A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 wrinkled venus fly trap!

hello! this is my first post.

i bought my vft from a highland resort, where temps are lower. now that i am home, where temp could reach up to 30C on a normal day, the new leaves and even some of the old vft leaves are wrinkled. not sure if the tempreture is a factor though.

other information:
i have transplanted the vft into a huge jar 2 days after i bought it home. the jar acts like a terrarium, its closed for most of the day to keep the moisture in but i open it everyday for at least 2~3 hours for ventilation as most sites suggested.

other then that, it has a few traps 4 out of 9 closed mostly due to feeding when it was at the highlands and when i was home. was it fed too much?

i only watered it once with clean aquarium water as the terrarium keeps the 100% moss is very moist. btw below the layer of peat, i have added a layer of charcoal and a layer of gravel at the bottom.

besides that, the plant is sitting next to frosted glass window, so some light is filtered. is it getting enough sunlight> or should i move it under a tree in the garden?

last thing...i suspect its fungus. although i don't see anything visible to the naked eye growing on the plant. i have tried the remedy of a sprinkle of cinnamon. dint help very much.

sorry for the lengthy post..i am new at carnivorous plants and so far i had one casualty before this alrdy! so why are the leaves wrinkled?? and what should i do?

I suspect it may be fungus too. This can happen when sitting in standing water. Many people suggest this but it's actually a bad idea. I installed a siphon on the side of my terrarium just to get the water out if it gets bad. Charcoal is used for this on normal plants, but it is not a good idea for carnivorous plants.

thanks for the swift reply!!!!

what do u think if i replant the vft in a normal pot, removing the charcoal, add a lil more of the peat moss, and more cleaned river gravel this time mixed in the peat moss... i cant find perlite sand. maybe you can describe more of the properties of the perlite sand so i can at least emulate it? and then.....move the plant to a bright spot among the bushes in my garden.

i am just very afraid of leaving the plant outside because mine is a tropical country. some plants are very prone to fungus at these temperatures and humidity. help?

and yeah one more thing....how can i get rid of the fungus problem? =/ is there any kitchen products i can use?

Do you have a terrarium you can pot it in? If not that's ok, but I would reserve the river gravel to line the bottom of a terrarium, not to mix in with the soil.

Perlite is extremely common - it's like $2 at any garden section. Just be careful because Moracle Gro makes a brand of everything, and their Perlite is enriched, so be sure you don't get it. Your soil can't have any nutrition. It's just called perlite, not perlite sand. You do want to look for horticultural sand, though. Not hard to find, Home Depot has them in small bags. The sand and perlite are for drainiage, the peat is for the base of the soil basically, plus it holds water well. It also helps to have live moss on the top layer.

I just realized you're in Malaysia so it's very humid there probably? It should be fine outside your bushes. I think as long as it has some ventilation the fungus should go away on its own. Give it some time and then let us know. I would definitely keep the kitchen products away from it.

lol. thanks for the replies! i will most certainly update you on the plant as soon as it gets better. this site is great!

First I'd get it out of the jar. Second, a mix of 50% each of either peat moss and perlite or peat moss and sand is what it needs. 3rd, put the pot you plant it in in a shallow tray and use ONLY rainwater or distilled water in the tray, about an inch deep at all times. VFTs like full sun but you want to increase sun a little at a time over a week or so to let it get used to full sun.

Tom

It's going to want a cool dormancy in the winter. Lots of time yet, but what are your outside winter temps?

Hey, TomR, I live in Dutchess county, too! Town of Clinton, mailing address Rhinebeck. Where are you? Sorry, Stepheus, but I couldn't PM him.

again thanks for the replies. its ok margaret e. pell =)

for all its worth, the information online is overwhelming. its good that there a forum for this. some websites suggests full perlite some full peat. almost all suggest different ratios!

btw its doesnt snow at my place. malaysia is a tropical country. so in a way winter will be 27~31C! heh

Sorry to disagree, but stay away from letting it sit in a dish of water. You will eventually give it root rot. Especially if at this time you are worried about bacteria.

As far as soil ratios goes, I know all different sites say different things, I can only tell you from personal experience. And up to this point I have had success with the information I share. That's why I share it!

i found perlite! it was placed at some hidden area in the nursery section. perlite is not sand at all! lol

so this is status report:
2 days ago i have transplanted the vft into a normal clay pot mixed the moss and the perlite appropriate amounts and removing all charcoal.

i ve clipped all the dead leaves and now the plant is sitting outside in the garden, having 50% sun. will move it to a brighter spot somewhere next week.

i have not left it standing in water. i just made sure that i look at the moisture on the moss every evening. i water it with water from my aquarium.

so far no signs of the fungus going off. i guess i just have to wait for the plant to get stronger and produce new leaves.

what hapens to the plant when all the fly traps are dead

Margaret, I'm in the town of Poughkeepsie near Hyde park.

As traps die new ones will form.

VFTs (except for the winter) should be in a shallow tray of rain or distilled water.

that is good that you put it in the jar it needs lots of sunlight but i think that is ok

just an update!

my plant is sitting outside in my garden having full sunlight for a while now, although i worry a lil as i have read that they do get sunburn. as for the moment, it looks fine, the traps are actually growing bigger.

however, the traps arent as red as i hope them to be. i guess its just have to blame my luck for getting a plant that has more green genes than red genes ...thats all for update!