FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

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Ask questions about how to grow and care for Venus Flytraps

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By insistentlyperturbed
Posts:  12
Joined:  Mon Oct 02, 2023 8:56 pm
#455939
Hi everyone...long time no see! At the time of posting this it's been a year a month and three days since I first got my VFT, just something that dawned on me haha. How have you been + your growing journey?
Unfortunately, in that time, despite having trawled the deepest recesses of VFT blogs and agonized over my plant daily...I have not improved much. (I've never had a green thumb, all the plants in my grade 8 science experiment died).
My VFT is holding on. However, as you can see from the title post, it has been suffering from something that I suspect is mineral burn, crown rot, or root rot. I noticed three days ago that there was the tiniest yellowing of edges, which has since progressed rapidly. Certain leaves are yellowing (a bright yellow) and blackening around the edges.
CONTEXT:
- SOIL
--- Recently repotted about 2 and a half weeks ago
--- I bought it almost a year ago, maybe that affected things; I opened the package and didn't give it time to air out before repotting my VFT. But I never used this brand before, though; I was waiting until it came out of dormancy to repot and I never got around to it until recently.
--- Specifically made for carnivorous plants, from "Crazie Nannie" (a provider specializing in carnivorous plants I found on Amazon). I can't find the specific product.
--- From a post in this forum I saw recently, they said that new soil may cause mineral burn despite being made for carnivorous plants, and you might need to rinse it out. I didn't do that. Should I do that?
--- Also added a tiny bit of sand
--- Composition: "coarse and silty clay sand, sphagnum, blended with distilled water, light weight mineral that is pH neutral, no lime and no nutritional value." from the package. I'm a bit confused because it's not that specific and I can't find the percentages, which is weird because I swore I saw it before.
- WATER
--- Distilled water, obviously.
--- Top watered, unfortunately - I switched to tray about two days ago after realizing that maybe that was the cause of my crown rot
- VFT
--- A year old now
--- Realized about a month ago that it was planted very deeply since I took it out of dormancy and had to remedy that
--- Grown inside, using a grow light; probably my hours of light are not enough, I've been upping them
--- A day before I noticed the yellowing, I accidentally allowed it to get dry, and it almost completely dried out - just like what happened in my first post on this forum. I feel quite guilty about repeating this mistake. Then I poured a copious amount of water because I was panicking.
--- In quite a large plastic pot.
--- It looks terrible :(
--- Uprooted it two days ago to check how the roots and the rhizome were doing. Roots are looking good - white-tipped (though they're black at the middle, I heard that root rot usually starts at the tip?) mostly. Only had to cut off one, and that one didn't seem very mushy and black either.
Hoping there will be some solution! Thanks for slogging through all this!
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By ChefDean
Location: 
Posts:  10107
Joined:  Tue Sep 18, 2018 12:44 am
#455946
As stated above, a picture would be of immense help.
That being said, two things jump out at me.
1. The silty clay sand in the media ingredients. Silt and clay generally have a lot of minerals and nutrients, so you could be experiencing some mineral burn.
2. Growing it inside. Unless you have it under strong artificial lighting for 16+ hours a day, it will likely slowly die. Modern glass filters out the qualities of sunlight that these plants need, so a windowsill that receives light 25 hours a day is insufficient.
A picture would help you get a potential answer as to why it's not doing well, but those two points you mentioned rank high on my list as possible avenues to explore.
andynorth liked this
By tommyr
Location: 
Posts:  1805
Joined:  Mon Nov 02, 2009 1:38 am
#455975
I would say the soil mix is what's killing the plant. This is a valuable lesson, from now on only use non fertilized peat moss and perlite or long fiber sphagnum moss. As ChefDean said it's the silt clay that's the culprit. Also I do not recommend growing VFTs indoors, some people have some success doing it but most people will fail at it. They really need to be outdoors under all day Sun to be the most successful.
By schmeg
Location: 
Posts:  338
Joined:  Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:07 pm
#455979
Noting that "carnivorous plants" represent many, many species and worldwide growing conditions, including different soil compositions. Any "CP" potting mix should not be assumed to work for all kinds of CP.
By insistentlyperturbed
Posts:  12
Joined:  Mon Oct 02, 2023 8:56 pm
#456015
Hi, thank you all for replying :)
Thank you for letting me know. In that case, would it still be salvageable in the next few days should I somehow manage to procure a more suitable mix? What brand would you recommend? When I first bought the old one I remember seeing positive reviews from VFT owners; I think the product itself has been phased out now because the provider doesn’t have a general CP mix anymore, though.
I generally don’t think I would be able to keep it outside as I live in Canada. I am sure there are many successful outdoor growers here I just feel I am not really on that level of ability of gardening - i guess I prefer the controlled environment? I get worried because the weather is rather hard to predict here, though during these summer and fall months we are getting a lot of nice intense sunshine (and rain as well). Also I work long hours and honestly only ever get to check my plant by evening. :(
here’s a few pictures of my VFT. It is very obviously not doing well. It clearly used to be planted very deeply, which was a problem ever since it came out of dormancy in April, and that I somehow only noticed this month right before I repotted it. The depth at which it was buried was horrifying. The old leaves keep sagging towards the soil and I don’t know if I should be putting some kind of stakes to help lift them up. I feel like a negligent parent haha, am totally going to be arrested by CP protective services, and for very good reason
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By andynorth
Location: 
Posts:  1827
Joined:  Fri May 12, 2023 9:08 pm
#456017
Many people, myself included mix our own. It is relatively easy, just be sure to clean whatever media you use very well. Do you have access to LFSM? If so, since you only have 4 VFT'S that is the best media for them. I have roughly 40 VFT's and all are in LFDM. They love it. If no access to it you could also grow your own but would need a start. If you were not in Canada I would send some your way. Good luck and happy growing. Oh, and toothpicks work great to prop up the traps.
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By ChefDean
Location: 
Posts:  10107
Joined:  Tue Sep 18, 2018 12:44 am
#456018
Looking at your pics, I do see a slight bit of what could be mineral burn. I'd recommend repotting into a peat moss/perlite mix that you know is free of minerals and nutrients.
However, the bigger culprit is lack of light. They look OK right now, but they're on the decline. The light requirement for these plants is such that direct, unfiltered sunlight is the easiest way of getting them the amount they need. Modern glass filters sunlight to the extent that a windowsill that gets 25 hours of sun daily is insufficient. A cloudy day provides better light than a sunny windowsill. Repot it and put it outside in an area that gets direct AM sun, but is also protected from hard, driving rain. The rain isn't bad for the plant, but it could wash/splash the media out. It will likely decline more as it adapts to the new conditions, but will be better long term. As long as it stays above freezing, leave them outside 24/7.
Having said all that, you may not have enough optimal time for it to recover before dormancy. It may survive a dormancy in its present state, but another option would be to keep it inside for now, get strong grow lights, and hit it with those until December-ish. After Christmas, put it somewhere cool and dark to force it into dormancy. Next spring, once the temps stay above freezing, put it outside to get direct sunlight until fall.
wcrosman liked this

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