Why are my VFTs not red?

[anminava15]

They get direct uninterrupted sun from dawn till about 3:30 pm (im 3000 feet above sea level so it’s rather intense sun too). My sarracenia are all vibrant and colorful. The sun is so intense, in fact, that some sarracenia species scorch and unless they’re acclimated under shade cloth, but my VFTs are all green. Even one of the all red species has greenish edges. They’re growing normally, no signs of disease or stress, but they’re all almost completely green with some traps having slight tinges of red. For context, I only have one that’s supposed to be all green.

 

[adnedarn]

Interesting, I'm about 2700 ft in Tucson, Az and even with quite heavy shading on the greenhouse, I still get great color. My 'Akai Ryu' are maroon red. I was ready to blame it on genetics, but if you're sure you have red cultivars then sounds like that's not it. What's your temperatures like? And what media are you using?

 

[anminava15]

Interesting, I'm about 2700 ft in Tucson, Az and even with quite heavy shading on the greenhouse, I still get great color. My 'Akai Ryu' are maroon red. I was ready to blame it on genetics, but if you're sure you have red cultivars then sounds like that's not it. What's your temperatures like? And what media are you using?

I had to use 40% shading in the height of the summer and the temps just recently cooled down enough for me to take it down. In retrospect, I’m pretty sure they began to lose their color when the shade cloth went up. The sarrs lost some color as well but they’ve mostly gained it back. The VFTs are in peat, a bit of super fine pine bark (for added acidity), chunky perlite, and silica sand. Couldn’t tell you exact ratios because I just add stuff until it “feels right” but maybe 2:1:2:1. I only recently started to get “serious” enough about this to keep the labels, so I only know the names of a few cultivars, but I know from memory that only the green microdent is supposed to be all green. Temps right now are weird. Today was 88 but a few days ago was 65. Generally hovers in the 90s-low 100s in the summer.

 

[bluemax]

For what it's worth - I find that it takes a lot of sun to bring out the full color of all-red flytrap species. I grow mine in a "barrel bog" - a plastic half barrel that gets at least 4 hours a day of full sun and the 'Bohemian Garnet' and 'Maroon Monster', which are all-red cultivars, still show green edges to their leaves. If I was to add more soil and bring them higher up to the barrel's edge it would probably help them darken. I admit to liking the green edges on all-red plants, tho'.

 

[PraisetheSUNdew]

My outdoor flytraps have been quite resistant to coloring up, save one (Akai Ryu).

You mention the light being intense due to altitude, but I have observed northern latitudes tend to be milder than the southern areas. Have you verified with a light reading tool?

 

[andynorth1962]

They get direct uninterrupted sun from dawn till about 3:30 pm (im 3000 feet above sea level so it’s rather intense sun too). My sarracenia are all vibrant and colorful. The sun is so intense, in fact, that some sarracenia species scorch and unless they’re acclimated under shade cloth, but my VFTs are all green. Even one of the all red species has greenish edges. They’re growing normally, no signs of disease or stress, but they’re all almost completely green with some traps having slight tinges of red. For context, I only have one that’s supposed to be all green.

A pic might help. Possible it is over/under watered? I live just south of Seattle. We get quite a lot of rain. Even with our dismal amount of sunshine we get during the summer all my red VFT's are red and the inside of the green ones are red/pink.