FlyTrapCare Forums

Hi Peeps!
I've 2 questions. Recently I've moved countries with my Venus flytrap I've had for the past 5 ish years. It was very happy in Ireland, I was watering it with rain water and kept it in a Southern window. After the plane trip it lost a lot of leaves and hasn't seen a single trap since, this was 2 months ago. I was transporting it in a closed plastic bag in a backpack for about 12 hours. In Hungary where I live now I've been watering it with water from a well, so 12 meters or so below ground level water. There's way more sun here than in Ireland so is it possible that it is too much for the plant? I've put it in a shadier window but still it's not looking completely good. For the past 2 months it has been recovering very slowly, hasn't been really growing traps just leaves. The colour of the leaves look nice now, and it even grew 2 traps now but they haven't opened for weeks now yet. Any tips on what's going on with my plant? Maybe it's just getting used to the new environment..?

Another question I have is about repotting. before I moved countries and my plant was doing really good I wanted to separate the plant and plant some in a new pot but haven't had the proper soil for it. I was wondering if I can use dried moss I collect in nature and maybe mix it with a bit of soil and use it for the potting soil, would that work? I have some weird desire to sort out the potting mix by myself without buying large bags of stuff

Hello and welcome to the FlytrapCare forums!

profx wrote:For the past 2 months it has been recovering very slowly, hasn't been really growing traps just leaves.

That sounds like a common problem that occurs when Venus flytraps aren't getting enough light.

profx wrote:The colour of the leaves look nice now, and it even grew 2 traps now but they haven't opened for weeks now yet. Any tips on what's going on with my plant?

Again, traps not opening is a common problem of a flytrap not getting enough light. Can you post a good clear photo of your plant so we can take a look and offer any other suggestions? My guess is that the plant is simply light-starved and would be fine if moved to a sunnier location, preferably outdoors.

profx wrote:I was wondering if I can use dried moss I collect in nature and maybe mix it with a bit of soil and use it for the potting soil, would that work?

That seems unlikely unless you live near a sphagnum bog. Most any other type of moss, such as green moss or tree moss, isn't a suitable growing medium for Venus flytraps. Only long-fiber sphagnum and sphagnum peat moss are usable for flytraps. Coir can be used too, with some modifications.

Water from a well is bad for the flytrap because it has to many minerals in it.