Dead Leaf and Care?

[joshg]

Hey guys, this is my first Venus Fly Trap also my first CP. I am wondering if i should cut off the dead leaf? I got this plant on wednesday in the mail from Keehns Carnivors. I havent feed it yet cause i cant find a bug . Can I feed it little worms? If you have any tips on growing these i need them cause i am big noob lol. Heres a pic

[Flytrap]

Hi Josh...

looks like your media is very dry. That is a no-no in the CP world. Like everyone else mentioned on the "No dew" thread... never ever let your growing medium dry out. I also hope that you're using untreated peat moss and perlite (I can't tell from your photo if that is gardening soil mix eg. African violet soil). Any other soil medium would spell death for CPs. So stick to peat/sand; peat/perlite or pure sphagnum moss or any mix of these three.

Make sure that the media is totally soaked so it feels damp and wet (not sopping wet and not mucky). Then make sure you sit them in water throughout the growing season (our spring through to fall), then give it a 6 to 8 week cool and less moist winter's rest (ie. almost damp medium, but do not sit in water).

I'd cut off the blackening leaf to decrease plant transpiration. Don't feed this VFT until it is well established. In fact, don't feed your CPs at all... let them feed themselves (even if it means it doesn't eat any bugs for a couple of years).

Good luck... and keep up the good questions

David

[boris]

You dont have to cut off the entire leaf, just the trap in this case, the leaf will still be of use to plant for a while.

[joshg]

Hey David, like 1 hour ago I toke out the plants and did the distilled water thing so it is pretty wet. I came back from home hardware and got a glass cover for my terrarium and doing what the other people said with the humidity. I also bought a 60W daylight "sun glow" light. On the box it says for tropical terrariums and has a broad spectrum bulb. Is this alright? Along with this I have a 17wATT flourescent bub. I hope the dew comes!