FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hallo guys. I live in namibia in africa. And I just ordered seeds online. So before the arrive I want to make sure I have everything ready. I have a issue with the soil. The only moss we have is those growing underneath bonzai trees. Is that sufficient? Or do anyone know what other soils are being used in this area od south africa. I really want to have success in this venus fly trap growing. Any help is appreciated

I think Bonsai trees grow in "green moss" which is not suitable for Venus flytraps.

To my knowledge, the only successful soils for flytraps (long term) are sphagnum based mediums. Either sphagnum peat moss or long fiber sphagnum moss.

If you cannot find sphagnum peat moss, you could try looking for long fiber sphagnum moss. It's commonly sold as orchid moss.

Thanks matt. But what do I do if I dont find that here? Has anyone tested or tried growing vft seeds in normal soil or ground with low nutrition?

Fragie wrote:But what do I do if I dont find that here?

Honestly, I'm not too sure. The only other medium I've seen people use is coir (coconut moss) and that doesn't work well long term and is not at all suitable for starting seeds.

Fragie wrote:Has anyone tested or tried growing vft seeds in normal soil or ground with low nutrition?

The problem is that no soil is equivalent. "Low nutrition" soil one place in the world is not the same as another place. Additionally, how does one determine what is "low nutrition" soil. We can measure TDS, and that's a good start, but I'd guess that most soil does not read low in terms of TDS.

I found peat moss 1500km away from me so I need to know will this peat moss work? The website that sells it is below.
Can someone please tell me if it is correct. Also do you get a "wrong" peat moss for VFT?

"Sphagnum is a genus of between 151 and 350 species of mosses commonly called peat moss.

Decayed, compacted Sphagnum moss has the name of peat or peat moss.

http://www.gthydro.co.za

I found this.. Please guys can someone tell me if this will work?

starke ayres palm peat

The only kind of sphagnum peat moss that is "wrong" to use, as far as I know, is one that is enriched with fertilizer.

The peat on the website you sent a link to will work fine:
http://www.gthydro.co.za/product/growin ... peat-moss/

Another place to look is the orchid community. Sphagnum is very common in orchid mixes and the local orchid society and/or local orchid growers could point you to a source. Or, better yet, a little online research might find a nearby orchid nursery that carries supplies.

I will also wash it first thanks. We dont have a orchid community at all.

The one in that link cost loads of money to get here I dont know if I will get it. But I found palm peat. Do you know this? Will it work? It says its for seedlings and everything. I will mix it with sand and few small rocks.

Don't think that palm peat would work, sorry

Fragie wrote:But I found palm peat. Do you know this? Will it work?

I am not familiar with palm peat, but I'm guessing it's probably coconut peat or coir? Or perhaps the bark of a palm tree? Several people have tried to use coco peat for flytraps without much success. They can grow in it short term, but long term it doesn't seem to be a good solution because the pH is too high and the consistency of the media is too "springy" so the plants have trouble staying rooted especially when they're small.

Its not coir or palm bark. I will go and buy it snd post the mixture components here ok?

The ph is between good and to high. I will rinse it a lot. I seriously think it will work.