Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 6/16/2010

Question
Hello, I have been growing venus flytraps and judith hindle pitcher plants outside for the last couple of months. I have 2 large pots, 1 with a big fly trap and 1 with 4 smaller dentes growing in them. They all are growing fine and coming out of dormancy but on the other hand I have 2 smaller traps growing in smaller pots.

In the last couple of weeks I noticed that the traps would start to grow but soon after start turning black. The pots that these plants are in are a lot smaller and the water level is pretty close to the top of the pot. I have just recently check my tap water and found it had about 50ppm hardness. I still top water them with distilled water and fill the trays up with a little bit of the 50ppm tap water. I read in your ebook that venus fly traps can become waterlogged if the water line is to high. Should I repot the 2 plants into taller pots like my other flytraps are in or is there something going amiss with the soil? I have kept the water level a little lower (about quarter of the way up the small pots) for the last week and noticed new growth that looks like the traps may survive. Can water logged plants show the same signs as mineral damaged plants?

Regards, Ken

Answer
Hi Ken,

Water near the top of the pot is way too high for Venus flytraps.  They tend to rot out when constantly waterlogged due to poor root/soil oxygenation.  The signs will look similar to mineral damage since the same thing is happening to them, rotting roots.  Transplanting to bigger pots will definitely help.  Venus flytraps like damp soil, but the water level should be no more than 1/4 of the way up the pot.  Larger pots are good for them for this reason and other reasons too.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com