FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Has anyone seen this? I can't wait to move these outside. For now they are indoors without a cover for humidity and the LFS layer taken out. The soil is 50/50 peat/sand. Notice the black edges. It worries me to see them on the fresh seedlings.

here's the last one:

I've never seen browning in Dionaea that have just come out of the seeds, that's weird. They're not getting too hot are they? I'm not sure what could cause that. I planted lots of seedlings and kept them inside in my terrarium and I sowed quite a few outside, that kept in a sunny windowsill once temps dropped. The seedlings outdoors definitely look healthier than their indoor counterparts. So, you might just want to put them in a sunny window.

If the next leaves that come out are like that, I'll switch. I'm hoping it's just the drop in humidity.

Adam wrote:Has anyone seen this? I can't wait to move these outside. For now they are indoors without a cover for humidity and the LFS layer taken out. The soil is 50/50 peat/sand. Notice the black edges. It worries me to see them on the fresh seedlings.

Adam, they look too wet to me. I sometimes see such blackening on my tiny seedlings, and it's almost always from being constantly too wet (chemical burn is another problem that can cause that, if your sand isn't pure silica sand or if you use tap water; but the sand in your photos does look like silica sand (transparent or translucent, not opaque), so I wouldn't worry about that). If you water them once or twice per day and let them drain and dry out some in between, they will probably root better and be healthier. It may be worth a try.

Steve_D wrote:Adam, they look too wet to me.

Good call Steve. It's always hard to tell how wet it really is in those macro shots, but it definitely appears to be pretty dang wet.

Matt wrote:Good call Steve.

Sometimes it's hard, with tiny seedlings, to get the watering just right. But the tiny roots do grow downward fairly fast (some of the roots of mine have grown 1/4 inch, about 10 millimeters, in a week or two), so it's OK to let them dry out some between waterings.

I usually allow my seedlings to grow for two or three weeks in the covered container they germinated in, before transplanting them, in order for their first root to grow a little. That way the humidity stays high and I don't have to worry about the soil drying out too fast, and at the same time I can water only once per day and allow the germination chamber to dry for the rest of the day.

Doing it this way, I rarely have any algae problem, very little rot, and the tiny VFTs already have a little root when they are transplanted, which makes continued growing much easier and watering schedules less tricky.

Steve

Thanks for all of the information on watering seedlings Steve. I don't have much experience with growing them, so I'm learning quite a bit from this thread.

This is exactly the problem. I kept the soil too wet so that I would get strikes in my pullings. Now that I'm doing that outside of the container, it doesn't need to be that wet. We'll see if the drier conditions improve their health. I guess a good time to transplant them will be in a month or so of growing in the right conditions.

Thanks for pointing out the watering problem Steve! It probably saved the little guys.

Adam

Adam wrote:This is exactly the problem. I kept the soil too wet so that I would get strikes in my pullings.

Hello Adam-- Another way to do the leaf pullings is to lay the leaf flat against the surface of the growing medium, so that the leaf can benefit from the moisture and humidity that close to the soil, but dig a little trench at the base of the leaf that slopes downward into the medium about 1/4 - 3/8 inch (about a centimeter) deep, in order to bury the base of the leaf. Then water it well from above until it is saturated. Then place a clear or translucent plastic bag or covering of some kind, with holes cut into it for fresh air, over the entire planter. This reduces evaporation, raises humidity and allows you to root the leaf without having to keep the soil too wet. Of course with a bag over the planter, it needs to be out of direct sunlight and exposed to softer indirect light only, so that it doesn't get too hot inside where the leaves are rooting.

Another way is to just get a large size disposable food container, punch little holes in the bottom for drainage, cut larger holes in the top covering for reasonable ventilation, fill the container half full of growing medium, and let your VFT leaves root in there.

Using either method, you can greatly reduce both the frequency of watering and the amount of water in the growing medium. The leaves will not tend to dry out much at all when the humidity is near 100% because the air simply can't hold any more water.

Anyway, good luck. Good looking seedlings. Just need to be moist, not wet.
Steve

Thanks Steve!

I'll do my pullings in a separate container from the seedlings. They obviously need very different conditions. Luckily, every pulling I had struck and I can restore drier conditions from now on in that seedling container.

Another thought occurred to me. I topped up the water level in the evenings, just before the light timer would switch off for the night. This kept the environment the wettest at the worst possible time for fungus and other (non-plant) growth! The catch tray is dry right now (it's 8:30 in the evening - 2 more hours before lights out). I'll add water tomorrow morning instead.

I'll be away in Redmond over the weekend (3 days total) and the tray will dry out probably in the middle of me being away. I'll add water on the morning after I get back.

Hope this will get these guys growing again!

Adam

Adam wrote:I'll be away in Redmond over the weekend (3 days total) and the tray will dry out probably in the middle of me being away. I'll add water on the morning after I get back.

That's going to be tricky. Only you know how fast your tray and water level decreases and dries out. Although it would be ideal for the growing medium to be moist but not soggy, and of course never completely dry, if you are concerned that the medium may dry out completely while you're gone, it may be better, just for those three days, for the medium to be wet instead of facing the possibility of drying out completely. Only you can guess how much water to use and how long it will last while you're away.

I'll get the wife to add water on sat and sun morning then

I think the key is that water is added in the morning. Keeping to the drier side overnight is probably important.

Adam

Adam wrote:I think the key is that water is added in the morning.

Yes. Most gardeners learn that in general morning watering is better than evening or night watering. Warm and wet is not so bad, but cool or cold and wet is bad (promotes the bad kind of microorganism infections). Especially when it's cool or cold, I try to either a) water early so the medium will be at least somewhat dryer before night, or b) keep the plants and medium warmer that night if they are very wet.