FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi, I've got a new flytrap that I've had for just about 2 weeks now. I thought it might have had a weed of some type growing in the little starter pot with it when I got it, but I've since figured out from reading some of the posts here & looking at pictures that what I thought was a weed is most likely some bits of long-fiber sphagnum moss that are alive & growing. My question is whether this ever becomes a problem, as in, can the moss overgrow and choke the flytrap? And if so, how do I prevent that? I did repot the flytrap several days ago into a new container to give the roots more room, and the soil mix I used was not *quite* 50/50 peat moss & perlite (slightly less perlite) with a little bit of long fiber sphagnum moss as well. (This was before I figured out that the sphagnum moss was the other growth I was unsure about.) The flytrap itself appears to be doing pretty well overall; it's making lots of new little traps that just aren't getting very big yet. It is indoors under artificial lighting so my biggest challenge right now is keeping it moist without letting it get too soggy.

You may have to trim the moss if it does get too large. Small venus flytraps can easily be overtaken by the moss, while larger and more mature ones can easily handle the moss. A picture would help out tremendously so we can see your exact scenario.

What's the best way for me to post a photo here? And when you say "trim the moss", do you mean just trim it off at the soil line? What should I watch out for to know that the flytrap is being overtaken?

I use photobucket to post photos. There is a bunch of different ways to posta photo but using the image code from photobucket is the easiest. By trimming the moss I am referring to trimming it to whatever length you want. Its similar to cutting grass outside. You can cut it and leave a decent amount left but it will grow back anyways in due time. You don't need to eliminate all of the growing moss if you do not desire too. The only way to really tell if your flytrap is being overtaken is to see if the moss is actually preventing light from hitting the leaves on your VFT.

OK, so it sounds like as long as the moss isn't blocking the flytrap's light, it should be OK? It's nowhere near that point right now. I thought maybe there was a concern about it literally choking the flytrap roots beneath the soil where I can't see. I'm still trying to figure out the settings on my camera and the pictures I have aren't very clear, so I don't know that it's worth trying to post them right now. But thanks for your help!

No problem!