FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I had posted awhile ago that the traps on my plants were still closed after purchasing them a couple of weeks before.
Well, it is now two weeks + later and they are only open slightly and then only on a couple of the leaves.

Last night I caught a nice, juicy fly and tried to feed my plants and trigger the trap with no luck.

They appear to be healthy and I can see some new leave shoots coming up. Just can't understand why most of the traps are still closed and why I could not trigger the partially open ones to take the fly...They are in the proper planting medium, getting rain water (or distilled H2O) and lots of sun.

Any advice oh great VFT gurus??? I just ordered a couple of new plants from Steve's ranch since I read so many good things about his products and can't wait for them to come!!!!!

Peace!
E.S.

The traps on your plant will cycle a finite amount of times before they become unresponsive, is it possible that your plant may have been teased in the store before you bought it?

If your plant is putting out new growth and seems otherwise healthy, then there is probably nothing to worry about, it's probably still suffering some transplant shock and will recover in time.

Remember that VFT's don't need to be fed to be healthy, they can get all that they need from the (bright)sun, (nutrient poor)soil and (pure)water.

If you post a photo of your plant, it will be easier to see what the situation might be and to comment about it. As Linton mentioned, traps can do the closing/opening trick only so many times before they stay "sprung" open.

Steve

Hi English Springer,

Linton and Steve have given you some great advice.

I would just like to add that with a lot of my plants I've noticed that the weaker growing ones will close maybe just a couple of times and then stay open permanently while the much healthier larger plants will open and close around five or six times.

Also, during dormancy, most traps stay open and will not close at all.

I hope this helps?

Giovanni

hi
maybe you should just cut off the traps....?
lets the new ones come up.

i dont know if this will help but try squeezing it as it you were to make it close... if it doesnt work i guess it just feels cool.
sry about your plant malfunctions hope this helps

Unless your new growth is showing the same symptoms, I wouldn't worry too much about this English Springer.
It's a plant to keep an eye on, but it'll be alright.

Thanks for the advice NZL. I was going to wait just a little while to see if the traps turn black and then I will clip them for sure.
Since there is some new growth coming up I think the plant itself is OK---Just surprised that the traps have shown little change since I got them...

I ordered a couple new ones from Steve's ranch and am pumped up to get them. I think I am going to transplant my current VFT's when I get the new ones to see if new potting will help!

Peace!
E.S.

Does squeezing it harm the plant? Because I've never tried it myself. Maybe your plant is in shock or the traps are getting old.

E.S. - I've got a plant that pretty much went on pause when I brought it home. The open traps never were able to close, the mostly formed traps never finished growing, etc. I gradually introduced the plant to light, started giving it warmth and acclimitizing it to it's new environment, and now it's sending up new leaves and opening new traps like crazy. All the old stuff is still paused exactly where it was when I brought it home. None of the traps turned black or died, they just paused....

If you're getting new growth, I wouldn't worry about it too much at this point. Keep giving it love and proper growing conditions and enjoy the new growth