FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I bought a Venus Flytrap last month and it has been growing quickly! So quickly that I had to buy a new pot for it yesterday. I bought a orchid pot (a somewhat circular pot with small holes all around it for drainage) and I bought a bag of SPM (Spahgnum peat moss). I heard somewhere that you're supposed to plant it with 50% SPM and 50% Perlite. I looked all over for some perlite but I only found the miracle grow kind which I have learned is a no-no. So do you think I can just plant it in SPM and the orchid pot will keep it drained or do you think I absolutely have to have Perlite?

You can plant your VFT in pure peat moss, but it will most likely be a temporary solution. Pure peat moss is just too finicky. It dries quickly, it's hard to water, and it cakes up. It can work, but you need to use more effort to make it work.

Also, you do not necessarily need to use perlite. There are many alternatives. Vermiculite is very common in garden stores. If worse comes to worst, you can use anything that won't leak minerals into your soil, like styrofoam or plastic BBs. Please take at this link for alternatives: http://www.terraforums.com/forums/carni ... soils.html.

Are you talking about peat moss or long fibered sphagnum moss, which is light brown, fluffy and stringy?