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Overwatering?

I am having a bit of trouble decoding the whole watering table for some cps. I know this will sound weird to most, but the vfts I have are turning brown to black and dying off. I have consulted The Savage Garden, on watering, (Peter D'amato mentions keeping an inch of water in the tray constantly, but then says to keep a lower water table for them) but every time I do, the cps I have go south on me. My sarrancias, droseas, butterworts, and nepenthes, are all doing well. My biggest concern is my Red Dragon who is also showing signs of browning. I have them all on restricted watering, allowing them to dry a bit if you will. I have heard that root rot is often the culprit. I am wondering how long it will take for the vfts to recover from this, in that case, any cp. All the vfts are throwing up new growth, although it is considerably smaller than what was once there. I have the vfts in partial sun right now in n. va (instead of in my terrarium under artificial light) in hopes of helping them on their way to recovery. Anyone that can throw some help my way would be appreciated. thanks.
ps, how often does everyone water your cps??? (I know it varies, but looking for the vfts more than enything)
 
what kind of water are you giving them?
letting them go a little dry sounds more dangerous than "too wet" to me..I dont think its possible to have them "too wet" if you are keeping one-inch of water in a tray..that wont waterlog the soil at all..
sounds to me the problem is something besides the water level, but I dont know what..need more clues!
kind of water?
growing medium?
light levels?
indoors or out?
etc..

Scot
 
A lower water table refers to the physical location of the water in relation to the plant, ie a lower water table means that the main source of water is below the plant. I don't think it's really possible to overwater cps on the tray method, the problem may be the water you are using. YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT USE TAP WATER!!!!! It is poison for cps. You have to use DISTILLED WATER, not spring water, not drinking water, but distilled. If in doubt, look on the label of the bottle. It must say: Purified by distilliation or reverse osmosis. if it doen't say that on the label, then pass on it.

Before we can give you anymore help, we also need to know what conditions your cps are being raised in. Soil? Amount of Sun? Type of water (as explained above)? Size of plants? Size of it's pot? Also, take a close look at your vfts and see if tehre is anything on them, like a fungus or a bug. They could be falling victim to soem kind of pest. Again, we can;t give you any more help until you give us some info.

Good Luck!
 
The sun light is about 1-2 hours of direct sun daily, with bright sunlight (indirect) the rest of the day. The only plants to display this brown/blacking (I have 18 others) are the vfts, including the red dragon. The soil mediums are peat and perlite with the exception of the two that are transplanted that have a sphagnum base, you know, they were bought at lowe's or Home Depot. The pots (two vfts are in 6" pots) are very heavy with water and I have noticed when I keep a bit of water from them as opposed to say an inch of water, the plants do much better. As for the water I am using it is straight from mother nature's sky, as in rain water, kept in a dark cool room and rotated according to when it was collected. I mean, I have Sarrencia purpea, S Rubra, Drosea's, all going crazy and the vfts are not doing nearly as well. The Sarrencias stay constantly wet though. I am going by the directions in Peter D'amato's book. As a matter of fact, the red dragon is from his greehouse, as well as the S. Rubra, and my Drosea Dinata. The Drosea is going crazy, new growth daily. The red dragon is losing traps. The red dragon was outside until I noticed that something was munching on it. I lost two traps to what ever was doing that. My Other vfts are either in sun, or under gro lights. What would eat a vft or s. purpea? I think the problem is overwatering only because I transplanted a bunch of cps before from their little pots from Home depot and watered them oh every 2-4 days, and they went crazy. I had a Drosea Adelae (sp?) over a foot tall, then he kicked the bucket and all I did was up the water table according to text I had read, mainly the savage garden. any help would be appreciated...
 
I'd say it sounds like they need more light.. at LEAST 8 hours of FULL sun daily. I prefer sunlight over artifical for my VFT's. Start acclimating them to more light a little at a time.
For the watering, I fill my trays to 1/2 inch of pure (distilled) water, then allow most of that to evaporate before I fill again. (usually every other day, but sometimes daily if its warm)
As for them being attacked, there are all kinds of small veggie eating critters that would possibly find a VFT as a tasty treat, so its kinda hard to say. You will have to devise your own anti-critter system for that. Try tenting them with chicken wire or something similar that wont block light or trap heat.

Good luck with your plants
Steve
 
I have had my vfts in full sun, and by full, I mean full. sometimes the thermometer registers about 100 with 90% humidity and they seem to go south on me. I cannot even stand it out there like that. I think that they prefer the morning sun, but it still seems to wilt them if I don't strategically locate them so they don't get too cooked. I am not at home enough to do that. I have had great luck with gro lights so I think that is the way I am going to go for now. I cannot afford to lose a plant as unique as the red dragon. I thought of the acclimation as well. They spent two weeks outside with watering almost daily until my friend started to eat them. I think it was a bird because the vft had holes in the traps that were not completely gone. Thanks steve...
 
I found the perfect analagy for what is going on to my vfts. You know when you buy bananas? Well, the cycle is very similar. They start out green, turn yellow, then brown in a matter of days. I saw a few like this at a local "nursery" and they had been deprived of water, so I promptly watered them. I have some pics if anyone would care to confirm my suspicions...
 
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