Question
My Venus Fly trap just started turning brown on all of the leaves the other day. It has a few small newer leaves, but it is really starting to look bad. I keep it in the window box, and it has been fine for the past 5 months. I am in central New Jersey, I am using distilled water, but I am not sure of the soil I have.  Any help would be great,
Thank you!

Answer
Hi Kristen,

While it is normal for older leaves to turn brown, when new leaves start doing it, we need to look for potential systemic problems.  

First, you mentioned the soil.  If you are not sure what type of soil it's in, repot it in a fresh mix of 1 part peat moss and 1 part perlite.  The soil needs to be acidic and very low in nutrients.  It also needs to have excellent drainage.  Some nurseries have been known to use dried sphagnum moss, which tends to rot out flytraps' roots.  However, sphagnum peat moss mixed with perlite is fine.

The second issue might be how the plant was kept during the winter.  Flytraps need a cold winter, and if they were kept too warm, they tend to die from exhaustion the following spring.  You mentioned that you kept the plant in a window box.  I'm not sure if the window box was inside your home or on the outside.  If it's inside, then the plant may have been kept too warm.

Another issue with keeping flytraps indoors is the risk of fungal infection during the winter.  Flytraps are native to North Carolina and are accustomed to cold winters.  If they are kept warm in winter, they become weak and become prone to fungal infections.  

Regardless of the cause, unfortunately it will be an uphill battle to salvage the plant.  Once new growth shows sign of distress, the plant may already be too unhealthy.  Even in our care, a plant with this type of symptoms don't always make it.  

But if you want to try a salvage mission, definitely repot the plant in a fresh soil and spray the plant with a sulfur-based fungicide or Neem oil.  Next, place your plant in a very sunny window, one that gets 4 or more hours of direct sunlight.  It's already too late to attempt winter dormancy, and the plant is too unhealthy to safely make it through any sort of dormancy, so continue growing your plant in as much light as possible.

For more information about growing flytraps, read our care sheet online:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

Good growing!
Jacob Farin