FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mSGr2k3aVJA
Could anyone watch this video and share there thoughts? Pretty interesting

To me, it looks like the plant on the left side that is potted in the Irish peat moss is in desperate need of repotting. It is stated that both were potted at the same time, but the carpet moss on top of the plant's soil on the left shows that it needs to be repotted.

Also, it isn't uncommon to acquire very poor bags of peat that are high in mineral content. I have experienced the same thing where flytraps don't grow well in peat.

This is part of the reason we switched to using only New Zealand long-fiber sphagnum (NZ LFS). It is always clean and the plants grow predictably strong in the NZ LFS.

It is interesting, I may have to give it a try myself in the spring and see what happens. I would note however, that dispite what the YouTuber states, the media is not the only difference, the shape and color of the pots are also different. How might that matter? One pot, the one with the bigger plant, is square and probably has slightly more total area and it's black, which would naturally warm up more in the sun, which could, at least potentially, increase growth. Also notable, as Matt states, there is carpet moss in the round pot which would compete with the VFT for resources and that could also make a difference. All that aside, that video was posted 2 years ago and I am curious how it all turned out.

Huntsmanshorn wrote: I would note however, that dispite what the YouTuber states, the media is not the only difference, the shape and color of the pots are also different. How might that matter?

Larger and deeper pots generally yield better results for multiple reasons including more stable soil temperature and a more stable moisture level.

Over the years, I have run several similar experiments with peat and sphagnum moss. The conclusions we've come to are the following:

• * Flytraps grow fastest in NZ LFS
• * Bags of peat can be unpredictably high in minerals that stunt growth
• * NZ LFS is consistently clean (low mineral content)
• * Larger pots are better

Matt, those experiments sound interesting. Do you use 100% NZ LFS or do you add any perlite/sand/pumice? How large did you find pots need to be for decent results?

mcgrumpers wrote:Do you use 100% NZ LFS or do you add any perlite/sand/pumice?

We just use 100% NZ LFS now. For as many plants as we pot, it saves a lot of time to not have to mix any soil anymore. I have experimented with adding perlite to the NZ LFS and I'm not sure if it makes much of a difference because the NZ LFS is already pretty "airy" so the roots grow well.

mcgrumpers wrote:How large did you find pots need to be for decent results?

The larger the better to stabilize soil temperature and moisture levels. At a minimum, 4 inches deep seems to be OK for flytraps, but the deeper the better. I use 10 to 12 inch pots for my personal collection of mother flytraps.