My carnivorous plants aren't doing well

18 years ago

I've been growing CPs for years now, and every year I seem to do something wrong that kills them. This year, I decided to grow them under artificial light (I was only able to find a reptile 15-watt flourescent tube-it's considered a 'daylight') and put them in a terrarium. They're all in pots under this light in the terrarium, and they seemed to be doing great for a while. Then they started to look bad. My venus flytraps' young leaves are turning black before they even open and my sundews are growing leaves with sick looking hairs on them. Anyone have any idea where to start with this problem?

Comments (8)

necro1234
18 years ago
Well

If you want good grow lights, look on amazon.com, I got 2 Verilux 40 watt grow bulbs, they are about $15.00 each (you can get 24" or 48") and I got a Hydrofarm light fixture to house the bulbs for $20.00 (for either 24" or 48")
Thats a whole $50.00 for everything.
I have 9 pots groing under these lights, the flytraps are red in their traps, my red dragon is bright purple and my sundews are a nice green with dark red hairs.
I think you may need more light for one thing, VFT's love light, mabey get yourself something like I did?
Also are you using R/O, distilled or rain water?
When was the last time you repotted your plants with fresh soild and what soil are you using?
Have your VFTs ever had dormency as well?

Thanx

Sheldon
lleopardggecko
Original Author
18 years ago
Well, the thing is, my terrium is only a 5 gallon tank. How many watts of light should I have for a tank that small? Do they have to be grow lights? Will my lighting work for my plants? Also, do you keep your terrarium covered for humidity? I use bottled water from Costco, is that sufficient? Thanks!
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necro1234
18 years ago
depends on what "bottled water" is.
bottled water like dasani is a NO NO, it must not have any of the harsh mineral salts that normal water has.
You have 3 options, R/O water from a R/O unit (I purchased a Nimbus WaterMaker Mini unit that fits any USA tap socket for $80.00) or Distilled water (must say distilled, albertons sell it, costco should to) or rain water.
I would avise atleast a 40 watt flurecent bulb for your light, VFT's LOVE light, as long as the bulb is not incandesent which can burn them.
It does not have to be a grow light, full spectrum bulbs just give more natural light which help the plants grow, verilux bulbs are only about $15.00 per bulb ( I buy off amazon)

I have hardend off my plants, so they no longer have any humidity dome.
They grow indoors on a shaded window sill with those 2 40 watt verilux bulbs hanging overhead on a timer in a light fixture.

I used distilled water from albertons to begin, but this got to expensive with the purchase of my american pitcher plant outside, thus I found out about the affordable WaterMaker Mini R/O unit.
I fill up my 2 gallon bottles and then clip the R/O unit off my tap and put it in the fridge until its needed next.

I also foliar feed my plats with Epiphytes Delight that I purchased from californiacarnivores.com.
I do this since they dont really get bugs indoors.

They are honestly growing healtheir, stronger and better out of the humidity dome.

You can read the topic here called "HARDENING CP's" to see how I did it (how it was suggested to me)

I live in Salt Lake City, Utah.
My plants are in the basement which has a day temp of between 60-70 F, with the furnace running you can imagine how low the humidy is.

Hope this helps, you are welcome to ask questions here or by email at: necro1234 at yahoo dot com

Cheers

Sheldon
lleopardggecko
Original Author
18 years ago
Perhaps it is the water I'm using that's killing them...The light I'm using is technically a reptile light but the guy at the reptile store said he has friends who use the lights for growing plants they shouldn't be growing (you can imagine what that is) so maybe I should try buying the distilled water from Albertsons. How much is it per gallon? Also, is it too late to save my plants if I've been sitting them in bottled water since I got them (about a week and a half ago from Cook's and Sarracenia Northwest). Thanks!
necro1234
18 years ago
No its not to late :)
If the soil is soaked in that hard water, mabey you should repot the plant on fresh peat mix so that all the hard minerals are out.
Just give them good light and good water, albertsons sells a 2 gallon bottle for about $1.95 per bottle.
Just make sure the bottle says "Distilled water" and you know you are safe.

Those bulbs may be fine, you will see if your plants stay or get red in their traps.
If they dont, they need more light, do you have anymore soil mix for them?

Do you have stuff like superthrive?
If you got some spare $'s to spend, and you dont have it already this is what I would do.
Go get a bottle of Superthrive somewhere (I got it online from californiacarnivores).
Get more sphagnum peat and perlite (or whatever mix you like)
Once you have it, mix the superthive as per instructions on the bottle for root soaking.
Unpot the plants CAREFULLY, careful for the roots.
Soak the roots in the superthrive mix for 15-30 minutes while you make your fresh soil mix.
Ofcause mix your mix with distilled water and fill the pot, then carefully put your plants in this.

They should be fine after this, I foliar feed mine with Epipythes Delight and it makes a MASSIVE difference to them.
My plants dont get lots of insects so this is why I use the foliar feeding, you can use both if you dont go overboard.
Just remember, HALF the dose of the foliar feed mix that appears on the instructions.

Im sure they will be ok, dont worry

Sheldon
necro1234
18 years ago
Just to let you know where I get all my stuff:
Lighting from Amazon.com
Plants from S. Northwest (they AWESOME GUYS!) and Cooks
fertilizers and nifty products like superthrive from californiacarnivores.com
Perlite and Sphagnum Moss from S. northwest (best online proces I have found)
Sphagnum peat moss from wasatch shadows nursery here in Utah.

Cheers

Sheldon
lleopardggecko
Original Author
18 years ago
Thank you so much for your help! Hopefully the change in water will be good for my plants, and hopefully my lighting situation is sufficient. One more thing: What about humidity? I don't have a cover on my terrarium at the moment. Do I need one? I took off the cover after my plants started to die because I thought they weren't getting enough air.
necro1234
18 years ago
Na, the air thing is not a problem, I had mine in a sealed terrarium that I aired for 2-3 hours each week, they would be fine in that.
If the are used to getting high humidity in a terrarium, be careful, if you remove the cover and suddenly drop the humidity low they can go into shock.
If you want to harden them off to having the cover off, then firstly let them recover.
Lift one side of the cover by 1 inch, then 2 sides, then all 4 sides, then remove the cover (over a period of 2-3 weeks)

They will then acclimatize to the new humidity as mine did.
Its up to you if you want to keep them in a very humid condition, I got tired of the small 1 gallon terrarium when they grew too big, so I moved them all to their own 6" pots.
I then got sick of the humidity domes fogging up, I then decided to try and harden them off.
It worked perfectly, they are all using the water tray method and have sphagnum moss top layer as well to help with humidity.

hope that helps

Sheldon

My carnivorous plants aren't doing well

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My carnivorous plants aren't doing well

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