FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I'll keep this short and sweet.

Is it common for some traps to wilt after cutting the flower stalk?

I read up on being able to propagate from the stalk and prevent the mother plant from becoming sluggish. So a win win. Hours after trimming the stalk, I noticed two leaves/ nearly opened traps have wilted, they were the closest in terms of proximity to the stalk besides two much smaller ones that are only beginning to sprout. Just wanted to clarify if this is normal post cut.

Thanks in advance!

No, it is not common. Sometimes the plant will pause for a short period of time (a week or two), but you should not see any wilting immediately after cutting the stalk, or as a result of doing so. Are these older leaves that happened to be wilting at the same time and you only noticed after cutting the stalk?

New growth is always the best indicator of a healthy plant as the leaves have a natural turnover during the growing season.

A picture would help diagnose the issue.

Thanks for your input, Nick!

I have taken some pictures so hopefully that might clarify the situation.

I just cut the stalk yesterday, then went to check up on it shortly thereafter and I saw two growths slumping over. I'd like to think that my plant was healthy prior to cutting and today it seems that those two are the only casualties of the trim.

It's interesting that the growth that was "in between" in terms of size seems to be perfectly fine... What do you think??

I've included a few more pictures when the stalk was still intact. Perhaps that might give you some idea of what happened.

I'm a novice grower. My plants have suffered from ny inexperience, but I've never had them wilt after cutting flower stalks. Is it possible you nicked the other leaves trimming the stalk? That would be my only guess.

Orit wrote:I'm a novice grower. My plants have suffered from ny inexperience, but I've never had them wilt after cutting flower stalks. Is it possible you nicked the other leaves trimming the stalk? That would be my only guess.

That's what I was thinking. Upon coser examination, the growth to the right has some nicks and seems to be doing just fine. And the larger growth was actually tucked behind two other leaves so it's really odd that it wilted.

I'm not really sure how flower stalks work, but could it be possible that those leaves were drawing energy from the stalk itself opposed to the rhizome? It sounds so silly to say, but I have no idea what else it could be.

It could be a thousand things. The first thing I noticed is the ceramic pot. If it's not glazed that could be a future problem of leaching minerals into your soil. It doesn't appear to be the issue now though, mineral burn starts with yellowing leaf edges. Keep this in mind for future reference.

As far as this issue I'm a little perplexed by it. I would get proactive about it though and treat with neem as soon as possible. I would also keep a close eye on the new growth coming up, that'll be the best sign of what's going on with it. If it starts coming up looking good and healthy then you're gold. Note neem is not a spray and die, it needs to be absorbed by the plant then the pest ingests it and it intoxicates them to the point they forget to feed and mate.

In my opinion it appears you have something sucking the life from your plant, a pest of some sort.


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boarderlib wrote:It could be a thousand things. The first thing I noticed is the ceramic pot. If it's not glazed that could be a future problem of leaching minerals into your soil. It doesn't appear to be the issue now though, mineral burn starts with yellowing leaf edges. Keep this in mind for future reference.

As far as this issue I'm a little perplexed by it. I would get proactive about it though and treat with neem as soon as possible. I would also keep a close eye on the new growth coming up, that'll be the best sign of what's going on with it. If it starts coming up looking good and healthy then you're gold. Note neem is not a spray and die, it needs to be absorbed by the plant then the pest ingests it and it intoxicates them to the point they forget to feed and mate.

In my opinion it appears you have something sucking the life from your plant, a pest of some sort.


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Thanks for the suggestion, boarderlib!

I haven't even thought about pests until you mentioned it. So many factors to take into account! I'll have to find some neem oil and research how to apply, I don't want to unintentionally add to the damage.

Didn't realize yellow leaf edges are the indicator for mineral burns. I'll definitely keep that in mind! It's funny you meniotned the ceramic pot tho, bc after I did more research I was planning on changing pots. I decided to wait since I repotted two days after the initial potting due to too low of a soil level. Whoops... It's a learning process!

Mawy_Plants wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion, boarderlib!

I haven't even thought about pests until you mentioned it. So many factors to take into account! I'll have to find some neem oil and research how to apply, I don't want to unintentionally add to the damage.

Didn't realize yellow leaf edges are the indicator for mineral burns. I'll definitely keep that in mind! It's funny you meniotned the ceramic pot tho, bc after I did more research I was planning on changing pots. I decided to wait since I repotted two days after the initial potting due to too low of a soil level. Whoops... It's a learning process!

You are welcome, as long as you only top water that pot you may be able to get by for a few months to a year, but it will eventually catch up to you.

I'm not sure where in the world you are but here in the states neem can be found at the local big box stores, Home depot, Lowe's. Just dilute it with distilled water following the directions on the bottle. Spray it every 7-14 days until the problem goes away. Make sure you're shaking it as you spray it though. Neem doesn't like to mix with water very well, so you need to constantly agitate it. Then just keep an eye on the new growth to make sure it's healthy and you'll be on your way.

If you don't see any signs of improvement in the next three weeks to a month, post back here.

Best of luck!

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boarderlib wrote:
You are welcome, as long as you only top water that pot you may be able to get by for a few months to a year, but it will eventually catch up to you.

I'm not sure where in the world you are but here in the states neem can be found at the local big box stores, Home depot, Lowe's. Just dilute it with distilled water following the directions on the bottle. Spray it every 7-14 days until the problem goes away. Make sure you're shaking it as you spray it though. Neem doesn't like to mix with water very well, so you need to constantly agitate it. Then just keep an eye on the new growth to make sure it's healthy and you'll be on your way.

If you don't see any signs of improvement in the next three weeks to a month, post back here.

Best of luck!

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As of right now I only top water, but recently have been putting some water at the base due to the warmer weather. It's not constantly sitting in a basin of water. Though I'm leaning towards doing that to better align with natural conditions, especially bc they're outside.

Would you say it's safe to repot? It's only been in that pot for about a month and a half now. I just don't want to stress it out. I'd rather tackle one issue at a time. Lol.

And I live in Mountain View, California (Northern) so I can definitely check out one of those stores. I really appreciate you taking the time to explain neem application and helping diagnose the issue. I'm guessing I can spray neem on the entire plant? And would using it on my others as preventative be beneficial or overkill?

Again many thanks!

I lived in San Jose for 2 years! you say you're in Mountain View and my mouth waters dreaming about all those amazing restaurants, most of all Turmeric. Totally off topic but I'm so jealous you could eat there whenever you want. One of my top 3 restaurants of all time.

Good luck with your plant!

Orit wrote:I lived in San Jose for 2 years! you say you're in Mountain View and my mouth waters dreaming about all those amazing restaurants, most of all Turmeric. Totally off topic but I'm so jealous you could eat there whenever you want. One of my top 3 restaurants of all time.

Good luck with your plant!

Whhhattt! Bay Area represent! The cuisine selection out here is insane. I'll be honestly tho, I do not know of that restaurant... I Yelped it and they have one in Sunnyvale? Perhaps it moved? I'd love to try it out!

And thank you! Everyone's advice has helped a bunch!

Mawy_Plants wrote: Would you say it's safe to repot? It's only been in that pot for about a month and a half now. I just don't want to stress it out. I'd rather tackle one issue at a time. Lol.

I would get a tall plastic pot, and just move the whole plug of media and plant into the new pot. As long as you don't disturb the roots the plant won't even notice. Then top water really heavily. Drown it. Let the plant dry. And then treat it with neem.

Mawy_Plants wrote:I really appreciate you taking the time to explain neem application and helping diagnose the issue. I'm guessing I can spray neem on the entire plant? And would using it on my others as preventative be beneficial or overkill?

Again many thanks!

Yes, you can spray the entire plant. I would spray everything close to this plant as a safety precaution.

I'm glad I could help.

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Mawy_Plants wrote:

Orit wrote:I lived in San Jose for 2 years! you say you're in Mountain View and my mouth waters dreaming about all those amazing restaurants, most of all Turmeric. Totally off topic but I'm so jealous you could eat there whenever you want. One of my top 3 restaurants of all time.

Good luck with your plant!

Whhhattt! Bay Area represent! The cuisine selection out here is insane. I'll be honestly tho, I do not know of that restaurant... I Yelped it and they have one in Sunnyvale? Perhaps it moved? I'd love to try it out!

And thank you! Everyone's advice has helped a bunch!

Googled it. The location looks the same. I think I got Mountain View and Sunnyvale confused because they are so close, sorry. Also was surprised to see just okay reviews. Looks like the quality may have gone downhill, which is really disappointing. I'd usually leave literally in pain from overeating. Oh well, no shortage of amazing food out there.

I second just taking the whole plug of media+plant and transplanting that into a taller plastic or Styrofoam cup - I ended up having to move our 6 plants two times in LFSM via that method in a very short time after they were settling in nicely and they didn't skip a beat in continuing where they were (once by choice and once because a storm blew them off the porch)