FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

*Just a heads up, this is gonna be A LOT, so please bare with me*
I live in tht no mans land part of TX where it rarely ever rains, is flat out dry, bright hot sun almost 24/7. On a good day it's 100° & our "winters" start in Jan. end in Feb. w the occasional cold front it goes from being 102° to 30° over night & back to late 90s the next day.

I got a vft a few weeks ago @ a garden center. It was one of those, "Leave this to soak in water, keep it in the short clear container & you're good" kind of things. It was kept in their greenhouse & out of all of them it was the only semi-decent one w slightly greener traps & very few reddish mouths.

I have been slowly transitioning it to be able to go out in our sun, kept it inside in a southeast window where our partly shaded patio keeps the bulk of sun out. Then placed it in late evening cloudy sun for only a couple of hours. It caught a spider in a trap the day we got it & started eating it.

It was only yesterday I got the opportunity to repot it, obv I researched what's best, what not to do, what kind of water, etc etc. But I didn't know my m watered it w tap water as soon as we got it so it had been soaking in tap water for a few days until we rinsed & used distilled.

It's VERY small, all the leaves are laying flat & it took me a good minute to repot it as I was trying not to f it up & work with the smallness of it. All the traps closed in the process of me repotting, I was as gentle as I could be w it but I fear I might have hurt it or shocked it somehow? Or maybe it was too late as it was in tap water too long?

As of today, 4 pm, the traps are still closed except 1. To me the leaves look dry? But it's been watered thoroughly w distilled water, is in long fiber sphagnum moss/perlite mix & the roots now have space. Did I do anything wrong? Should I give it time to adjust? Is there something I didn't do that I should? How should I handle the sun/heat situation of my location?

If you got this far thank you so much & any advice is greatly appreciated -EJ

Hi! Thank you so much for replying, apologies I did not reply when you answered! I have been doing what you say & it seems to be working. A lot of the traps did die but the new/little ones are growing great. I just noticed today that the sphagnum on top has grown deep green moss(?) Is that alright or should I try and remove it? Also I will remove the dead traps. When do you think I could fully remove the cover from the plant? Thank you again

Not sure if you can see it but here are some pics. I uncovered it & its in very cloudy sun just now.

Definitely algae. Are you spraying it with Maxsea? It shouldn't grow that fast. Meaning, don't spray it, it will grow algae.

I'm not spraying it with anything. I didn't even know what maxsea was until a minute ago. I followed the advice given to me by the person above, to cover it for a few weeks, poke holes to slowly acclimate/control water loss. I haven't given it anything but distilled water, sun & it's moss/perlite medium.

Hi EJ! I’m also from Texas, the most west in Texas you can get I grew all my CP’s in a bright south/west facing windowsill for 2 years. Just started moving some outside (since I have no space for new ones in windowsill lol) I would put out all sarrs and vfts outside for my very mild winter for dormancy. Mine also grew some of that algae over the winter when it was outside, not much of a problem for well established or larger plants.

It is strange that you have the algae right after a repot. I would do what chef said with the bag to acclimate it for humidity, especially if you’re location is extremely dry like mine. Just be careful to not let it get a lot (or a little lol) of sun because the bag + sun will cook it in our extreme environments. I wouldn’t worry about the algae at this point, first let it recover and start growing well before another repot or disturbing the media a lot.

Your vft doesn’t look that bad though, once it’s acclimated start with morning sun and go from there. It’s all trial and error with growing plants outdoors, especially in my climate, I’ve learned the hard way with stevia, goji berries, and a bunch of other plants. What I’ve learned is that “full sun” on the tag and grow sheet does not mean full sun in Texas

Good luck with your vft!

Hey! Thank your for your reply/advice! I had a feeling that actual full Texas sun wouldn't be a good thing for this plant bc of how hot & dry we are here! Glad I asked to confirm though! Lol

With the bag-moisture-acclimate thing, is there a way to tell its acclimated or should I just straight up stop & remove the poke hole bag after a few weeks & see what happens? Then either re-bag it or not based on how it looks/acts? Also, there's a few traps (maybe 2?) where the individual sides/flaps of a trap head look almost concave instead of their reg outward/convex heads. Not really worried abt that since it's so few I'm just curious if it happens? Or maybe is just damage to those 2? Thank you again!

Howdy fellow Texan!!! I’m in SE Texas. You can most certainly grow your VFT outside here in our great state. As a matter of fact I created/admin the Texas Carnivorous Plants group on Facebook. We have many growers all over the state that grow VFTs. What specific area/county are you in? Sounds like central/west Texas.

First thing don’t worry at all about the algae. It is 100% common for it to grow that fast on top of new moss. It will not hurt your plant at all. Second, don’t put it in a bag or humidity dome or whatever. There is absolutely no need to give VFTs added humidity, even when acclimating to a new environment. What you will need to do is acclimate slowly to full sun. Put it in a spot that gets a couple hours morning sun then shade the rest of the day. Every 4-5 days move it where it gets another hour of direct sun. With your location you will definitely have to provide some shade for the hottest part of the day. Some Texas growers use 50% shade cloth during the summer to shade their VFTs for the hottest part of the day. Or you can set it under a roof that allows it to get direct sun until about 2-3PM then shade the rest of the day. You will definitely need to have it sitting in water at all times. Top it off daily. The heat and dry winds can totally desiccate a VFT in a day or less there in central/west Texas. I’ve seen it from a couple of our members of the TX group. And definitely check us out on FB if you are on there.

Good luck and happy growing.