FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey everyone, thank you all for your help so far!

I've had my death cube rescue for 9 days now and I figure in another week or two I will repot it. I have my peat moss + perlite mix ready, spray bottle, pot etc. I've just had some mixed advice on the repotting and wondered if, based on pics, people could advise me which is the best way to go.

I had a suggestion to "slip pot" the plant in its current sphagnum moss straight into a pot with peat moss and perlite and just fill underneath and around the sides to minimize the stress on the plant, but I have also been told that is only alright if I know the current medium it is in is good.

Could you please look at these photos of my plant and let me know if you think I should just remove the sphagnum completely and repot in peat moss + perlite, or if this "slip potting" method would be alright on this occasion?

I have to admit, I am very nervous about untangling the moss, damaging the roots and setting off any traps in the process. Being a ground hugger right now, it looks like it will be difficult not to set any of them off in the process and the thought of stressing the little guy stresses me out :')

Any advice on which route I could take would be much appreciated.

Also, how many more days / weeks do you think I should wait? I've almost had the plant a week and a half if it helps and this is a 3" pot.

Thank you again for all your time and patience!

These pics are of my plant today:

The plant looks OK, so it's a fair bet the medium is OK. At this time of year I would always slip pot it to save stress and set back and stop a check in the plants growth. You can bare-root repot end of next winter to change the medium if you want.
As for when - it looks robust enough to do it now TBH.

Cheers
Steve

Thank you so much for the advice, Steve! I've been advised that after repotting, a gradual introduction to sunlight is necessary over a week or two. Does that include direct sunlight, through glass, on a windowsill, or does that just apply to outdoor, direct sunlight?

I think maybe for us newbies and our first VFT it might be safest to simply slip pot it so as not to overly disturb the roots. I basically did that with my granddaughters and mine first ones. What I found, though, was that the rhizome itself is growing in a "plug" that had been "re-potted" into the little pot that the VFT come in inside the plastic tube.

When I emptied the plant out of the pot the filler mix simply crumbled wetly away from the plug with a little finger pressure o nit, leaving the plug with roots dangling from it. The plug is maybe half or third the size of a shot glass. The plug felt pretty firm and I did not feel comfortable breaking it apart. With the added "filler" mix removed I simply planted the plugs, trying to spread the roots out into the preformed planting holes. Afterwards I find out that there was either a net material or a paper wrapper wrapped around the outside of the plug that could be carefully torn/cut away and the roots could be spread out more.

It's up to you what to do in regards to the plug...whether to plant it intact or to attempt to break it away without harming the roots to much. I've read where soaking the plug in water a while then rinsing it with water from a spray bottle will help break it apart.

What I found about the "filler" material that was used to fill in around the plug once it was placed in the little pot was that it was a really fine material that stays wet a long time...not much drainage to it. I can see where this would be needed so that the fly traps could survive sitting on a retail shelf for a month or two without any attention being given to them. But, I don't think I'd want to continue growing in it. Like I said, from here on out I'll be unwrapping the plugs. Hope this helps some. Best wishes.

Thanks for the advice! I'll keep that in mine when slip potting! The rhizome, just by looking, does seem to be very well wrapped around by some more solid looking moss. Is this the "plug" you are referring to?

I've got to say that your plant looks *much* larger than my rescues. Where did you buy it? It may be that it's wrapped with long fiber sphagnum moss and not in a plug at all. The little death cubes/tubes that I'm familiar with usually come in a clear plastic tube in a small 2.75" black pot. Yours *appears* much larger.

I think @steve booth gave you some good advice up above.

I got mine from a garden store called Hick's. It came in the exact same box as the VFT shown in this video: https://youtu.be/0UPSf6fv6wM
It's all sphagnum moss from what I can see. I measured the diameter of the pot and it's 3 inches.
It's actually sprouting baby traps like crazy from the middle right now, which is always fun to watch!
Ok, I will do the slip pot some time this week. I just wanted to give the little guy a week or two to settle into his new routine before I potentially upset him again :'). I am hoping with the slip pot method, it will minimize my accidentally setting off any traps. I'm so nervous about that!
Thanks for all the advice, everyone!

Here is a great instructional video on repotting by Leah Miller. Note that the FTS recommends repotting every nine months for optimal growth!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cwLPDGci24

Wow! That thing is much larger than the ones in the little round tube!!!! Good for you! Probably one leaf, definitely two would weigh as much as one of my entire plants! Yours is packed in some nice sphagnum moss, too, mine is the peat mush that I mentioned earlier. Sadly, there's no Hick's around here. Walmart is the only place I've seen traps being sold, but the only other place I've had to check out has been Lowes...no luck there. So, we've been at the mercy of Wallyworld.

I'm not sure, but slip potting may be just the ticket for you!

Sprouting baby traps....now how cool is that!!!!!

Thanks again so much for all the advice and links to further help, everyone! It's really appreciated!

Yess! Baby traps coming through are the cutest ha ha. I've started taking daily pics of the new shoots as they sprout up and develop to see how quick they grow each day. As an indication of how speedy it's currently growing, the following are pics of the same baby trap over the past 7-8 days. It goes from this little smooth semi-circle, to having beautiful huge teeth

I also found a very useful post from someone on the forum who did a photo step by step guide to slip potting which was very useful: post411288.html#p411288

Thanks for the slip pot link.

You're welcome!

Your plant looks great, you have done your research and preparation and there’s lots of solid advice in this thread already. I’m just jumping in to offer encouragement.
These guys are moody but tougher than their reputations would have you believe! Yes you’ll trigger traps, stress the plant a little, and maybe even break a few roots or traps when you repot. The plant might sulk a bit and a a few traps might die, but that’s all normal. In a couple weeks it will be looking better than ever. You got this!

Thank you for the kind words! Everyone has been so helpful here and I totally appreciate the encouragement!
Ok, I'll just accept that I'm bound to upset it a little bit, but it'll get over it and forgive me in a few weeks