FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey guys,

So today I took my Venus fly trap outside to water it like I normally do but I forgot to move it back in before I left for work. When I got back the entire plant had been dug out of the pot and all of the mature leaves had been eaten off (rabbits I think). The plant was completely dried out and shriveled so I got it into a pot of distilled water as fast as I could and got it out of the sun. After a while in the water I replanted it and split the 3 rhizomes while I was at it.
repotted plants

My question for you guys is what do you think are the odds that this plant is going to survive? Also is there anything I should do to increase the chances? Right now I've got it in full sun, 100% peat moss for soil, and watered with lots of distilled water.

Also I'm perticulairly concerned about this rhizome since all the leaves got eaten off. Any chance it'll live?

VFTs can die completely back to the rhizome and recover as long as they are given very good conditions. It is difficult to determine the extent of the drying from the picture, but the green leaves and white rhizome are promising.

You may want to add something to the peat so that it gets better drainage and aeration, though. Most folks use perlite or silica sand. As always, make sure every part of your media is fertilizer free.

while you have them pulled out agree with above mix some perlite in (with no additives) or some silica sand or a combo of both replant those and I mean worst case see what happens! they will frequently die back to the rhizome if there are major issues that happen, but often times can rebound too at least from my limited experience.

Thanks for all the advice guys. They're looking much better then when I found them so I'm pretty sure they'll be ok. Unfortunately I had already reported them before I had a chance to mix some perlite into the peat. Would bottom watering help prevent root rot in a 100% peat pot?

You mentioned that you move your plants back and forth. I wouldn't suggest doing that, they do much better if you don't make them constantly adapt to new situations. To keep the rabbits out, stick a bunch of forks with the sharp ends up around the plants, or make a chicken wire cage to put over it. Cayenne pepper sprinkled on the soil will work for especially stubborn rabbits.

I'd honestly suggest taking them out of the pot and mixing in a good deal of perlite before putting them back, a 100% peat mixture is fairly risky. Don't bottom-water, in the meantime. Top-water, it pulls oxygen down into the soil and helps keep the roots aerated.