FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi there! (I apologize in advance for the long post)

I'm new and bought my VFT a week ago from the Superstore on an impulse without really doing any research beforehand (horrible, I know). I live in southern Ontario, Canada, so it is freezing here at the moment, but I tried my hardest to follow the directions on the container it came in.

I had the plant sitting on some small stones (which were on a lid so the water wouldn't run everywhere) in the original pot it came in for about a week. I had water covering the stones, but not enough that it touched the bottom of the pot (as per the directions) and I misted the plant every day with tap water that had been sitting out for several weeks. The pot was in my bathroom because I thought it needed a room with a large amount of humidity and heat and my bathroom is the warmest room in the house. However, the window barely let any light in and I noticed that almost all my leaves were turning black (although new leaves are still growing) so I decided to do some research online.

The first thing I discovered was that my plant was growing a flower (and was just about to bloom, too) and that I should cut it off immediately to maximize my venus fly trap's health. Funnily enough, I had been using the flower as a tester on how well my plant was doing - if the stem was straight up, my plant was doing fine; if the stem was drooping, I immediately watered it. I cut the flower off and continued researching.

Several sites I found said that having the VFT in a terrarium was the best way to keep it happy and healthy because the light and glass combination made for a nice humid environment. So I went out yesterday and bought some peat moss and perlite and transformed an old hexagon 1 gallon fish tank (which I washed thoroughly with water) into a terrarium. Before moving the VFT, I trimmed the black leaves so that it would look its best. However, after moving the VFT, I noticed it looked very dry and that the light I had used seemed to be burning the leaves. There was plenty of water added to the soil before placing the VFT in the terrarium, so it wasn't that the soil was dry.

It was then that I found this site and read that terrariums aren't the best thing in the world, which makes me worry. Half the leaves I saw today are turning black and I'm considering repotting it and putting it in a window, but I'm afraid I'll kill the poor thing by shocking it too much. I've moved the hexagon to a window so it's getting natural light and I've only been using melted snow to water it since reading this site.

So, my question is: could the reason my VFT is losing so many leaves be because it's trying to adjust and I shocked it by moving it so soon? I'm very worried because I haven't a green thumb at all and have managed to kill bamboo and orchids in the past and do NOT want anything to happen to my VFT. I'll be happy to provide pictures if needed (I just figured this was long enough as it was )

Anytime you quickly change the environment of any kind of plant, it will go into shock. Your plant is just a little bit shocked. If I were you, here would be my next steps:
1) Stop watering it with tap water immediately.
2) Get rid of the terrarium and stop misting it. Venus Flytraps adapt well to low humidity, so there's really no need to artificially raise the humidity.
3) Put it in the sunniest window in your house. It's best if it gets at least 4 hours of direct sunlight per day.
4) Sit it in a tray of distilled water and refill the tray as needed to keep the soil moist. It's okay to let the tray dry out between waterings. Be sure not to keep so much water in the tray that it is covering the rhizome (bulb part of the plant). A half an inch (1cm or so) of water in the tray is good.
5) Leave it alone for a month or so. If it doesn't appear to be recovering, then you might want to repot it.

Hope that helps!

If you have just recently repotted your Venus Flytrap, it won't shock it much more to repot it again right away if necessary. And it's better to repot soon rather than to wait, because the greater shock occurs when the Venus Flytrap is taken out of a planter after it has begun to comfortably adjust to its new home (which can take from 3-6 or more weeks). So go ahead and repot the Flytrap right away, if you think it needs it. Just be sure to get everything right this time.

About a terrarium--
Matt's right about a terrarium. It is usually not a good idea, unless you are growing the plants strictly inside under only artificial light, and even then a terrarium is not necessary. In natural light, the sunlight enters through the glass and heats the air around the plants very rapidly and to a high degree. You can literally bake and kill Venus Flytraps that way. (I have done that before, many years ago.) The enclosed air in a terrarium tends to increase the incidence of harmful fungal infections as well. Lots of fresh, free-flowing air is better.

In addition, sunlight shining through glass or clear plastic into the growing medium can heat the medium to a high temperature, which can damage or sometimes kill the roots.

So a terrarium is not only unnecessary (maintaining such high humidity for Venus Flytraps is not necessary--I live in an almost desert in New Mexico and mine grow well with no extra humidity) but in addition a terrarium is usually damaging to the plants except in certain very specific circumstances.

So--

• No terrarium; just use a regular plastic or glazed ceramic pot, or an insulating polyurethane foam pot or even a styrofoam (polystyrene) beverage cup (that's what I use for most of my individually planted Venus Flytraps (I use the 16 oz. size cups in the U.S.).
• NO tap water, as Matt mentioned. Only distilled water, or water from reverse osmosis, or collected rain water (not "drinking water," not "spring water," not "flavor enhanced" water of any kind).
• Plenty of sun.
• No "potting soil" of any kind. Instead, use a mixture of sphagnum peat moss and perlite (or pure silica sand instead of or in addition to the perlite; this is sand composed of almost entirely of silicon dioxide (quartz) and looks translucent, not opaque).

You can read Matt's excellent Venus Flytrap care articles here at FlytrapCare.com, and I have a short care-sheet at my website as well, if you would like to read it, here:

http://flytrapranch.com/index.php?main_page=page_4

Best wishes and happy growing,
Steve

Thanks so much for the advice!

I'll get straight on repotting it and following your directions for watering. You've both been an excellent help!

Keep coming back here with more questions too. This forum has helped me tremendeously!

I'm from Vancouver and I can luckily grow them outside all year long. This winter was unusually cold so I successfully over-wintered my plants like you would have done in Ontario.

Happy growing!

Adam

xcreamxsodax:
would it be possible to take a photo of the care instructions that came with the plant?

i wanna write to the people who made it and give them a slapping!