FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Yesterday I repotted two death cube VFTs into two flimsy black plastic pots that some Gerbera daisies came in. (Don't worry, I washed them out.) I'm also using LFSM with a bit of peat in the bottom.

I was just reading about how uninsulated black pots aren't the best idea, especially with LFSM. But I don't really have any other appropriately sized pots at the moment, let alone insulated ones.

So I'm wondering about some potential solutions, at least temporarily before the plants acclimate to full sunlight and it starts getting really hot out. Silver/reflective duct tape around the outside, maybe?

And one more thing, should I avoid re-repotting them anytime soon? Or should I transplant them (along with the media) as soon as I get appropriate new pots?

owlfeathers wrote:I was just reading about how uninsulated black pots aren't the best idea, especially with LFSM.

Never heard about this before, black pots are fine in my opinion (no "insulation" needed, black pots actually heat up a bit in the sun). I use square pots very similar to yours, they work very well (no reflective tape needed either).

owlfeathers wrote:And one more thing, should I avoid re-repotting them anytime soon?

Your flytraps are completely fine with the pots they're in, please try not to stress them out with any more repotting.
Besides that, I'd say that you did a fantastic job repotting your plants.

I love those plastic black square pots but I found for me, in summer they heat up something rotten. Winter is fine but our summers are very brutal and I lost a few plants last year because they basically cooked in the media. One Way I got around it was wrapping aluminium kitchen foil around the pot to reflect as much light as possible. It all depends on where you live and how hot it can get. Like I said, in winter it's no issue at all, but once it's getting up into the 30s then 40s it spelled trouble for me, my flytraps did not perform well or died. I tested the soil with a meat probe thermometer and the temps were very high 37+ .

It does get pretty hot and humid here in the summer, easily up to 90° F (32° C) at like 60-70% humidity. I'll try to keep an eye on the temperature of the media. I'm going to try to get my hands on some different pots though and just transplant the whole media plugs with the plants. Thanks for the advice

I've seen people grow their plants in large styrofoam cups. The white color reflects the sun, and the foam provides insulation. I'm not sure how long the cups would last when exposed to the sun, but it's worth a try.

For what it's worth, I've been growing mine in black pots and haven't noticed a problem. The pots are packed tightly in the water trays so there is minimal pot area exposed directly to the sun, so that may help.

Simplifying Dean's idea, paint an empty pot then slip thee plant from one pot to the other. Paint the now empty pot and repeat.

Panman wrote:For what it's worth, I've been growing mine in black pots and haven't noticed a problem. The pots are packed tightly in the water trays so there is minimal pot area exposed directly to the sun, so that may help.

That's because you live in zone 7 bro... Zone 10 is merciless.

Last year I killed and severely stunted some of my plants that were in black pots when the temps went to 95 with bright sunlight. The ones in the white pots were fine.

A meat thermometer showed a 5-10 degree media temp difference between black and white pots when the sun was hitting the side of the pots which apparently was enough to push the black pot plants beyond their heat tolerance level. At 100+ with bright sunlight you want to get everything in the shade.

ChefDean wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 4:40 pm

Panman wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 4:39 pm Simplifying Dean's idea, paint an empty pot then slip thee plant from one pot to the other. Paint the now empty pot and repeat.

That could work too.

Could they just paint a spare pot and slip the black one inside the white one to avoid any disturbance to the roots ?

This is what I did to a few of my square pots and helped a lot. Most I replanted in polystyrene cups which so far have been the best for insulating the roots from the hot weather, or a nice hard white plastic second to that.