venus flaytrap? My flytrap is dying?

Question

I bought my flytrap two weeks ago. Its traps are turning black now. I dont know what is wrong with it. I used rain water and bottle water for the plant. (The rain water have been there for a long time and is not very clean...)I keep it under the sun for about 10 hours per day. Please tell me what to do to save my plant. Can you give me some tips for growing venus flytrap?
PS: I live in New Zealand

It is darkening from the claws and then to the leaf. Do i over water it or over cook it under the sun? Should i cut of the darkened leaves?

Answer 1

I wouldn't worry too much about it because the traps die after they have fed. As long as the entire plant has not turned black you should begin to see replacement traps appear. VFTs love the sun so they are just fine where they are. You can't over cook them in the sun, but they can dry out and that is bad. The main thing you need to do is keep their soil moist at all times. Here are some helpful hints and wonderful web sites that I share with everyone who have questions about carnivorous plants. Things you need to know to get you started in the right direction. You can keep VFTs outside in full sun or in a terrarium, but I recommend that you not keep them in thier origional container because their roots need room to grow and there is not enough air. Also, if you are going to keep them in a terrarium then make sure you do not put the terrarium in direct sunlight. What a lot of people do not know is that carnivorous plants do best outside in the open air and in full sun. They are cold tolerant down to 20 degrees and actually need to be winterized and go into hibernation in order to do well next season. If your temps drop below 20 then you can keep them in an unheated garage or garden shed. If you keep them in a terrarium then you can force them into hibernation or dormancy and I will give you the site that explains how to do this. As for watering, carnivorous plants are bog plants and their soil needs to stay moist all the times. If you grow them in a terrarium this should not be a problem, however, if you grow them outside you will need to place them in a saucer of water and make sure you keep the saucer full at all times. As for feeding them, check out the expertvillage video I've included and it will answer all your questions.

carnivorous plant NoNos:
No meat of any kind. Meat rots and it will kill them
No fertilizer of any kind. Pot carnivorous plants in a 50/50 mix of peat moss and perlite only.
No straight tap water. Use filtered tap, aged tap, distilled and rain (preferred)

Here are some sites that will help you with just about everything you need to know about growing carnivorous plants. Good Luck and have fun.

Information:
http://www.cobraplant.com/venus-flytrap.html
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/carnivorousplants?starvote=2&pid=153840
Contains a Section on dormancy:
http://www.the-venus-flytrap.com/venus-flytrap-help.html

Expertvillage videos all about carnivorous plants:
Feeding and more:
http://www.expertvillage.com/videos/pitcher-feeding.htm
Building a terrarium:
http://homegarden.expertvillage.com/videos/terrariums-selecting.htm
Propagation and more:
http://homegarden.expertvillage.com/videos/carnivorous-plant-propagation-division.htm

Answer 2

Have you been watering it with rain water (or if not available, boiled water - to soften its hardness)? The chemicals in tap water can kill it. The mould sounds like it is getting too much water. Try placing the pot in a saucer of water so that it only takes the quantity of water it needs, rather than water overhead. I have heard that they can die and regrow (if the traps are artificially closed - although yours haven't been) and the plant reacts to photosynthesis instead. My plant has done this, and from cutting back the black leaves I have managed to save it. So you might want to trim off the dead parts and hopefully new shoots will grow back.

Answer 3

Well, depends on exactly what it looks like, but I think the traps are just dying like they are supposed to. They can only survive a couple of opens/closes... Don't overwater it, but don't keep it dry either. I think 10 hours of light is great. Try www.petflytrap.com. Goodluck

Answer 4

I love Venus fly traps! My wife got me the "carnivorous creations" kit, it has 10 different types of carnivorous plants! It is so cool! Sorry I can't help you. My old ones died too.

Answer 5

The most usual killer of the traps is the urge to trip them and watch them close. Flytrap leaf pairs have a limited lifespan related to the number of times they close. they should only close on contact with an insect. Rainwater should be O.K. they like to be warm (tropical) but not cooked in hot sun. Warm open shady spot is best.If the plant is not "played with" it should recover and produce new growth

Answer 6

My kids bought a venus flytrap, and the sales clerk told us to water the flytrap with tap water, and leave in a nice shady, but sunny spot, and of course, where there are lots of insects around, e.i. ants, flies etc.

Answer 7

It could have been "on it's way out" when you got it. Most places aren't careful about transporting them.

http://www.botany.org/bsa/misc/carn.html