rid of it?

I've been keeping all my sundews in trays with distilled water that I top up when the tray has been empty for a day or so. The pictures were taken just after I'd topped up the trays, oops.

Huntsmanshorn wrote:Couple questions: How much light and what is the soil mix?

I keep these particular plants on a sunny windowsill (well, as sunny as a windowsill can get in England). So on some days it's extremely bright and on others it can be a bit dull/overcast.
The first one is in the original mix I bought it in. The one I repotted is in this that I bought off Amazon. Since then, I discovered some Lorbex Carnivourous mix in a garden centre but I've only used that with some capensis so far. I tried looking for spaghum moss but all you can get round here is Gardman which, having tried it with some orchids, I can safely say is pretty rubbish.

SundewWolf wrote:I can already tell you it's not getting enough light, and is being watered too much in comparison to the light it's receiving. It's proportional in general : more light - more water, less light - less water. I have my alice standing in shallow water but it's also 7 inches under my lights.

I'll start putting less water in the trays, hopefully that will make a difference.
Are aliciae a lot different to capensis as regards light requirements? My capensis has the same light/water ratio and is starting to give out flower stems.

Blossom123 wrote: I'll start putting less water in the trays, hopefully that will make a difference.
Are aliciae a lot different to capensis as regards light requirements? My capensis has the same light/water ratio and is starting to give out flower stems.

Yes, Capensis are more tolerant of a range of conditions including dimmer light, but they can be kept in similar amounts, with the Capensis benefitting from extra light. I would probably start thinking about getting a decent quality grow light for it.

I would repot it and see if that helps. D. aliciae do this quite often. They will be doing great and then suddenly go downhill. A repot into fresh media usually brings them right back to life.

KategoricalKarnivore wrote:I would repot it and see if that helps. D. aliciae do this quite often. They will be doing great and then suddenly go downhill. A repot into fresh media usually brings them right back to life.

That's a relief to know! I thought I'd done something horribly wrong and was starting to stress out.

SundewWolf wrote: Yes, Capensis are more tolerant of a range of conditions including dimmer light, but they can be kept in similar amounts, with the Capensis benefitting from extra light. I would probably start thinking about getting a decent quality grow light for it.

That's really interesting, I had no idea! What type of wattage would I need for sundews?

Also,
Does anyone have any experience with lorbex or the 'wetlands formulation' stuff from growth technology?
Does anyone know a good sphagnum brand on amazon?
And how do I prevent / get rid of a possible fungal infection?

Thanks in advance for any help and thanks for all the replies!