FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi there,

I am brand new to the forum and have a question regarding using the tray method to water. I know there have been other posts on this same topic, but I can't figure out if I've done something wrong. My new plant arrived this morning, so I went ahead and planted it (12 inch plastic pot with plastic water tray) using the media from the flytrapstore. I only use distilled and rain water. So far I have not watered from the top, only using the tray. But, when I watered from the tray, it does not seem to be wicking very high up the pot, even after waiting several hours. The pot has 4 drain holes. I did not moisten or wet the media before planting the new fly trap. Could that be the problem?

I appreciate any advice that you may have!

Dry medium can be hydrophobic (it can repel water). That's why it's important to initially moisten the medium. I would water gently from the top, repeatedly over the course of several minutes, until the medium has absorbed water and become uniformly moist, and water drains from the bottom (empty the water tray first so you can see the water draining). Once the medium is uniformly moist, let it dry out for a day or two, then put the tray of water back under it. Because the medium is still moist, it should then wick water upward to the surface or near the surface. If you don't water from the top at least initially and occasionally afterward (to rinse out any accumulated soluble material), the top part of the soil might remain to dry and not adequately hydrate the rhizome and upper roots of the Venus Flytrap.