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Ask questions about how to grow and care for Venus Flytraps

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By DorMor
Posts:  4
Joined:  Thu Aug 18, 2022 12:29 pm
#418413
Hi! I'm new here!
I have VFT which I bought a couple of months ago, I let it sit at the window, and it grew just fine, and even grew a little stem.
After 2-3 weeks It started to have black leaves so I put it under a shade net (with the rest of my regular plants) but the burnout was inevitable, and like 70% of my plant got black..
So I bought a full spectrum bulb (supplying ~350PPFD) and put it inside my house, ~32C and ~50% humidity, with the lamp on for 13-14 hours a day with a smart plug, It started to grow 2 big traps, but then again, one of the traps started to die, and yesterday the second one started to die as well...
I RADE everything I can online and I'm doing everything ok! the soil is right, I'm using the water tray technic, etc ...
What am I doing wrong? I just want a healthy FVT
Attachments:
vft 2.jpeg
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fvt one.jpeg
fvt one.jpeg (132.01 KiB) Viewed 2453 times
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By ChefDean
Location: 
Posts:  9207
Joined:  Tue Sep 18, 2018 12:44 am
#418414
For long term health, Flytraps need to be outside in direct sunlight. "Direct" sunlight on a windowsill gets filtered by the glass, and is not sufficient for the plant, it's slowly dying.
VFT's don't like to have their roots swimming. Moist is fine, but not in water. The tray method works, but I would maybe let them sit in three cm of water to let it absorb up for an hour or so, then drop it to less than one cm. Let the tray dry out, then repeat. Also, what water are you using? Water too laden with minerals can be detrimental, especially if the plant is allowed to sit in that water all the time.
tommyr liked this
By DorMor
Posts:  4
Joined:  Thu Aug 18, 2022 12:29 pm
#418416
ChefDean wrote:For long term health, Flytraps need to be outside in direct sunlight. "Direct" sunlight on a windowsill gets filtered by the glass, and is not sufficient for the plant, it's slowly dying.
VFT's don't like to have their roots swimming. Moist is fine, but not in water. The tray method works, but I would maybe let them sit in three cm of water to let it absorb up for an hour or so, then drop it to less than one cm. Let the tray dry out, then repeat. Also, what water are you using? Water too laden with minerals can be detrimental, especially if the plant is allowed to sit in that water all the time.
Thanks for the response!
I'm only using distilled water.
I live in the middle easy so the sun is super hot this time of the year, and when I put it on the window, with the window as a filter, it still gut burnt (As you can see in the image)
So I'm using full spectrum light, and it worked fine for some time until I saw the traps burning again for some reason..
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By ChefDean
Location: 
Posts:  9207
Joined:  Tue Sep 18, 2018 12:44 am
#418417
That does present a unique environment to grow one of these plants. They can withstand some extreme conditions temporarily, but will probably not like them long term.
Maybe try moving it out of the window and only using the grow light for direct light, but close enough that it gets bright, indirect light, and keeping the media moist, but not swimming.
Just suggestions, as I've never grown these in those conditions, so it's going to be a guess on my part, but probably one of the only times I suggest it staying inside.
Last, it appears that it may be planted too deep. I'm sure it's not intentional, they seem to like to settle down a bit after repotting sometimes. Maybe see if you can wiggle it up a bit without repotting completely.
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By Intheswamp
Location: 
Posts:  3275
Joined:  Wed May 04, 2022 2:28 pm
#418418
My first thought is...it's too wet.

That plant definitely has a problem (or problems).

I'm a newbie VFT grower so take my comments with a grain of salt or your favorite seasoning. ;)

VFT plants are rather robust plants *if* given the correct growing conditions. Miss one condition and apparently they are unforgiving and decline in health...sometimes rapidly.

Apparently the plant was healthy when you bought it and you quickly repotted it into a larger pot. Correct?

The growing medium that you are using looks to be peat moss. I see no sign of sand or perlite mixed with it but sometimes that can be difficult to see in photos (especially the sand). What does your medium consist of? Did you rinse your grow mix well before transplanting?

I agree with Dean...they do best under the sun. You may need to ease them into full sunshine gradually, though. I threw my little typical flytraps out in the sun after only a few days of acclimating to full sun after being in the shadows of the store I bought them from. They struggled for several weeks but are growing nicely now in full, hot sun.

Your water sounds good (distilled) as long as it truly is pure distilled water. A TDS meter runs around $15 on Amazon here in the USA...it is a very good tool to have to keep a check on water quality.

As I mentioned at the beginning...the growing medium looks rather wet and I see water in the bottom of the tray which goes along with your statement regarding using the tray method. I would say that if you are continuously keeping water in the tray and the soil stays as moist as it appears (if the photo depicts the normal state of affairs) then you are keeping your plant too wet. Flytraps want moist soil, not constantly soggy soil. If the plants are outdoors in hot sun and temperatures in the 90's and a drying wind it is good to keep water in the trays as evaporation and transpiration will cause the water to be used or lost fairly quickly. But, inside with 90F and 50% humidity, keeping the plants constantly standing in water may be drowning them or at a minimum causing unhealthy conditions. With my few little flytraps sitting outdoors in the hot south Alabama sun I tend to let the surface layer dry out a bit between waterings. I often use the tray method during some of the hotter times but I still let the tray go dry for a day or two or three. When I let the tray go dry the pots still feels heavy with moisture when I lift them but letting the tray go dry helps dry out the upper level of the growing medium...and the pots gradually get lighter in weight. When it's down in the 80's I usually just top water and go by how "heavy" the pot feels to me. I don't let the pots dry out to where they feel too "light"...there's a short learning-curve to learning the "weight" gauging but it's easy to catch onto. VTFs don't need to be standing in water all of the time, especially indoors (but get them outside under the sun if you can!).

Again, I'm a new grower and these are my thoughts from my experiences and from reading *way* to much info on the Internet! I'm a bit OCD about researching things that I get interested in. :mrgreen:

Best wishes to you and your plants and welcome to the forum!
By DorMor
Posts:  4
Joined:  Thu Aug 18, 2022 12:29 pm
#418462
@ChefDean,
Thanks for the response!
The plant sat in the window for a month, and then, after a successful growth period, it burned for some reason...
2 weeks ago I put it in a dark room when I'm hanging my laundry (for the humidity levels) under a cold LED light (5550K) supplying around 380PPFD, and it was fine for a while, and it actually started to grow 2 new traps (in the photo), and then I switched to grow light and it started to burn for some reason, so at this point, I don't really know what to do...

@Intheswamp

First of all - AWESOME response. thank you.
Second - I bought it from a place that specialized only in carnivorous plants, and I got it exactly like that without changing anything :)
I think I will let the plant "dry" for a little bit before adding water each time the saucer is empty
besides that, do you have any idea why the traps always dying?
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By Intheswamp
Location: 
Posts:  3275
Joined:  Wed May 04, 2022 2:28 pm
#418496
I just tend to run my mouth a lot. :lol: Dean has been at this far longer than I have…pay attention to what he says.

Good move on letting the tray dry out. Get in under good light. It may look even worse before it gets better but it drying out some and the light should start making it green up.

Do you see any sand/grit in the grow mix?

Have you been feeding the traps or triggering them?
By mhal408
Posts:  72
Joined:  Mon Aug 31, 2020 7:02 pm
#419077
DorMor wrote: Fri Aug 19, 2022 8:56 am Second - I bought it from a place that specialized only in carnivorous plants, and I got it exactly like that without changing anything :)
Is your supplier local? As in same climate. I think if you can get support from the seller it might be better since the vft most likely adapted to seller's growing condition. My first vft i consulted this forum and the local seller directly, i was confronted with conflicted opinion. I went with full sphagnum in the end.

Im in the tropics, i use those pots that have tray built in them, i just put it outside in fullsun and let the rain fill the tray which i think fill up to almost half the pot (i know some people here wouldnt like that). But i guess it does help with the heat since my media never dries out.
By Dragonslayer126
Location: 
Posts:  325
Joined:  Tue Dec 14, 2021 9:04 pm
#419078
DorMor wrote: Thu Aug 18, 2022 12:38 pm Hi! I'm new here!
I have VFT which I bought a couple of months ago, I let it sit at the window, and it grew just fine, and even grew a little stem.
After 2-3 weeks It started to have black leaves so I put it under a shade net (with the rest of my regular plants) but the burnout was inevitable, and like 70% of my plant got black..
So I bought a full spectrum bulb (supplying ~350PPFD) and put it inside my house, ~32C and ~50% humidity, with the lamp on for 13-14 hours a day with a smart plug, It started to grow 2 big traps, but then again, one of the traps started to die, and yesterday the second one started to die as well...
I RADE everything I can online and I'm doing everything ok! the soil is right, I'm using the water tray technic, etc ...
What am I doing wrong? I just want a healthy FVT
Hmm, probably more light, the water seems okay, so you should probably just get a stronger light, I heard that the yescom 225s are good for flytraps. I basically just agree with everything ChefDean said EXCEPT The watering part my flytraps are okay even with inches of distilled water, and I do agree to let the water dryout between watering.

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