FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey everyone, this morning I was watering my flytraps and on one of them I noticed these black spots on one of the leaves. At first I thought that it was possibly just some sort of debris so I tried gently removing it but no luck. I do not usually see this sort of thing on my plants so I am a little concerned. I was looking through the message board trying to find some answers but still not quite sure what I am dealing with. Is it maybe some time of black mold or just debris? Some sort of insect?

I have been recently repotting and my plants are looking pretty good. I have cut back my watering some since the temperatures at night are now in high 50's low 60's but for the past couple days the high has been around 90F still here in Phoenix. I only found these "black dots" on one other plant but they still definitely look healthy although you can tell dormancy is starting. Am I possibly watering too much? I bottom water with a bowl but never let them constantly sit in water, maybe for 30 minutes or so. Plants are outside getting 7+ hours of direct sunlight

I hope its just dirt and I am being paranoid lol but I want to be sure just in case I need to take action. I will attach a picture. Any help is always appreciated thanks!

I went ahead and took a couple more pictures of the problem. I was looking through the forum and found an old post of someone who was having a problem that looks similar to mine. I'm thinking that maybe it is a type of fungus.

black-spots-on-traps-and-leaves-t31474.html

If that is the problem I am having would I be able to get away with not using a fungicide if I just really watch the watering and make sure the plant is getting plenty of direct sunlight?

I might be a little more aggressive than trying to gently remove it. Wipe it with a damp Q-Tip to see if it will come off. If it doesn't, then I wouldn't worry about it. Maybe hit it gently with a fungicide at most.
However, this kinda looks concerning. What are these clusters of fuzzy white things?

Yeah. The white looks like some mold, possibly from high humidity/wet soil.

Hit the whole plant with some Bioadvanced 3 in 1 lightly once or twice a week. I'm still not convinced that the black spots are a concern, but, if you have big patches of mold, that is a concern.

ChefDean wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 9:39 pm I might be a little more aggressive than trying to gently remove it. Wipe it with a damp Q-Tip to see if it will come off. If it doesn't, then I wouldn't worry about it. Maybe hit it gently with a fungicide at most.
However, this kinda looks concerning. What are these clusters of fuzzy white things?
20211018_163603.jpg

Dean to the rescue! lol but seriously thanks for the quick reply, these black spots were starting to bug me because I dont think that I have ever seen them before on my plants so I become a worry wart haha..
I will wipe it with a q-tip and see what happens, and if I happen to use a fungicide my bio advanced 3-1 should do the trick right?( I always use it for mites) For the white fuzzy things, I didn't bring those up in the post because I have seen that fuzz in the past on my plants and I believe that it is from some kind of bug but not exactly sure, but it has never done any harm to my plants. I remember I use to take a q-tip to that white fuzzy stuff and try and remove it but eventually didn't bother with it because it never caused any harm, but since I have the q-tips out I will remove it anyways just to be safe lol.

MaxVft wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 9:43 pm Yeah. The white looks like some mold, possibly from high humidity/wet soil.

Thanks for the reply MaxVft, I never thought of the white fuzz being a type of mold since it never seemed to harm my plants and I'm pretty sure none of my other plants have that white fuzz on them but I will have to double check. My plants are pretty moist but I never constantly keep them in water and the humidity is never that high here in Phoenix but I will definitely keep a look out for more of this white fuzz but I swear it was from some sort of bug but maybe im trippin haha.

ChefDean wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 10:04 pm Hit the whole plant with some Bioadvanced 3 in 1 lightly once or twice a week. I'm still not convinced that the black spots are a concern, but, if you have big patches of mold, that is a concern.

I will hit it with the bio advanced if I absolutely have to. I already used enough through the summer when I was using it on mites so I'm always hesitant to use it and there are no big patches of mold, they are no bigger than the ones that are in the photos I attached.

ChefDean wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 9:39 pm I might be a little more aggressive than trying to gently remove it. Wipe it with a damp Q-Tip to see if it will come off. If it doesn't, then I wouldn't worry about it. Maybe hit it gently with a fungicide at most.
However, this kinda looks concerning. What are these clusters of fuzzy white things?
20211018_163603.jpg

You were !00% right about hitting it with the q-tip Dean! Why it was not coming off before is because I wasn't being aggressive enough with it. Once I did that it came right off. I will attach a photo, you can also see that I took the q-tip to the white fuzzy stuff and that pretty much came right off as well. Thanks for all the help guys always very much appreciated and now I know if I ever see those black spots that its probably not mold unless it gets really bad!