newbie looking for advice

[moeberry]

Hi everyone,

I have had my vft for 5 or 6 weeks. When I bought it it was dry and sad. It had two open traps on short broad leaves and two new unopend traps on long tall leaves, and the whole thing was pale green, not a trace of red.
So I brought it home and put it in a small dish ontop of an even smaller dish, then added enough water to just touch the bottom of the pot for increased humidity (without it sitting in water). At first I had an old milk jug with the top and bottom cut off to help with humidity without cooking it as I wanted to put it in the sun. But we got very little sun that week (and that's not unusual) so I got an old 10 gallon aquarium with a lid and a full spectrum light bulb (its supposed to mimic sunlight and help plants grow). I put the plant directly under the light for about 14 hours a day and noticed improvement immedietly. The open traps began to get some red on them and the unopend traps got teeth and started opening.
I thought it was time to feed my little survivor. I had read that you could feed it a dead bug if it had recently died and had not been poisoned. So a dead bug it was. I fed it to the largest trap, which closed painfully slowly. I tried to trigger the hairs with a toothpic to stimulate the release of digestive enzymes but it didn't work and to trap rejected the bug within 24 hrs.
So a couple days later I caught a live bug with some tweezers and tried to feed the large trap again, but the trap wouldn't close so I tried the other open trap but it too closed very slowly and the bug escaped my tweezers andby the time I recaptured it the trap had finished closing. I didn't think that it was a good idea to force open the trap so the bug got a second chance and my plant went back to the terrarium for a rest.
I wasn't worried because the two new traps were almost completely open and there were two new shoots ;D.
So a few days later I attempted another live bug. This time the I fed one of the new traps (the original two wouldn't close at all). It closed much faster than the others but still didn't snap.

I was good and happy until a day or two later when I noticed that the base of the leaf on the fed trap was starting to brown as well and the outer edges of both older traps and one tiny spot on the back of the other new trap.
I'm geussing that the "new shoots" are a week or two from opening (based on watching the last two open).

So do I snip off the two older traps which are obviously dieing or leave them to compost?

What about the trap that ate the fly? The base has turned brownish-black from one side to the middle, but it looks as if it might pull through as long as it isn't some type of disease.

What do you folks think of my set up? Do you have any terrarium advice?

Any comments will be appreciated. I know it's a long post but as a beginer I didn't want to leave out anything that could be important.

Thanks, Moeberry

[mabudon]

Welcome MB (if ya don't like the initials I can think of others but I do tend to shorten thing if possible )

Hmmm where to start..

Well, first thing, I would just put the plant in a bowl with water about half way up the side of the pot, and let it kinda dry out a bit every once in a while (dry out as in there's no more water left, maybe jjust a few drops, NOT bone dry)

Oh and unless you know the mineral content in PPM for your local water (which in Campbell river could be pretty good but I duno) you should use reverse osmosis filtered water, or distilled or something with near 0 ppm of stuff in it

I grow my flytraps on windowsills, with no fancy humidity domes or anything, the dome effect can lead to a lot of goofy problems that the open air tends to help avoid, or keep to a minimum at best

It sounds like our flytrap is still a wee bit stressed, but sounds like it should be recovering,too, so that's okay

another option is to grow them outside, in a tray/bowl/whatever. If you want to put them outside (where nature will take care of the dormancy as ewll, an added plus) just remember to harden them off, give it some sun one day then a bit more each day til it is ready for full sun, they really appreciate actual sunlight.

If you realy want to keep yer terrarium set-up, I would maybe get some stronger light on the area and keep the cover off or open far enough that circulation is not an issue, stagnant air will kill 'em faster than anything as fungus etc set in in those conditions

That's enough from me, I'll let someone else pick up whatever I left out, as you really did make a detailed post and I'm not sure how to respond to all of it

Enjoy your experience here

[tom]

I second Mabudon on everything he says. All the VFT I grew since I began in CP grew much better outside a terrarium, and outdoor in summer.

As for traps, to trigger the 'snapping', the trigger hairs need to be stimulated another time once the initial closing begin to really close hermatically. This way, the plant 'know' that there is something alive ( a potential nutritious prey) in its not, not a branch or such. Also note that feeding is beneficial but not mandatory.

A repotting might be welcome too, if the sphagnum look too old/decomposed. As for dead leaves, you can trim them down if you fear fungal attack (esp. in terrarium), but I do 'clean' my plants only once in a while (read 'rarely').

Oh and I used tap water that have sit for 24h for watering. Perhaps my plants could be better with RO water, but it is fine for me. Still, it depend much of your water quality...

Good luck and welcome on the forums

[jimscott]

Basically, your plant is stressed out. While being carnivorous as its unique quality, it is still a plant and needs light, water, and air circulation. For now, I would strongly suggest curtailing the feeding and concentrate on nursing it back to health. VFT's do best when outside, but I wouldn't recommend doing that right now. It would be better off if the pot were sitting in a plastic container, at a south facing window sill. The water, since you may not know what your tap water has dissolved in it, ought best be store bought distilled water or RO water or rain water. When the plant has recovered enough to where you are seeing new and normal growth, then you introduce live food, like spiders or flies. By then it will be strong enough to go outside. When you put it outside, put it in a shady spot for about a week, because the radical change in temp, humidity and light will "fry" it.

Here are pictures to give you an idea of what I am talking about, though not necessarily of VFT's.





As far as snipping is concerned, snip that which is brown or black. Green is still performing photosynthesis.

Oh... and welcome to CP, I mean OCPS!

[lloyd]

I'm afraid to leave my plants out in the summer. We have so much insect and animal life that I'm sure any plants would be destroyed. Has anybody had bad experiences with insect or animal pests outside?

[steve]

yes had one true heart breaking.. i like to keep all my plants outside. well one plant has been attacked so far and it looks like it will not make it ..... my Cephalotus dug up by a squirrel... there is still half of the plant in the dirt and now i am trying see if it will recover.. .
thats been my nightmare so far

happy growing
steve

[mabudon]

Jiminy Cricket, ya put your Cephs outside Steve?!?!? I wouldn't have the courage to do that with my little fellows- you could always snag another at Biollantes open house, sounds like he might have some SWEET ones....

Lloyd- I used to have my whole bog dug up every night by possums or raccoons or something, but now I have everything in rabbit or parrot cages and no problems result, the only issue I had so far this year is that one of my S.flava (a giant form) got a tad bit too tall for the cages

I guess that would be a good thing to mention to Moeberry, then, if you do put them outside, make certain that the local fauna are prevented from accessing the plants, seems like animals like CP almost as much as we do

And I totaly agree with Jimscott- don't bother feeding the plant for a bit- stress makes them less hungry for insect food and less able to digest it, better to wait til it's more healthy and thus hungry

[jimscott]

I have had my share of outside disasters! Just don't mention streams, right, Carl? Anyhoo, this spring, my Mexican pings got drowned from a persisitent rainstorm and some plants rotted. Flowers withered. Leaves got scattered and rotted. This was what they looked like, before I put them outside:



Had these buckets-O-minibogs outside, too. They took the rain okay, but the VFT's & cobra lily got gnawed by squirrels Pitchers were severed and traps VFT's were uprooted, with traps missing.



I went to the Dollar Store and picked up a couple wire trash cans to put on top of the pots to let rain, bugs, & sun in and keep bigger critters out. Maybe that would help for those who have been victims of mammalian carnage.

[steve]

i keep trying to get a paint ball gun .....wife says no .... wont kill them hurt alittle and make them pretty colours

lol ok maybe not

happy growing
steve

[Flytrap]

I've tried everything *legal* under the sun to keep out the varmints. My bain are squirrels, raccoons, crows and mice. The mammilian forms were abated to some degree with urine. Yes you heard me right. Back when my kids were younger, they used to pee around the trees and shrubs - keeping away some pests.

Now that my kids are no longer kids, I have a hard time convincing them to continue this effort whenever they come visit my garden. I guess it's not the same having young adults doing that in open space.

Anyhow, nothing I can do about the crows and other birds scavenging sphagnum for nesting material and grubs, as for the squirrels and chipmunks, I find they only go for the VFTs, so I keep them all in pots and on an "island" and moat (my pond). The raccoons and herons still make me cry. Netting helps, but only for a short while. These buggers always figure out a way to go around meshes.

I'm thinking of a electric wire (fence) sold in agricultural supply stores - where koi keepers edge their ponds with it. It doesn't kill, but gives a small shock to keep away critters. Maybe I'll bottle up some urine... no, not in this hot weather!

[Syble]

I find cats do wonderfull jobs with that and protecting the berry patches!
Sib