FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I just got my new B52 from the FlyTrap Store and wanted to repot it in a more permanent, substantial pot. I got an 8” plastic planter, filled it with a mixture of sphagnum peat moss and perlite (adding water as I went so that all the media was moist), dug a hole out in the middle, and put my new B52 in. Please see the attached picture.

I kept the media that it came planted in completely intact, only removing a bit from the bottom so that it would fit in the hole I made. The stuff it came in is much different in appearance than my peat moss.

So my question is...is this setup alright? Or should I remove the media it came with and surround it only in my peat moss mixture?

I would not have done that. The pot and media it comes in is good for at least one year. That and the fact that the plant has now been repotted twice in a very short amount of time plus it will also need to acclimate itself to your climate on top of that.

The media it came in is New Zealand long fibered sphagnum moss. Most consider it superior (because it is) to the peat moss that you are using.

First things first pouring water over peat as you go does not hydrate it. Float the pot, and that will hydrate it.

That plant won't be phased by this "repot" because you did it as a plug and did not disturb the roots, so don't worry about that part.

In my opinion you should just use one or the other. VFT's will grow in either or, but in my experience they divide more frequently in LFSM, but grow bigger traps in peat: perlite, but very rarely divide in peat based mixes. Both will work, but as stated most prefer LFSM.

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boarderlib wrote:First things first pouring water over peat as you go does not hydrate it. Float the pot, and that will hydrate it.

That plant won't be phased by this "repot" because you did it as a plug and did not disturb the roots, so don't worry about that part.

In my opinion you should just use one or the other. VFT's will grow in either or, but in my experience they divide more frequently in LFSM, but grow bigger traps in peat: perlite, but very rarely divide in peat based mixes. Both will work, but as stated most prefer LFSM.

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1) What do you mean by “float the pot”? Stick the entire planter in a bucket of water?

2) What does it mean when a VFT “divides”?

What he means is fill a larger container, fill it with water (proper type of water) and then sit the pot in it. Have so much water in it that the pot floats. I don't think that is necessary in your case but it wouldn't hurt.

Your repot might not hurt anything as long as the roots weren't disturbed but I don't think that is likely. When repoting any plant it takes time for the roots to reestablish themselves so that they can start taking up water again. It can take days or weeks and in some cases a month.

VFT's will naturally divide themselves, they create new plants off the larger plant. Basically.

Personally I would've have kept it in it's smaller pot for the sake of conserving resources. Venus Flytraps don't really have giant root systems, so a lot of that soil is just going to sit there and break down while not even being used. The only reason to use a pot that big would be if you wanted to have a pot full of multiple plants. The plant will probably do fine assuming you didn't mess with it's roots. I would advise to either put it back in it's smaller pot and save the peat and perlite mix for future plants, or if your experienced enough, keep it in their and add more plants to create a bog garden. Good luck growing.

If it were mine I would leave it as it is.

Find the sunniest spot you have outside and then keep the media moist but not wet.

Then after dormancy/early spring next year I would repot back into a much smaller pot, possibly the original pot it was in depending whether it divided a lot or not and I would use only NZLFSM for media.

But that is just what I would do.

bluewaterpig wrote:I just got my new B52 from the FlyTrap Store and wanted to repot it in a more permanent, substantial pot. I got an 8” plastic planter, filled it with a mixture of sphagnum peat moss and perlite (adding water as I went so that all the media was moist), dug a hole out in the middle, and put my new B52 in. Please see the attached picture.

I kept the media that it came planted in completely intact, only removing a bit from the bottom so that it would fit in the hole I made. The stuff it came in is much different in appearance than my peat moss.

So my question is...is this setup alright? Or should I remove the media it came with and surround it only in my peat moss mixture?

C2626BAA-D482-4AF6-9876-C710CF760558.jpeg

My only concern is that now you need more water. Assuming the peat mix is ok, I would just add a tray of water to keep the soil wet.
Floating your pot in water allows it to soak up the water. when it is full it will sink. If it's super hot and your fly trap drys out it might die.
Almost all my fly traps sit in a tray of water continuously. I try to let the trays go dry between waters but I am filling the trays up almost every day now that it's in the 90s

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So due to the tip that VFTs grow larger in sphagnum peat moss, I CAREFULLY removed all of the long fiber moss and got down to just the plant itself and its roots. I was surprised at how few roots there were, but then again this B52 plant is small itself. I then spread the roots out evenly within a cavity in the center of the pot and packed my soil mixture around everything. The B52 plant is now sitting nicely with its roots spread out.

I was pretty insistent with hydrating my media when I mixed everything. Right now, when I water my VFT, I’ll see water drip out through the bottom of the planter about 20 seconds after watering. Does this mean that my media is moist enough? Or should I still float the planter in a shallow bucket of water?

I wouldn't have done that. These plants don't like being messed with over and over again. Boarderlibs experience with peat/perlite and LFSM is much different than most peoples.

Read this these, start with the first link and read on through to the other link:
long-fibered-sphagnum-versus-peat-based ... 15448.html

my-experiences-with-peat-based-and-long ... hilit=long roots

After reading that stuff, aside from being overly confused about how I should go about watering my current VFT, it made me want to try some LFS, so my next VFT will use that as its medium.

But right now I just need to look at my current B52 that’s sitting in a peat/perlite mix. I hydrated the mixture thoroughly before planting but I never put my planter in a bucket of water like some people had mentioned.

So for right now, should I just float my planter in distilled water until it sinks? And then put a small amount of water in its tray after that?

Well my friend as you can deduce there are many ways to skin a cat. New comers to the experience of raising carnivorous plants would like a set in stone blue print to raising a healthy, happy plant which exists in a state which maximizes the genetic potential of the plant. The difficulty is that there are so many cultivars as well as the climatic conditions of the individual grower coupled with the care level/practices of each individual grower that prohibit a set group of rules for growing. At this time growing a VFT is more of an art than a science. Your plant is going to be fine. Peat and sand are my preferred media. Where I live, my lifestyle (I often travel), the simplicity of a peat mixture works for me. However I have read last winter the pages F.O.Screams mentioned in his post and due to the fact that I am trying to raise many seedlings to maturity as quickly as I can I have tried LFSM this year. It depends, your media choice, on a number of variables. As Borderlib pointed out you will not get many divisions with a peat media. However if your goal is the biggest possible trap you do not want your plant to be expending it's energy incessantly dividing. Who knows? You have to work out what works for you! The concern is that you have not properly hydrated your peat which require kneeding the water into the peat. If you have not done this perhaps a 48 hour soak in a bucket is called for.