- Sun Jun 17, 2018 3:45 am
#316672
Hello everyone,
My flytraps seemed to do well all throughout winter and once they looked to be waking up in the springtime, they got a desperately needed separation as they were very crowded. I re-potted in deep, black, plastic pots with 100% sphagnum moss. I kept a little bit of distilled water in their tray at all times (about 1/4 of the way up the side of their pots) and occasionally top watered. They seemed to do okay during the cooler weather of springtime and I stayed on top of nipping all the flowers they were shooting up.
Over the course of the past two weeks, it seems like I've lost about half of my traps in total. Just completely dead, black. I did some frantic researching and narrowed it down to a few things:
-Several people said they shouldn't sit in trays of water as the roots don't get oxygen and root rot occurs.
-Mixing in perlite into the soil mixture helps with drainage and root structure.
-The thin, black, plastic pots I have cannot protect against the TX heat and the roots are getting fried. (Side note: Would them sitting in their plastic tray on the bare concrete of my driveway be heating them up? Should I put them on a table?)
With this new info, I've re-potted all of them into sphagnum moss with a healthy amount of perlite mixed in. I'm simply using styrofoam cups with holes poked in the bottom. I'm now only top watering when the top of the moss is nearing dryness. I'm trying to avoid completely soaked soil. I'm hoping the re-potting doesn't shock them too much.
Does anyone have any further advice for me or could anyone add onto or correct the newfound information I've been given? I just want these things to thrive. I appreciate any input.
My flytraps seemed to do well all throughout winter and once they looked to be waking up in the springtime, they got a desperately needed separation as they were very crowded. I re-potted in deep, black, plastic pots with 100% sphagnum moss. I kept a little bit of distilled water in their tray at all times (about 1/4 of the way up the side of their pots) and occasionally top watered. They seemed to do okay during the cooler weather of springtime and I stayed on top of nipping all the flowers they were shooting up.
Over the course of the past two weeks, it seems like I've lost about half of my traps in total. Just completely dead, black. I did some frantic researching and narrowed it down to a few things:
-Several people said they shouldn't sit in trays of water as the roots don't get oxygen and root rot occurs.
-Mixing in perlite into the soil mixture helps with drainage and root structure.
-The thin, black, plastic pots I have cannot protect against the TX heat and the roots are getting fried. (Side note: Would them sitting in their plastic tray on the bare concrete of my driveway be heating them up? Should I put them on a table?)
With this new info, I've re-potted all of them into sphagnum moss with a healthy amount of perlite mixed in. I'm simply using styrofoam cups with holes poked in the bottom. I'm now only top watering when the top of the moss is nearing dryness. I'm trying to avoid completely soaked soil. I'm hoping the re-potting doesn't shock them too much.
Does anyone have any further advice for me or could anyone add onto or correct the newfound information I've been given? I just want these things to thrive. I appreciate any input.