Venus Fly Traps struggling in terrarium

[mmlr38]

Hello,

I set up a terrarium back in early March to grow some seeds, and while I was waiting to get the seed stratified, I put some of my smaller Venus Fly Traps in the terrarium. They did remarkably well until about 2 weeks ago and then I started seeing a little blackening on the edge of some of the leaves and they seemed to start losing their dark green color and turning yellowish or paler green.

Anyone have an idea as to why this would happen? I have since taken them out and put them on my porch area that gets a few hours of sun in the morning and evening in the hopes to harden them off and move them outside (this was the initial plan anyway), but I am curious as to what would cause their decline.

My guesses are these:
1) Not enough air circulation
2) Too wet (which was leading to root rot)
3) A combination of 1) and 2)

Any help solving this mystery would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
Matt

[Not a Number]

Add lack of light to the list. Seedlings seem to want even higher levels of light than mature plants. Perhaps it's the lack of surface area.

My seedlings have always declined in a terrarium. I find it best to germinate them covered under lights and put them outdoors (uncovered) as soon as weather permits after the first couple of trap leaves form.

[mmlr38]

Thanks for the tip, but the plants that are declining are actually 2 year old plants. I don't think it is lack of surface area in this case. They grew like weeds for the first 6 weeks they were in the terrarium.

That's good advice though. I will move my seedlings outside as soon as I can.

Thanks.

[Not a Number]

My bad for not reading carefully.

If they are older plants then over wet conditions can cause the sudden decline you are seeing from root/bulb rot. Repot and inspect the roots/rhizome/korm/bulb of a couple of them. If there is any rot, trim or peel it off. If there is anything left with decent roots then perhaps there is a chance of recovery.

You need to cut down the watering. And good air circulation always helps.

[mmlr38]

So I repotted one of the plants that had the blackening leaves, and the rhizome looked extremely healthy. I only have one other theory about what might have caused the decline I thought I was seeing. I took a few of the plants outside to take some photos and I think they might have gotten sunburned. I only had them outside for about 30-45 minutes, but they were in full sunlight. Perhaps sunburn caused the blackening?

[Aidan]

Quite possible with sudden exposure to unfiltered sunshine, especially at your elevation. The plants should soon recover and replace the damaged leaves if that is the case.

As NaN says, Dionaea do not generally make good subjects for terrarium cultivation.

[mmlr38]

Thanks for the reply Aidan. I don't plan to keep any plants in my terrarium during the summer except perhaps some seedlings.

I have about 23 little seedlings that came up from seeds that I sowed back in March.

I was thinking about keeping the seedlings (at least some of them) in the terrarium all summer and winter, skipping their dormancy. Have you tried this?

[jj1109]

NaN = Not a Number

[Not a Number]

Jun 27, 2008 2:27:41 GMT taz6122 said:

Who is NaN?

I am Not a Number...

"I am a free man!"

(sorry I couldn't resist - those who know will get the reference)

"Those who know - don't say.
Those who say - don't know."
-Lau Tzu

[traps]

lol lol