Question
I have a small red dragon flytrap that I bought last year in a 3" pot.  It's outdoors in a location that gets around 6 hours of sun per day, sitting in about half an inch of water in a tray with other flytraps.  So far this year, the leaves have been very slow to develop a deep red color like they had last year.  The full-size leaves are still mostly green with red edges.  The newest leaves to emerge look redder but they're still so small that it's hard to tell what they'll look like when they expand.  It is producing traps.  It also produced a flower stalk, but it shriveled about an inch below the bud before it opened.  I don't know if this was a fungal attack or the result of a bird nipping at it or trying to perch on it, because I've seen birds try to land on my sarracenias nearby.  Do you think I have some sort of disease issue, or is this variety just slow to reach its full potential?


Answer
Hi Jim,

Your symptoms sound very much like hard water damage.  Red Dragons will show problems long before most other cp will.  Here in our nursery Red Dragons are the most vigorous flytraps often dwarfing their green cousins.

If bird droppings landed on the soil around the plant it could cause these problems also.

Try transplanting to a larger pot with standard peat/perlite mix.  If you are using tapwater, switch to rainwater or distilled water.  Also, inspect the rhizome when you take it out of the soil to see if anything looks abnormal.  If you do see any mold spray with a sulfur based fungicide before replanting.

If you could send me a photo I might be able to give you a better idea of what may be happening.  Try to show me some of your other plants in the photo also.


Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com