Up and turned black

[firewired]

My vft looked fine and was growing well when I brought it in from dormancy. But all of a sudden it just stopped growing and the leaves turned black. Is there any hope now that it will still come back? The rest of them are doing great and have lots of new traps forming. Any ideas? Thanks.

- Joel

 

[vft guy in SJ]

The old winter leaves will die off. As long as the plant is making fresh leaves from the center you have nothing to worry about.

Steve

 

[firewired]

That's the thing........it was making new leaves, but all of them turned black too and I don't see any new growth.

 

[jimscott]

Joel, give it some more time. I had aVFT go through dormancy and I put it outside. It was attacked buzz-sawed down to the media. For 3 weeks, there were no visible signs of new growth. Then a leaf... and another. and.... It also clumped into three more plants. This is not to say that your is still alive, but to say give it more time. Ya never know.

 

[vft guy in SJ]

So you have no new growth comming from this plant at all? That sounds bad.

What are the conditions you are keeping it in? If its not too far gone, you could dig it out and make sure that the rhizome is still good. It should be firm and white. If its mushy and brown/black then its a goner.

VFTs are a tricky plant sometimes..  they like to play possum. Ive had plants I was SURE were dead, surprise me with new growth. You might consider cutting back on the water a bit, if its getting root rot then drying it out some should help a little with that.

 

[firewired]

Thanks guys, Jim, I won't give up on it yet. The conditions are the same that I keep my others in and they are doing very well. I have them inside on a tray watering system and they get plenty of sunlight.

I think I will take your suggestion and try digging it up to see if it is still good. Would it be ok to take a root cutting while I'm at it? Or would that be too much of a shock for it in an already less than ideal state. I will also give it new soil if the rhizome is still good. Thanks guys! Happy Easter!

- Joel

 

[vft guy in SJ]

To the best of my knowledge, VFTs do not propogate via root cuttings. I would advise against doing any damage to the root system at all.

In fact I would not even dig the plant completely out yet. You should be able to inspect the health of the rhizome by just moving some of the media away and looking while its still in the pot. If its still healthy then just replace the media and leave it be. It will likely return with no further effort on your part.

 

[Goldslinger]

Don't be quick with drenching it with water when out of dormancy unless planting outside either. This is a good time to repot anyway; if the rhyzome is black mush; toss it; if crisp; all is well. I hope it is the latter.

Good Luck.

 

[firewired]

Well, I checked on it the other day, and it was nowhere to be found. I gently dug the dirt away to see if it was there, and couldn't see it, so I dug just a little deeper and found some roots. It must have been black mush and blended in with some of the lfs mixed in with my peat and sand.

Sad to see one go. I clipped a leaf off of my D. adelae and am hoping to get that cutting to take. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Goldslinger]

Sorry to hear that; I still lose some from time to time.

Gary