FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

This is my first time reporting a Venus fly trap and I wanted to know if I did a good job. Also, some peat moss got into the trap. Is that ok?

Also, I know the soil is dry, I’m watering it now.

A couple of things. First, if you are using peat you need to mix it with the water before you put it in the pot. Simply adding water or letting it soak will not get it wet. It needs to be mixed in with the water manually. I do it by hand. As far as the flytrap goes, it is planted too deeply. Just the white part of the rhizome where the leaves grow from should be covered. There should not be any soil covering the point where the leaves come together. Not bad for a first try. Yeah, I know I should be wearing gloves.

What should I do now? Remove all the soil and soak it?

Also is the soil in the trap going to be a problem?

Bob wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:20 am What should I do now? Remove all the soil and soak it?

Yes. It's very difficult to get that much dry peat moss already in the pot to soak up water. Some of it will get wet, but there will always be dry pockets that refuse to take up water.

Bob wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:32 am Also is the soil in the trap going to be a problem?

Nope. The plant will realize that it has caught something inedible and open the trap.

Panman wrote:Yeah, I know I should be wearing gloves.

A little bit of peat-mud didn't hurt anyone

MikeB wrote:Some of it will get wet, but there will always be dry pockets that refuse to take up water.

Yeah, peat is not very hydrophilic, so you kind of have to force the water into it. But once it is soaked, it pulls up water just fine.

Benny wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 6:07 pm A little bit of peat-mud didn't hurt anyone

I can't remember where I saw about wearing gloves and a mask when mixing up peat and perlite. I like getting in there with my hand and mixing it up. The batch in the picture was about 3 gallons. For a glove to have worked with that it would need to be one of those shoulder length gloves they use for giving horses an, ahem, examination.

Panman wrote:I can't remember where I saw about wearing gloves and a mask when mixing up peat and perlite.

Hmm. Never knew that. I could understand the dust from perlite and peat requiring a mask at least. It is undoubtedly not very healthy to have dust in your lungs.

Inhaling perlite dust would be an unpleasant introduction to the word "silicosis".