FlyTrapCare Forums

Hi all!
Nice to be here
So i have my Venus for almost a year now, just moved it to a bigger pot few weeks ago.
I noticed my Venus started to flowering again (it did so also before the winter) but a lot of the big leafs starting to die.
Im a little worried, although i see pretty a lot of new leafes.
I attached some pictures, please advise if it looks OK, or should i be worrie

What media do you have it potted in? It needs to be a peat moss based mix or long fiber sphagnum moss with no added fertilizer. Is the pot and saucer plastic or terra cotta? It could have a bit of mineral burn. Also, they don’t need to be hanging. Check out the links above at flytrapcare.com. They’ll have all the advice you need about water, media, and lighting.

Hi,
The media is the original one, ane when i moved it to a bogger pot - i filled it with a sphagnum moss. The pot is all made of plastic.
The water is a rain water and now i moved to a collected air conditionsr's water.
I din't think the hanging is an issue, the planet don't know if he's hanging on.
But the main issue is weather it looks healthy, or maibe i have an issue here

I do not feel it looks healthy, i see no coloration and it looks a little light starved.

This is a photo from my backyard and what i call healthy.

Your's looking much better, no doubt. I wonder if the experts can figure out the issue

Well it can really only have 4 issues
1# Light starved
2# Poor media, old breaking down media, build up of bad stuff in media like copper from a AC
3# High TDS water
4# Skipping dormancy
I guess pest too but you would notice that. I would start with light, the shape of the leaves tells me it needs more. letting flytraps flower energy starved ends bad.

Agreed, it needs more light. When you repotted, did you reuse the same medium or did you clean the roots off and repot? It may be planted too deep.

I used the originally medium, just filled the rest of the pot with new medium

I’m no expert, but try top watering your plants the next few times you water to flush your pots of any minerals and hang your plants in an area where they get more light. Hanging isn’t a problem, but leaving your pots flat on a table surface or the ground outside will get them more sunlight. These are what my typicals looked like a few weeks ago and we have had a very crappy spring in the mid-Atlantic region this year.

I live in Israel and we have here a very strong sun most time (around 35C-40C).
Should i place it in this direct light most of the time ?
Currently it has a shade most of the hours and the direct sun ia about 3 hours a day.

Flytraps are full sun plants. 3 hours isn’t enough. 8-12 hours of sunlight is optimal and 35°-40°C is their normal upper limit. Water from the top before sunset to let their roots cooldown. If it gets hotter during the summer use a 30% shade cloth.

Just gonna toss my insights in here.
My initial look at the pics led me to mineral burn. Then, reading through your subsequent posts, provided me with a few thoughts.
Light. While three hours a day is not optimal, as long as the rest of the day is spent in bright, indirect light, it should be OK. If your temps are consistently that high, you don't want it in direct sun during the hottest part of the day anyway.
Media. Although you've only had it about a year, you don't know how long the plant has been in it. Media gets "sour" and anaerobic, plus minerals can build up. If it was watered with tap water prior to you getting it, it could already have a build up. Fresh, known media can help solve that.
Water. Water from the AC condenser is usually very low to zero in mineral content, but many condenser coils and vanes are copper or an alloy, and these metals will shed ions into the condensate. Though most plants, even carnivorous plants, can benefit from these trace metals, too much is not good. Carnivorous plants are more sensitive to them, copper especially, and (I can't find where I read this) as little as 20 ppb copper is pretty much the threshold for toxicity in carnivorous plants.
Good, direct AM sunlight, indirect/shaded/dappled light from about noon for the rest of the day.
I would suggest a repot into fresh, known, proper media.
I would also try to find a new water source. Rain might be scarce in your area, perhaps get a TDS meter and test your tap water. It may be OK for your needs. Or look for sources to get distilled water like a grocery store.

hi,
thanks for your thoughts,
few things:
1. this season our temps are around 30C-35C (July and August are the real deal), should i move it to more sunny position so it will have 8~10 hours of direct light?
2. until the last week - my main source of water was rain water i collected and saved for a while, i used last year for a couple of weeks an AC water and it looks like it reacted pretty fine.
3. where do you find distilled water for a long period of time? we will not have any rain for the next months, and buying it in a grocery store aren't cheap! i will have to buy it in a weekly basis so it will also a hassle :/
4. when you change media - do you clean it completely from all the previous media and also the roots ?? it looks risky
5. when you change media - do you usually also try to divide it ? is it ok to take 1-2 Leafs with their roots and place it in another pot ?
6. what is the ideal media for it? i will have to go to a nursery and buy a fresh media, but what should i ask for ?

I shake the media off the roots and re pot. here is some photo's of them out of the media, the big pile is the pot i posted above.



I use 50/50 peat/perlite and i re pot late winter when they are dormant.
yes move the plant to get more direct light but do so slowly so not to burn the current growth.

Odedinio wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 4:53 pm1. this season our temps are around 30C-35C (July and August are the real deal), should i move it to more sunny position so it will have 8~10 hours of direct light?

In its native range, it will experience 35°C from time to time. If that is going to be the temp every day, I'd do wat I previously suggested. Direct AM sunlight, indirect from noon on so it's in the shade for the hottest part of the day.

Odedinio wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 4:53 pm2. until the last week - my main source of water was rain water i collected and saved for a while, i used last year for a couple of weeks an AC water and it looks like it reacted pretty fine.

Your AC water may be just fine, but it could have also started the adding of metal ions into the media to a point where it wasn't harmful. But starting to use it again, adding more ions, may now be increasing those ions to harmful levels. While any water is better than no water short term, if you can't get appropriate water, having these plants may not be a good choice.

Odedinio wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 4:53 pm3. where do you find distilled water for a long period of time? we will not have any rain for the next months, and buying it in a grocery store aren't cheap! i will have to buy it in a weekly basis so it will also a hassle :/

Try to find an inexpensive source, or increase your rain water storage. You can also get a TDS meter (~$10 US on Amazon) to test your tap water. It might be OK to use. My tap water fluctuates from about 90 to 130 ppm TDS, however it's low in nitrates, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and other minerals that I can switch to that when my rain water reserves run out. If your TDS is low, see if you can get a water quality report to see the contents of your tap water.

Odedinio wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 4:53 pm4. when you change media - do you clean it completely from all the previous media and also the roots ?? it looks risky

See optique's post. Not risky, just a little time consuming.

Odedinio wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 4:53 pm5. when you change media - do you usually also try to divide it ? is it ok to take 1-2 Leafs with their roots and place it in another pot ?

Don't divide it unless it falls off on its own, or very easily separates.

Odedinio wrote: ↑Fri May 26, 2023 4:53 pm6. what is the ideal media for it? i will have to go to a nursery and buy a fresh media, but what should i ask for ?

1:1 or 2:1 ratio of peat:perlite is what most people use.