parker679 wrote:There is a post from a few years ago where Steve_D used sealer on a pot and was going to try and grow some VFT's in it. You may want to PM him and find out the results. Unless he happens to see this post ans wants to update us here.
Yes, as I've mentioned many times on the FlytrapCare Forum (but most people seem to forget), red earthenware (terracotta) clay pots, if they are real clay and not an artificial lookalike, are fine for growing Venus Flytraps or other carnivorous plants, so long as they are soaked once or twice in distilled or rain water to dissolve any soluble material that might have accumulated in the pores of the pot from previous use or from manufacturing.
The Venus Flytraps that I planted in both the red clay pot that was sealed inside with acrylic (I used clear acrylic artists medium) and the red clay pot that was unsealed (left natural just as it came from the kiln) have since been transplanted, but they grew fine in those two red clay pots.
Clay, whether porous low-fired red clay or higher-fired stoneware or porcelain, is almost entirely pure silica and is inert. Real, natural clay will not harm Venus Flytraps or other carnivorous plants. Clay is not soluble, and it does not "leach minerals into the soil," which is a persistent but untrue myth. It should be soaked though for a day or two before use.