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Traps stuck!

I have one typical VFT in a bog garden(pics on the bog garden forum) and I fed it small crickets about a month ago to two traps when I was keeping it indoors. All went well. Well, now outside. It's on the porch at night and we have a pond nearby with lights and so near the porch is MANY small moths. I was wondering why the VFT has not got any. So, I know I know this is bad, but I have a problem now. Okay okay I touched my traps! And well they didn't close. It seems to be healthy outside though, producing two new traps after cutting a black one back. I then tried to trigger all the traps and none worked. Put some small bugs and none again. Now I am not "just trying to get it to eat", but I'm rather worried about it. It's got just a slight red color inside(indoors it had none) now. Although indoors I had produced a long high stem of ready to bloom flowers and outside they never bloomed and are black - like fried. I didn't graduly increase the light though. It went from indoors to direct sun. Is that why they seem... crispy? The flower stem seems green healthy and still standing high, but the buds are.. dead. What should I do with it? And how do I get my traps alive once again?
 
The red color means it's getting good sunlight. The traps are refusing to close because they're done for; the typical trap on a flytrap closes four times and then stops working, living out the rest of it's life as a simple, peaceful leaf. Some traps have been known to close more than that, but they all have a finite number of closes before they're finished.
You don't need to feed your plants or poke at them to make sure they're still alive. They will capture more food when they're ready to eat. If it's not brown and mushy, it's doing good. Don't let it flower. Flowering is very exhausting to VFTs and puts an unnecessary strain on the plant. Your traps may not be moving because the plant was busy trying to flower and doesn't have the energy to trap anything. Give it the standard care and plenty of light, wait a little like endparenthesis said, and it will come back for you.
Best luck,
~Joe
 
Joe said it all. I can add that it might also be a function of taking a garden center plant, that is already a bit weak, from inside to outside too soon. What I mean is that the plant might be in shock by having too much ligh too quickly, compunded by being already weakened by neglect at a garden center. As indicated above, just keep it there and well-watered - and wait for new growth. Always look for new growth and don't worry about that which has died. They will catch bugs on their own, when ready. We humans like to feed them more than they like to be fed. Keep us posted.
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Thanks for the information.
I did purchase it at a garden center, Wilsons.
Also, do I just pinch the flower stem off or cut it or what?
And it's not gonna just die on me right? I mean it has had two new stems coming up since outside. I'm so paranoid.
 
The redness of a trap has as much to do with its genetics as it does light.  Some plants will not get really red traps no matter how much light you give them.  Take a look at the variety of VFT trap coloring in the photos Ozzy posted from the Green Swamp.  You see blood red traps to no red at all.  So don't judge the health of your plant or light levels by trap color.

Flowering does take energy from the plant but it does not necessarily mean it will harm your plant to let it flower (they flower like crazy in nature!).  I do cut off my flowers but that's just my preference.  Its nothing to worry about if the plant has flowered.  Your plant is not going to die. Its really just a personal choice to cut them off or let them flower.

Most likely your traps are worn out.  Just wait and let it grow new traps and when those blacken you can snip them off. And I let my plants feed naturally.

Always think about what conditions VFT experience in the wild...sun, not so much sun, rain, flooding, drought, catching things that might not be so good for the trap etc....and still they survive.  They are pretty tough lil' plants.  
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Cassie/Tink, cutting off a flower stalk for now would be beneficial. Anything green / red on the plant should be left as is, since it is still carrying on photosynthesis. Only cut off blackened leaves and traps.
 
PAK is right about the red part... but red coloration is rarely a bad thing, that was all I was trying to say. Some VFTs are all green, or only red in certain places, even in the best light. If your VFT is taking on a red color, it probably means that it's got enough energy to make red pigment to protect itself against the brightness of the sun (not that the sunlight is a bad thing - it's good.) It's not sick or anything; it's just living up to it's full potential.
~Joe
 
Yeah, green is good. Red is great! Your plant just needs time to adjust to its new setting.
 
  • #10
My flytrap did the same thing when I moved it outside.Its just in a bit of shock thats all.
 
  • #11
oops,I sent the same message twice
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  • #12
I wasn't home at all yesterday and we had a nice steady rain that my plants probably enjoyed. Now most of my traps are turning that black color and getting crispier. So are they done for? The new shoots are still coming up and seem an inch taller within two days.
 
  • #13
Do not worry about blackened traps and leaves. That's natural. As long as you are getting new growth from the center, all is as it should be.
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Leave the green parts like someone said as they still make food for the plant.

Also...VFTs that you get from Garden Centers and Lowes, etc...many of them have had their traps poked NUMEROUS times. People just love to make the traps close. And the plants probably got tap water and all that. So they've most likely had a rough life before you ever got it.

Give it some time and let the old growth die off. Give it good light, pure water, don't trick the traps and it should be happy as a clam....a very prickly clam.
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