FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So my question is: What time of day should flytraps be watered? In the morning when the soil is cool? In the afternoon when the soil is warm? Or in the evening when the sun is gone and the soil begins to cool? Does it even matter? I don't want to damage my babies by watering at the wrong time. . Any help or tips are very much appreciated, Thanks!!

it does not matter, i water mine always in the moring or afternoons, though, becuase of school schesuales

Cool, thanks. I just wasn't sure if I would damage the roots by introducing water to them in the afternoon when the sun was out full blast. And the evening sounded a bit sketchy because that would mean that it would sit in moist/wet soil all night. Thanks!

Alright, sweet. I just watered my outside flytraps, I filled up the trays/bowls and let the plants soak up water for an hour, then threw out the remaining water from the trays. But the top of the soil is still dry. I've been looking at pictures of other folks' plants and it looks like the top of the soil moist. Is the top soil supposed to be damp, or is the soil just below the surface around the level of the rhizome to be damp?

ironjaws wrote:Alright, sweet. I just watered my outside flytraps, I filled up the trays/bowls and let the plants soak up water for an hour, then threw out the remaining water from the trays. But the top of the soil is still dry. I've been looking at pictures of other folks' plants and it looks like the top of the soil moist. Is the top soil supposed to be damp, or is the soil just below the surface around the level of the rhizome to be damp?

Hard to tell from just a pic, I like to put a long toothpick in my soil. I pull it out and check if within the top 1" looks dry, I water.

I keep the water in the tray, becuase it pretty much drys up in a day, and i judge by look, if the plants new growth looks droopy, it needs water asap, and also the weight of the pot.

It usually depends on the temperature and the depth of the pot. If you growing them outdoors in hot, sunny weather, they'll need a lot more water than if they're growing indoors on a window sill where there's going to be less evaporation. The pot should also be at least six inches deep, especially if you're going to let them stand in a tray of water. That way the soil can be pretty wet down deep, but it'll stay just moist near the surface where the rhizome is located. If the rhizome stays too wet, it will rot.

I always try to replicate the conditions where VFTs grow wild in nature in damp bogs. They get plenty of sunlight, but the soil is nutrient poor and stays fairly wet most of the time, at least several inches down below the soil line. That's why I grow mine in pots that are at least 6-9" deep, in as much sunlight as possible, with the pots standing in trays with an inch or two of rain water most of the time. When I bring them inside over the winter, I only water them once every week or two, just enough to keep the soil damp but not too sopping wet.

My Flytrap are in water trays with about an inch of water in them at all times. EXCEPT winter, excess water gets drained off, they are sprayed with a little sulfer based fungicide, then put in zip lock bags, then in the fridge they go for the winter.

Thanks for the tips guys!

goodkoalie: that's a great tip. New growth that droops= water needed asap. I will definitely remember that one!

tommyr: what zone do you live in, may I ask? Having your flytraps in water at all times(during the growing season I'm guessing) probably means that the weather is warm, right? Then you put you plants in the fridge for dormancy which, I'm guessing, means that fall and winter are pretty warm too, right?

ironjaws wrote:Thanks for the tips guys!

goodkoalie: that's a great tip. New growth that droops= water needed asap. I will definitely remember that one!

tommyr: what zone do you live in, may I ask? Having your flytraps in water at all times(during the growing season I'm guessing) probably means that the weather is warm, right? Then you put you plants in the fridge for dormancy which, I'm guessing, means that fall and winter are pretty warm too, right?

Zone 6b I believe. (A,B, not much difference!) So it does get hot in the summer although this year wasn't too bad.
Winter is too cold, that's why they go in the fridge.