FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So I bought this plant exactly two weeks ago in a fairly big plant market along with the recommended soil. I also asked them to repot it which they did in a plastic pot. I water them with rain water till all the soil is damp (but not to the point where water leaks out) last week.

I fed a trap an ant the day after I bought it unknowingly that it has already been fed with two small insects. The trap I fed is now dead. It also caught two other small bugs, one of them is half closed with a small spider and is also dying. Writting this, I noticed there seems to be two big flies caught in traps. I don't know when they were caught. It could be yesterday when I put it outside. It is normaly indoor with indirect sunlight.

There are about an additional five more dead black traps laying on the ground since I got them. Many medium traps are also turning black. The two buds are probably gone too.

I thought it was the consequences of repotting at first, but it's been two weeks and it seems to get worse by the day. Is the main issue overfeeding? In that case should I cut the traps with flies? Also is the soil appropriate?

Sorry for the long article, but I really care about my vft

The soil is not appropriate. If left in that soil, the flytrap will eventually die.

Best to repot it as soon as possible. Use only unmodified sphagnum peat moss or long fiber sphagnum moss.

That soil has a lot of things in it that will kill the plant. You need to find pure long-fiber sphagnum moss or pure sphagnum peat moss, with no added fertilizers or anything except sphagnum moss. You can also mix in perlite, but, again, it has to be free of anything except perlite. Check out the care guides on the forum.

Ok thanks! I'll buy some tomorrow right away.
Meanwhile, should I do something about the flies or leave them be?

Leave the full traps alone. The trap might die from being over-full on an unhealthy plant, but that won't hurt the plant.

Make sure as you repot it to rinse and rinse and rinse the roots. That'll help remove any mineral residue from them which will make the recovery a little easier on the plant.

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I just repotted it with sphagnum peat moss, but realized I forgot to buy perlite. Would it be fine without it or should I head back to the store?

Are you certain that's pure sphagnum peat and not sedge peat or anything like that? It looks like it has a lot of bark in it.

You definitely need perlite in a peat mix, or the plant's roots will suffocate.

defintitely looks like a lot of bark/bark pieces in there - I'd definitely add the perlite either way - aeration to the roots is important

I bought the exact same bag shown here.

https://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-trap-soil

I would recommend adding perlite. It looks like you didn't pre-moisten your peat too which means you'll need to take it back out again anyway. Sphagnum peat repels water rather than absorbing it when it is dry. Even if it looks wet on top it the water can run right through leaving it dry in the center. To overcome this, you need to kneed some water into it before potting it up. While you're at it you can add 30-50% perlite by volume which will help the soil breath and keep your flytrap happier. Be careful it doesn't get dehydrated before then!

you are almost there from the sounds of it, soak, squeeze it out, soak squeeze it out mix perlite in, good to go

I did soak the soil when I repotted it at first, but I had to remove the plant and rinse the roots so I added some extra dry soil on top. I'll get some perlite tomorrow then