FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi, I am Cara. I am from Pittsburgh, PA and I am new to the flytrap scene. I just bought a Venus Flytrap yesterday and repotted it today! I have always wanted one since I was young and recently I started researching how to take care of Venus Flytraps. I feel like I know what to do for the most part but all the help I can get helps. If anyone wants to give me more tips that would be great!

Tips?
No fertilizer. That includes most any Miracle-Gro product.
A basic 50:50 grow mix of peat and perlite is "the standard" medium (if there is one ).
Keep plant media damp, not wet.
Mineral-free water. Rainwater, distilled water, reverse osmosis (RO) water, *some* drinking water (Our local Acquafina is fine but Dansani is bad).
Direct, full sun...once they're acclimated.
Plastic pots.
They need a dormancy period in the winter.
Flower stalks zap a lot of energy and strength from the plants. Lots of people snip them off at an inch or two and propagate new plants from the stalks.
Don't stick your finger in a trap, they leave a nasty scar.
Have fun.

That's about all I got. I'm no flytrap expert, but thought I'd make a stab at "tips".
Welcome to the forum and be sure to check out the seed bank!

Welcome to the Forum!
Matt, who is the Admin and owner of this forum has put up a "Care and Feeding Guide" at www.flytrapcare.com
Good growing!

Welcome to the forum. One tendency of new flytrap owners is to move them in and out of the house to protect them or give them more light. This does more harm than good. Find a good spot outdoors to grow it, and let it grow.

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Fri Aug 11, 2023 12:21 pm Tips?
No fertilizer. That includes most any Miracle-Gro product.
A basic 50:50 grow mix of peat and perlite is "the standard" medium (if there is one ).
Keep plant media damp, not wet.
Mineral-free water. Rainwater, distilled water, reverse osmosis (RO) water, *some* drinking water (Our local Acquafina is fine but Dansani is bad).
Direct, full sun...once they're acclimated.
Plastic pots.
They need a dormancy period in the winter.
Flower stalks zap a lot of energy and strength from the plants. Lots of people snip them off at an inch or two and propagate new plants from the stalks.
Don't stick your finger in a trap, they leave a nasty scar.
Have fun.

That's about all I got. I'm no flytrap expert, but thought I'd make a stab at "tips".
Welcome to the forum and be sure to check out the seed bank!

Thanks you! I already knew most of that, however, you said absolutely no miracle-gro. I bought peat moss that was miracle-gro brand and I didn't realize until after I got home. I thought it was fine since it was just peat moss and that's what I needed. should I find different stuff and change the soil?

To answer your question... YES! ASAP!!!

Also, there's been some bad reports regarding "Perfect Plants" peat moss that have come up lately. It seems this one has a high mineral content to it...TDS measures way out of range for it.

Cara Aliberti wrote: ↑Sat Aug 12, 2023 4:18 am I bought peat moss that was miracle-gro brand and I didn't realize until after I got home. I thought it was fine since it was just peat moss and that's what I needed. should I find different stuff and change the soil?

Check the ingredients label on that bag of Miracle-Gro peat moss:

https://miraclegro.com/en-ca/products/s ... 18300.html

INGREDIENTS
The core ingredients found in Miracle-Gro Sphagnum Peat Moss are known for their abilities to keep the soil moist for a long time while feeding your plants the nutrients they require:

• Sphagnum Moss: Favoured for its ability to keep soil moist to give plants the water they need, sphagnum moss helps retain water moisture in soil effectively. It is also known to not become soggy which is ideal for avoiding overwatering-related diseases like rot root.
• Miracle-Gro Plant Food: This all-purpose plant food will provide your indoor plants with the nutrients they need to grow healthy and lush. Combined with sphagnum moss, a special formula mix of Miracle-Gro Plant Food will have no issue getting to the roots of your plants.
• NPK ratio of 0.05-0.02-0.04.

While this isn't much fertilizer, it's a bad idea in general to put any fertilizer on carnivorous plants (with a few, very-specific exceptions). Miracle-Gro perlite is also "spiked".

These brands of peat moss are good:

• Espoma
• Hoffman
• SunGro (Black Gold or Sunshine)

If you have an Ace Hardware store nearby, they are more likely to carry one of these brands. Just double-check the label to make sure the peat moss hasn't been "enhanced".

MikeB wrote: ↑Sat Aug 12, 2023 10:03 pm

Cara Aliberti wrote: ↑Sat Aug 12, 2023 4:18 am I bought peat moss that was miracle-gro brand and I didn't realize until after I got home. I thought it was fine since it was just peat moss and that's what I needed. should I find different stuff and change the soil?

Check the ingredients label on that bag of Miracle-Gro peat moss:

https://miraclegro.com/en-ca/products/s ... 18300.html

INGREDIENTS
The core ingredients found in Miracle-Gro Sphagnum Peat Moss are known for their abilities to keep the soil moist for a long time while feeding your plants the nutrients they require:

• Sphagnum Moss: Favoured for its ability to keep soil moist to give plants the water they need, sphagnum moss helps retain water moisture in soil effectively. It is also known to not become soggy which is ideal for avoiding overwatering-related diseases like rot root.
• Miracle-Gro Plant Food: This all-purpose plant food will provide your indoor plants with the nutrients they need to grow healthy and lush. Combined with sphagnum moss, a special formula mix of Miracle-Gro Plant Food will have no issue getting to the roots of your plants.
• NPK ratio of 0.05-0.02-0.04.

While this isn't much fertilizer, it's a bad idea in general to put any fertilizer on carnivorous plants (with a few, very-specific exceptions). Miracle-Gro perlite is also "spiked".

These brands of peat moss are good:

• Espoma
• Hoffman
• SunGro (Black Gold or Sunshine)

If you have an Ace Hardware store nearby, they are more likely to carry one of these brands. Just double-check the label to make sure the peat moss hasn't been "enhanced".

Awesome! Thank you for the help.. I'll look for a new bag as fast as I can

MikeB wrote: ↑Sat Aug 12, 2023 10:03 pm

Cara Aliberti wrote: ↑Sat Aug 12, 2023 4:18 am I bought peat moss that was miracle-gro brand and I didn't realize until after I got home. I thought it was fine since it was just peat moss and that's what I needed. should I find different stuff and change the soil?

Check the ingredients label on that bag of Miracle-Gro peat moss:

https://miraclegro.com/en-ca/products/s ... 18300.html

INGREDIENTS
The core ingredients found in Miracle-Gro Sphagnum Peat Moss are known for their abilities to keep the soil moist for a long time while feeding your plants the nutrients they require:

• Sphagnum Moss: Favoured for its ability to keep soil moist to give plants the water they need, sphagnum moss helps retain water moisture in soil effectively. It is also known to not become soggy which is ideal for avoiding overwatering-related diseases like rot root.
• Miracle-Gro Plant Food: This all-purpose plant food will provide your indoor plants with the nutrients they need to grow healthy and lush. Combined with sphagnum moss, a special formula mix of Miracle-Gro Plant Food will have no issue getting to the roots of your plants.
• NPK ratio of 0.05-0.02-0.04.

While this isn't much fertilizer, it's a bad idea in general to put any fertilizer on carnivorous plants (with a few, very-specific exceptions). Miracle-Gro perlite is also "spiked".

These brands of peat moss are good:

• Espoma
• Hoffman
• SunGro (Black Gold or Sunshine)

If you have an Ace Hardware store nearby, they are more likely to carry one of these brands. Just double-check the label to make sure the peat moss hasn't been "enhanced".

Hey, I've been looking everywhere around me for all of the brands you mentioned and any that I saw in other forums but I cant find any. However, my brother used to have a salamander and has left over bedding from it. the bedding is called Zilla Jungle mix and its a mix of sphagnum moss and fir shavings. it seems to not have anything that adds minerals or is enhanced. Do you think this would be a good option? I already have a bag and I know that stores around me carry it.

If you are in the US, Amazon carries a lot of various Peat moss and other soils, etc. that would work. If not, I am not sure.

Cara Aliberti wrote: ↑Thu Aug 17, 2023 12:33 am Hey, I've been looking everywhere around me for all of the brands you mentioned and any that I saw in other forums but I cant find any. However, my brother used to have a salamander and has left over bedding from it. the bedding is called Zilla Jungle mix and its a mix of sphagnum moss and fir shavings. it seems to not have anything that adds minerals or is enhanced. Do you think this would be a good option? I already have a bag and I know that stores around me carry it.

The sphagnum moss is fine, but I don't know about the fir shavings. You'd have to do a test pot with a "sacrificial" plant to see if it'll grow in this soil mix okay.

Check the indoor garden sections of your Home Depot and Lowe's stores for this: It's dried sphagnum moss. A bag of it costs around $6 here. It would be a good idea to mix it roughly 50/50 with perlite (again, not Miracle-Gro brand).

I’ve been using Premier brand I got at Lowe’s Hardware successfully. The ingredients just list sphagnum peat moss.

That's what I use

I've been using Majestic Earth and it seems to be good...not much trash in it. It is only probably 1000% (maybe 10,000%) better than the stuff I got at Tractor Supply which was half trash/garbage...really nasty stuff. That junk was a "Greensmix" brand. Looking at their website just now it looks like they've switched to Premier, which is good. I've got a bale and a half of the Greensmix junk...I'm trying to figure out if I need to call the EPA for recommendations on how to dispose of it.