FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi guys

Meet George, a newly bought plant from a local gardening shop. Been reading a lot on how to care for these guys and I'm doing what I can to keep in line (I'm a poor student so we have to make do I'm afraid) and figured that instead of asking a bunch of paranoid questions I'll simply post a couple of pictures of 'george' and let the pro's have a peek and a natter.

George was pretty poorly when I got him but has since started to bounce back a bit after being given a spider to chew on, recently he has started to pile on the new growth and is producing reasonably big traps. Unfortunately we still have to work with tap water but I try to let said water stand for a day before introducing it (I'm also in an area with very soft water), working on a better solution. The physical media is what it came in, from what I can tell it's bog standard garden shop rot, the pot is about 3 inches wide and 3-4 deep.

Points worth noting are that the traps are quite over extended/opened, tried giving him another spider the other day and the trap not only closed slowly but was also a bit deformed, the 'teeth' weren't interlocking as the trap was so over opened. Managed to 'pop' it back to shape with my fingers. I'm thinking it's because he lives next to a normally opened westerly window and is experiencing temperatures a little chillier than optimal (we live in northern scotland) but would be nice to hear it from folks who know.

tl;dr - how healthy is my plant?

Anyway thanks in advance for reading, hope you have a minute to reply.

Hi George and welcome!

Your plant George looks very, very healthy. He's putting out several new traps, all of which appear to be happy with the light levels and water you've been giving him. I'd say that you're doing well with the care you're giving him. One thing he'd benefit from is a deeper pot with better aerated soil (add in perlite or silica sand to the peat), but otherwise, I can't think of much else to improve his current growing conditions.

I'm planning on getting him shifted into a larger, more optimal home when I get the chance, something like the 50/50 mix of moss and sand I've read about or at least the closest I can get to it.

Any ideas on the over extended, slow to respond traps?

Those look like older traps that formed when the plant was either too wet or not getting enough light or both. They'll likely die soon, but the new traps growing in look healthy and should be normal.

A couple of other things worth noting in your photo:
1) It appears that you have the plant standing in water. That's probably not a good idea if growing it inside. It's best to keep the soil just moist, not wet. Indoor growing is more challenging in this aspect because the soil retains the water for much longer. I'd recommend only watering once every 5 to 7 days or something along those lines. Just check the soil for dampness on the top and if it's starting to feel dry, pour some water into the tray.
2) There appear to be rocks in the water tray. Unless these rocks are quartz (silica), that's a bad idea because they'll leech minerals into the water and poison the flytrap.