VFT Looking sick

Hi I bought my flytrap from equilibrio as bareroot around november of last year and nowthe traps ar very short and the leaves below the trap are kind of wavy. They always have distilled water and full sun, please can anyone tell me whats wrong with it?

so would that mean that it currently is still in doemancy even though it gave a flower stalk for spring?

That would mean that it never went dormant and for lack of a better word, it is "frying" out. A flower stalk, under these circumstances, would probably be a dying plant's attempt at reproducing itself before it goes to VFT heaven. If that flower stalk is still there, pinch it off. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to produce a flower stalk.

Last year one of my plants leaves became distorted and aphids were suggested. I found them when I looked really close at the base under the leaves. Take a peek to rule it out.

from what i can see is it has no aphids. The flower stalk was cut off right when i saw is come out, so should i just leave it be and see if it gets better?

You could force dormancy right now to give the plant 60 days in a frig if you think you're up to that. Or, you could forgo dormancy this year all together and see what happens.

ok i will put it in the fridge now for two month's. Won't putting it into dormancy now kind of throw off the plant.

Hold off a little bit please. Read this and then consider the comments below from a friend of mine who has been growing a few decades longer than me-
http://www.the-venus-flytrap.com/venus-flytrap-help.html

My friend said 3 months would be best not the 2 months I suggested. I'd go with his advice over mine more so because he's been growing carnivorous plants for about 40+ years.

Given the time of year it is, I'd probably go for the 3 month dormancy instead of the 4-5 month dormancy suggested at the above link and then get your plant onto a regular schedule next year.

When I have forced dormancy, I generally have barerooted my plants and wrapped the roots in sphagnum moss that is ever so damp but not moist. Sarracenia I have even dipped in a 10% bleach solution after barerooting them and I believe I dusted some VFTs with powdered sulfur after barerooting them. I must admit I tossed a few Drosera anglica in the frig, pot and all, and they did fine. Come to think of it, I tossed a temperate Pinguicula in the frig and it did fine. I think it was P. villosa but it could have been P. vulgaris I tossed in the frig pot and all. I don't recall ever doing this to a VFT but I would have if I was lazy.

Say The HobbyMarket, please know that everyone who grows these... regardless of skillset... kills quite a few before they settle upon a growing regime that works best for them. If you lose this plant, please don't get overly upset. It happens. It happens to all of us and not all that infrequently.

Thank you you have been of great help and i will try to see if the plant get better, if it diesn then i guess i'll try it agin with another. Thank you

You do realize that you can e-mail him or call him direct and just flat out tell him what you did to the plant he sold you. He's a good sport and might have a suggestion for you that differs from mine.

I've bought plants from him before and I had to call him once on an epiphytic Pinguicula that I was killing with TLC. Sometimes the growers have tips that we wouldn't even think of. Might be worth your time. He's a nice man and it's been my experience (one call) that he is responsive. It took him about a week but he got back to me. Many CP growers only grow part time while maintaining full time jobs and this might be why it took a little bit of time for him to get back to me but then again, I chose to call him as opposed to e-mailing him.

Best wishes to you.

I love Equilibrium's wonderfully-phrased comments in this thread. :-)

TheHobbyMarket, I have just a few comments. You bought your Venus Flytrap last year in November, which is usually when Venus Flytraps (in the northern hemisphere) are either already in their yearly resting phase (dormancy) or entering that resting phase. However, you live in Hollywood, Florida, which is very warm (possibly too warm for optimal Venus Flytrap dormancy).

There is no telling how long your plant was growing that season before you bought it. If it was imported from Australia or elsewhere in the southern hemisphere, it may have just emerged from dormancy, which is fine. However, if it grew in the northern hemisphere under natural conditions (not under artificially forced dormancy), then it was probably wanting to become dormant about the time you bought it.

If it is now producing a flower stalk, then as Equilibrium mentioned it may be giving its last desperate attempt to propagate itself before it dies, and it certainly knows it will probably die soon if it gets no rest (no dormancy). The best advice I could give (and others will certainly disagree, but take these suggestions for what value they may seem to have to you) is--

* Carefully cut off the flower stalk.
* Do not let the plant sit in water, and allow the soil to dry until just moist, and keep it fairly dry for several (perhaps 3) months.
* Keep the plant as cool as you can while still allowing it some direct sunlight--or--do as suggested and give it a forced dormancy in the refrigerator.

You are keeping a weary plant too wet (you are forcing it to grow in order not to drown (die of rot)). Cool and dry (not really dry, but just a little moist) will help to allow the plant to comfortably rest and go into a type of dormancy. Venus Flytraps must slow their growth dramatically for several months of the year, and they do this when: a) the sun doesn't shine as much (for as many hours a day); b) the insects they hunt are all dead or inactive for the winter; c) the air is frigid, making them want to hug the ground for warmth. I realize I am romanticizing these plants a bit, but bear with me. :-) If they can't rest, they will suffer tremendously, just like people who are deprived of sleep. But Venus Flytraps DO grow (a little) and do produce food (from photosynthesis) and store it in their "bulbs" (swollen leaf base clusters underground) even when they are "dormant." So they are not really dormant, just deeply resting.

The refrigerator will not give them light for photosynthesis, but it will forcibly initiate a dormancy. If the plant is not too far gone, this will help it to live. But it may be possible, despite your southerly location, to give the plant a rest just by taking it out of standing water, watering it much less often and allowing it to dry almost completely before watering it again, and placing it in the coldest place you can think of (but not a freezer!), such as in front of a window-unit air conditioner, right in the coldest current of air. Think cool and dry (barely moist) with diminished sunlight, or use the refrigerator treatment.

The disadvantage of the refrigerator is that the plants, especially if already weak, can become targets of fungal infection in the stale, non-moving air of the bag or container they are placed in. In addition, they will not be able to build up a supply of photosynthesized food during dormancy to replace their depleted stock, because they have no sunlight in the refrigerator.

Placing them, in their planter, inside a terrarium or other clear or translucent growing chamber with a cooling unit, but exposed to at least some direct sunlight would be ideal, because you could keep them very cool for several months (in the 40s Fahrenheit for about 3 months would be fine), but they would still receive sunlight to build up their food supply during their dormancy in preparation for the next growing season.

Remember to water Venus Flytraps thoroughly when you DO water, but then let them dry out until just moist before watering them again; and during dormancy, don't water them often: their water demands are _greatly_ reduced during their resting time.

Best wishes. I really hope your little plant survives. :-)

Steve D
New Mexico, US


This message was edited Mar 26, 2007 3:39 PM

This message was edited Mar 26, 2007 3:43 PM

My comments are wonderfully phrased???

Thanks for putting a smile on my face! Was it my comment about "frying", "VFT heaven", or the reference to the "epiphytic Pinguicula that I was killing with TLC" that you found to be wonderfully phrased? ;)

Really glad you are here.

You can spray the plants with a sulfur based fungicide before placing in the fridge. My VFTs spent the late fall/winter in my fridge and I took them out on Valentines day and they're growing great.

Tom

Hello Equilibrium, and thanks for the greeting. :-)

You just have a way of making a great turn of phrase, so to speak, that really makes me (and I'm sure others) smile. For example, "Just as mighty oaks ..., so must Dionaea muscipula ..." (I *love* that one), "frying out" (in reference to a Venus Flytrap becoming too weary), and yes, "VFT Heaven." :-)

I've been thinking about it overnight, and one of the things that occurred to me and that generally bothers me is when people notice that a plant's leaves may be browning or getting droopy (such as a VFTs leaves when the old ones may begin to brown faster than fresh new leaves are produced, when it is going into dormancy), or when a person just generally becomes worried about a plant's health, and tries to compensate by giving the plant more water. For some plants that love water that's not a problem, but for VFTs, like lots of other plants, that can be a problem. Plants can't just get up and walk away from bad conditions.

From my own experience and point of view, it can be like forcing the plant to make a decision: do I go ahead and succumb to this watery grave and die of rot? or do I try to grow like crazy to try to use up just enough water to avoid rot and stay alive at least temporarily, despite the fact that my growth will be spindly, lack substance, be soft and weak, and despite the fact that I will be using my limited food reserve and limited energy just to try to stay alive under this stressful condition, and become so weakened I will be more prone to rot and die anyway?! Oh, the poignant and sad paradox of my life! To be, or not to be--

Oops! Too late, he watered me again! I might as well just give up and die. Oh well--
:-)

(Excuse me for waxing dramatic, and please pardon me, Shakespeare. Thanks.) :-)

Steve D

Say whaaaaaaaaa- " Plants can't just get up and walk away from bad condition." Say it ain't so! This must be why my plants have never left me! And here I thought they loved their momma!

Seriously, overwatering can be a big problem. Not so much when they are actively growing but you really have to watch when the season starts winding down around me. These aren't an aquatic species such as Utricularia radiata.

Now I am confused. Everything I have read said to sit in a dish on rocks with water touching the bottom. Argh isn't this right?

There are two main reasons to place a pot of carnivorous plants in a tray or dish or standard water drainage saucer: to increase the humidity around the plant, and to water the plant from below, by allowing it to suck water up through the drainage hole(s).

Comments about both reasons--

* Humidity -- I personally believe that it is rarely necessary or even advisable to raise humidity in this way. I live in an arid region with low humidity and scant rainfall. But my Venus Flytraps and other carnivorous plants and orchids grow very well. I keep them somewhat sheltered from the hot dry winds that dessicate everything where I live, but that's about the extent of my worry about humidity. Besides, the tray or saucer with rocks idea doesn't work in places with even moderate air circulation (which is more important in my opinion than humidity) because the air blows away and distributes the bit of extra humidity in the air around the water-filled container. Increasing the humidity around plants in this way is a common suggestion, but it's just not that important. Neither is the suggestion of growing plants in terrariums for the same reason. This is just my opinion.

* Watering -- It is sometimes easier to water plants from below, by setting their planting container in water and allowing the medium to suck up as much water as it can through the drainage hole. In this way the crowns of the plants at the growing medium surface don't get wet. This is especially important if the plants are weak, prone to fungal infection, etc. However, in my opinion it is harmful in the long run to keep most plants including Venus Flytraps (which is what I have the most experience with) in standing water with a saturated medium or "soil." A too-wet condition encourages spindly, weak top growth (the leaves and such), fungal infections, and poor root growth.

I personally water either from above or below (depending on my mood, the density of the plant at the soil surface, etc.), and I do water thoroughly when I water, but then I allow the excess water to drain and I allow the medium to dry out until just moist before watering again, which usually means waiting from several days to possibly a week or more for plants that are small or those whose water needs and use is less. I leave them in a tray of water _only_ on those infrequent occasions in which I am gone for a few days and want to ensure that they don't dry out completely, or sometimes for a few hours while they are outside in hot weather in full, direct sun with possibly a drying breeze. In these conditions the soil of some containers can dry fairly quickly, so it helps to keep them hydrated for the time being.

When carnivorous plants are dormant, too much water can kill them. They aren't growing much, which means they aren't using much water at that time. In addition, it's usually colder, which means that the water in the medium is evaporating much more slowly. They stay moist for a much longer time than in the growing season, so their water should be reduced (sometimes drastically) with that in mind.

Never let carnivorous plants _completely_ dry out (except Drosophyllum, which grows naturally in dry soil), but don't treat them like aquatic plants either! (Except Utricularia, Aldrovanda, etc., which really _are_ aquatic plants. :-) Overwatering carnivorous plants, just like overwatering house plants or just about any plant, can cause conditions that result in the plant's death. To keep them healthy, try to keep them in the wide range described as "moist," never completely dry but never soggy for too long.

Hope this helps. This is just my personal technique; everyone develops their own technique as they gain experience with their plants in their environment and growing conditions. :-)

-Steve


This message was edited Apr 5, 2007 7:27 AM

Steve thank you for the information. I was only following the instruction that came with my baby. I love these plants and I have been keeping it alive for a year. I want to get some more.

You did allow your Venus Flytrap to become dormant and rest though, right? :-) Just like tulips and daffodils and many perennial plants, shrubs and trees, Venus Flytraps need their once-a-year, several month long rest. If they don't get it, they will eventually become very tired and may die from expending their energy and never stopping to replenish it (so to speak). :-)