FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I have been growing carnivorous plants for about 2 years and decided to put them all together into my used small fish tank.
I tried to make a slope so VFT gets least amount and utriclea gets the most but I think I kind of failed.
But now I don't want to temper with it, fearing damaging them too much.

I've read couple of threads and high humidity and temperature can be problematic for VFT but I assume it will be okay for the other plants. Any advice that I must correct for survival?

Thanks.

It looks to me like you have some D. adelaes in there right? They usually like a lower light level from my experience and what I have read. VFTs like as much light as you can provide so one or the other is not going to be happy. One will have too much and one will not have enough.

KategoricalKarnivore wrote:It looks to me like you have some D. adelaes in there right? They usually like a lower light level from my experience and what I have read. VFTs like as much light as you can provide so one or the other is not going to be happy. One will have too much and one will not have enough.

You are right, they are D.Adelaes. They are my babies - propagated from chopped leaves to full grown plants! They are sturdier than people say they are. By far, VFT are the most delicate carnivorous plants I own.. This one I put in the aquarium was not doing well anyway so if it dies, oh well, it has met its fate.

In my experience VFTs are a very hardy plant. I've had some that I forgot to water and all the leaves died and turned black. Then two days later new growth was coming out. I've had them in 100+ degree heat for days on end with no problem. These plants aren't delicate from what I've seen. People get the notion that they are delicate mostly because they grow them in the wrong conditions and they die. Given the right conditions they thrive and can even bounce back from some pretty devastating trauma. Maybe the conditions you have are not conducive to good VFT growth. Can you give any specifics as to why you believe they are the most delicate CP you have?

Oh and I just noticed the grasshopper in the tank. They eat plants so I would recommend getting that out of there.

That's not going to work out too well, VFTs need dormancy and those others aren't going to be very fond of that. Plus, they have different lighting needs.

KategoricalKarnivore wrote:Oh and I just noticed the grasshopper in the tank. They eat plants so I would recommend getting that out of there.

Little too late. Went out for dinner and came back grasshopper chewed off one sundew leaf.. now it's in my pitcher plant

I have 2 VFT in identical condition. One is flourishing and the other one (in the picture) wasn't doing too well. I tried bunch of things and couldn't figure out. They came out of the semi-dormancy (rlly small traps) around the same time this spring and looked healthy at the beginning but one decided to not do well. Hence, threw it in the terrarium.

True, Different light demands for different plants. But all of them in the terrarium are kept in the same condition and doing fine (except I always water a lot more for sundews). I think they acclimatized to my watering habit and they are sturdy enough to withstand my lack of care.

Being in Ontario, but luckily my room gets the most amount of sun even in winter, VFT goes into dormancy but keeps the traps. I cut watering to half. So if this VFT survives till winter, I guess I can just water around it to limit water exposure.

I feel like I should have put more sphagnum moss for extra drainage. Maybe i will do that in a couple of months if they survive.




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How much water should I give? I just gave them the same amount and before I realized, I put too much water in. (See pic). Is there easy guideline for how much water to give?

Thanks


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VFTs don't like high humidity like you get in terrariums. In fact, that terrarium will be bad for it- they need deep substrate and very bright light, neither of which you have in there.

What's that pink stuff in the soil? Is that aquarium gravel? It needs to come out. You shouldn't have anything in the substrate except sphagnum moss, sphagnum peat, perlite, and/or silica sand. And sphagnum moss isn't drainage- you need a drainage layer made of something that has a lot of space between it, like large chunk perlite, where water can trickle down away from the plants.

One thing you could do would be switch to an egg crate with a 1 inch suspension from the bottom. You would place all your sphagnum and other substrate on top of it. You would drill a hole about 3/4 inch of the way up from the bottom, this way you would have humidity on the plants, and they would never get too dry, but they would never get waterlogged either. If this didn't work you could lower the hole to 1/4 inch of the way, that might yield better results. I'm not the best with flytraps, but it's my 2 cents on the matter.

So it’s been almost two months and I need some help. I spray water everyday, water them twice a week - about 1 cup. Humidity fluctuates from 70-90% and temperature ranges from 24-27. They get lots of sunlight but they are not doing well. I have Adelae on a pot right beside the terrarium (same amount of sunlight) and they are super healthy - check out photos. Not sure whether they need more water or less water. What do you think?

Leaves have no dews and look dry. But the utricula are growing well so I think they get enough water.. maybe not?


In a pot they are very healthy.





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I have to wonder if you're overwatering. I'm guessing you didn't put any drainage holes into the aquarium? I can't tell from the pic but there may be water accumulating at the bottom which will lead to root rot and other issues.

Patrick

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DesertPat wrote:I have to wonder if you're overwatering. I'm guessing you didn't put any drainage holes into the aquarium? I can't tell from the pic but there may be water accumulating at the bottom which will lead to root rot and other issues.

Patrick

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No drainage at the bottom but I don't see any water accumulating. I have a quite thick patch of sphagnum moss (3 inches or so), then another 2-3 inches of soil and another layer of pebbles at the bottom. Does this mean I'm not watering it enough?

No, you still may be overwatering but I can't say. I've never tried growing in a terrarium, I'm just spitballing.

Patrick

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I know this is a bit of an older thread, but after reading the responses I would really like to mention something.

Yes, VFTs hate humidity, but that is ONLY if they haven't been adjusted. I have been growing VFTs from a seed in unventilated humidity domes, along with different species of sundews, and they do very well, regardless of the humidity. I find at least for flytrap seedlings, which are FAR more delicate than the adult kinds, being adjusted to an environment with more humidity is better because in general they run less of to no risk of the soil drying out, which I've had kill off seedlings in the past.
I think it would be safe to say that, so long as it is slowly and carefully acclimated, a flytrap can adjust to high humidity, and may even thrive in it.

I am going to test this theory out when I get some ventilated adjustable humidity domes, by placing my non-acclimated flytrap inside and slowly turning the humidity up over the course of some weeks.

I hope the plants are doing well, it's a really cool idea!