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Carnivorous Plants/Center of closed trap light brown and shriveled

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Expert: - 6/23/2010


Question
Hello, I have been growing venus flytraps outside under 6+ hours of sun in Massachusetts. I have all of my plants in 50/50 peat moss perlite mixture with each plant in a individual pot which are all sitting in a tray of water about 1/4 of the way up the pots. They all have been growing perfect until this morning I looked at one of my plants (which normally has deep deep red traps) and I noticed that during the night it caught something inside of its trap. When I looked closer though I noticed that where the bug was inside of the trap, there was a dried shriveled up half circle starting at the hinge and going about a 1/4" up the trap. It looked as if whatever it caught sucked up the plant from the inside out. There isn't a hole in the trap either. The rest of the trap and leaf is green except this half circle shaped dry spot. I have never seen this before and just want to make sure something isn't attacking my plants before it is to late.

Answer
Hello Ken,

What probably occurred is that the trap caught something that bit back. Some critters are capable of ejecting foul acids and boiling chemicals from their bodies to evade attackers, some can inject venom or simply bite and chew on whatever is attacking them. In the larger picture, that one leaf is not that important to the welfare of the entire plant. It will simply make more traps to grab other prey items.

Christopher

Carnivorous Plants

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Christopher Littrell

Expertise

I am capable of answering questions about the most common carnivorous plants found in cultivation. I have no personal experience with Byblis, Drosophyllum, Aldrovanda, and Heliamphora. I have not cultivated gemmae forming pygmy sundews nor tuberous sundews. For information regarding those aforementioned species, I would suggest contacting other experts. I can answer questions regarding most species of Nepenthes, tropical and temperate Drosera, Mexican Pinguicula, Sarracenias, and Dionaea. I have some limited experience with growing Utricularia, Cephalotus, and Darlingtonia.

Experience

I have grown carnivorous plants off and on for about 27 years. I have made the same mistakes and suffered the same mishaps that many growers make as they attempt to separate the myths from the realities of growing these plants. Currently, I am successfully growing a variety of tropical sundews, a Nepenthes, several Venus Flytraps of varying ages, and Sarracenias. I have been successful in stratifying Sarracenia seeds and providing artificial dormancy requirements for my temperate plants when needed.

Education/Credentials
I hold a Master's degree in Educational Psychology. Over my lifetime, I have constantly read books involving the growing conditions of carnivorous plants. I hope to incorporate the educational aspects involved in psychology with teaching other people how to cultivate carnivorous plants.

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