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rayray88_gw

my venus flytrap is dying!!!!

rayray88
17 years ago

i bought my venus fly trap in january from walmart.... i left it in the same lil dome but cut off the top so the plant can be exposed....i water it from the bottom so it soaks up but it seems that it is dying and lil white moss stuff is growing and little tiny insects are in the soil..(EWWWW) but anyways what should i do i live in california and its cold and i put the heater on so my room kinda gets heated and when its off i put it on top of my cable box so the little heat it gives off can keep it warmm.....any suggestions on why its dying or what i could do...

Comments (21)

  • jonocross
    17 years ago

    First off... what type of water are you useing?

    I could be wrong but little white moss stuff sounds like mold.

    What kind of light does the plant get?

    Lets start with those parts.

    Also, it may be helpfull it may not but check out my web site, I have a little bit about growing fly traps on it in my CP section.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Tangled Web of Aracknight

  • rayray88
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    im using bottled water and i put it in the window everytime i get up....but dont worry i know that if the sunlight was to strong it will kill it....and it only has little white stuff not alot.....

  • nepenthesfreak_2007
    17 years ago

    are the bugs in the soil alive or dead? I think the least you have to worry about is too much light. Also, venus flytraps usually are dormant around this time of year, but if you got it at wal-mart, theres a good chance its totally thrown off schedule... I it seems to die out totally, and all else has failed, put it in a cool, moist place like your basement till around easter.

  • rayray88
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    the bugs in the soil are alive....i put it in the sun today to give the poor thing more light to kinda dry the real moist soil......

  • xymox
    17 years ago

    if the bugs are alive then they are probably gnat larvea or i could be wrong. i usually see little tiny bugs crawling in the pots on my flytraps at times but they seem to be no harm. I also live in california, but in los angeles.

    are the bugs eating or attacking your plant? If the bugs are on the leaves of your plant and they are greenish or white they might be aphids. if they are only crawling in the soil they might be something else. as long as they don't attack your plant, there's no worries.

    The white moss might be dead moss or Pores. as long as you keep your plant's soil moisten under good lighting there should be no problem. Avoid the heater from the plant. you may stress it from sudden temperature changes.

    Don't worry about cold temperatures. flytraps are truly Hardy plants. just keep your plant's soil moisten at all times and grow it outside in full sun or in your windowsill getting some air circulation. don't cover it with anything, they rely more on Light.

  • clay_in_iowa
    17 years ago

    "i know that if the sunlight was to strong it will kill it"

    Umm Mine get full sun all summer outside and do very well. I'm not sure ther's such a thing as too much sun if the soil and water conditions are correct.

    I can't believe you all missed this. "Bottled water" DOES NOT equal pure water. Most bottled water is mineral water or filtered well water and it is a great way to kill any CP. You need RO water, distilled water, clean rain water, or water from a dehumidifyer.

  • tommyr_gw Zone 6
    17 years ago

    Take the dome off NOW. Put in a Sunny west or south window. Keep the pot in a shallow tray that has ONE INCH of DISTILLED or RAINWATER ONLY. NO bottled waters. The insects could be soil mites or springtails, they feed on damp organic matter in soil. They usually do not harm plants.

    VFTs need FULL SUN and NO TAP water or bottled water. They also need winter dormancy. There is TONS of info on them if you google it.

    Tom

  • hunterkiller03
    17 years ago

    My experience with small insect inside these plants sold in stores is that they are usually small flying gnats and springtails but hard to tell without further descriptions of these insect. I agree in taking the dome of but do it little by little to avoid shock, like lifting it from one side a little. Then a few days later, a little bit more.

    Now, where is this "white moss" growing? Is it on the soil? Or is it on the plant? If itÂs on the plant, is it limited around the growing point? Or is it growing on the dead leaves of the flytrap? Or is it on the growing point of the plant? That will be bad news if it is.

    But then again it may be dormant and beginners sometimes confuse it that itÂs dieing. Below are some pictures of my VFT that are dormant right now.

    These are "Akai Ryu"{{gwi:545268}}{{gwi:545265}}

    And these a href="http://photobucket.com/"; target="_blank">{{gwi:545271}}
    {{gwi:545262}}

  • hunterkiller03
    17 years ago

    I messed up my posting! I clicked submit by accident! :-þ

    What I tried to say is that the last two VFT is "Dentate Traps" and the next is "typical". The tip are surrounded by the dead summer leaves and usually when its dormant, it produces smaller leaves that are sluggish to close. So this is how it looks when its dormant.

    I hope these pictures can help and that is your case with your VFT. I keep my plants in a shade and in a cool spot and move them out of the trays, but I make sure that the growing media is kept moist but not water log when its dormant.

    Hope you can post some pictures to better determine whatÂs wrong with your plant. Just to let you know, IÂve killed a few VFT by accident or by some bad advice many years back when I was a kid. So donÂt get discourage.

    Good luck and happy growing.

  • kelmcwalk
    17 years ago

    Hi
    If the white stuff is a mold it is probably Botrytis and this can be cured using Tichoderma.
    Good Luck

  • kelmcwalk
    17 years ago

    Opps spelling messed up Trichoderma is what I was trying to type

  • rayray88
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    ohhh i thought bottled was pure i guess i was wrong... i think i should just throw it away and buy another cause i have no distilled water or rain water and its probably just hopless now .....but next time ill have all the correct care and needs for one....

  • hunterkiller03
    17 years ago

    Don't give up on it. It could simply be dormant. Work on it till the bitter end... I always say. To my experience, plants that seem to be dying or looks even dead had more then once surprised me when I had given up on a "dead" plant and put it on a corner and forgot about it. In a couple of weeks when i decided to reuse the pot, i have discovwered to my surprise there's new growth. Try your best, you plant may still be salvagable.

  • necifix
    17 years ago

    Oh. You're one of those fools who thinks "hey i can gro 1 o deeze." and buys it from crappy wal mart, puts it in potting soil and puts it on the window thinking it'll get good light.

    Sigh.

    Dude, get yourself grow lights, stands and greenhouses for this stuff.

  • tommyr_gw Zone 6
    17 years ago

    You do NOT need anything special to grow venus fly traps. Just distilled or rainwater and sunlight. They only need a dormant period from say Oct./November until around Valentine's day. No freezing. I put mine in the fridge as I have no where else cool enough to put them.

    YOU CAN GROW THESE! Get another one. Soil mix can be either equal parts peat moss and perlite or peat moss and play sand. Sit the pot in a tray of about 1 inch of distilled water or rainwater ONLY.

    Tom

  • cpl101
    14 years ago

    I have a Venus Fly Trap I brought it like 2 months ago. Its been good in its puny box thing. I brought it at Gardening Ridge and one week I forgot to water it. It slowly started to die. So I transplanted it in a plastic pot with clay, humus, the soil that came with it and two other soils around my garden that i couldn't identify. I also wrinkled up magnolia leaves to use as mulch and weighed it with some sand. It is still dying. It is getting black in some parts and they are dying off. Currently it is on a table outside about three feet high and has one stem and bud which are both partially black. I know it was a big mistake to take it out, but i didn't know about this first. I'm probably not aloud to get perlite, peat moss, or play sand. Maybe distilled water, but if I can't can I use water from the fridge (Old filter)? I have a good light. Do i need to keep it outside, do I need to cut the one remaining stem thingy off almost to the bottom, and one last thing, is there even a way to keep my VFT alive with all these restrictions?

  • hunterkiller03
    14 years ago

    Of course it is dying, you tried to grow it like in a media good for a regular plant.

    The mulch and garden soils is the wrong media for your VFT. That soil is rich with fertilizer and minerals that will cause rot to the bulb of your VFT.

    VFT grow in a poor acidic soil. In sphagnum moss or peat sphagnum moss. So the humus you described is long fiber sphagnum moss.

    Without the perlite or at least sphagnum peat moss, your VFT will die. Why is it that you are not allowed to get these items?

    You can buy a bag of sphagnum peat moss anywhere, just make sure it does not contain "wetting agent" or enrich with fertilizer, food plant, or minerals. That will kill your VFT.

  • tommyr_gw Zone 6
    14 years ago

    CPL,
    Google is your friend. Google anything you want to know first and read. Then ask questions. You'll have less questions after googleing and reading.

    Google Venus flytrap care and you'll have plenty to read!

    Hunterkiller is correct.

  • tropichris
    14 years ago

    I grow mine outside, full sun. soil is Peat and sphagnum. I cut off dying traps. I water with filtered water (not the best) but mostly rainwater. In winter, I just leave it outside and let it go dormant. Outside, you do not need to feed it bugs. they will catch them themselves. NO FERTILIZER! it has chemicals in it that WILL kill your VFT. Take it out of the little terrarium it came in.
    Do not water with tap water. The Clorine and salts in it will eventually kill it.
    If yours is happy and eventually flowers, cut the flowers off or else it zaps the plants strength.
    Hope this helps.
    ~Chris

  • bahamajack
    13 years ago

    subject is queston

  • bahamajack
    13 years ago

    if need more help click the link

    Here is a link that might be useful: fly trap care

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