FlyTrapCare Forums

Here's my little container of d. filiformis Florida Giant x Trayci sprouts. They were started back in May so they're now seven months old and most are an inch long or more. They have been growing in flooded live sphagnum moss the entire time with a ventilated cover. They were first started outdoors and eventually moved indoors when the weather turned cold (for a spell). The've since been underneath an 8000-lumen "garage" light and seem to have responded well to it (I guess).

Anyhow, I'm about ready to move them to more personal digs. I've got some 5-1/2" pots and some 2-3/4" pots. I'm planning on putting four each in two of the large pots and thinking of the rest as singles in the smaller pots. There's roughly a dozen plants.

My question is what media should I transplant them into? The options that I'm looking at are:
* 50:50 Peat moss to Perlite (top dressed with LFSM)
* 50:50 Peat moss to Play Sand (top dressed with LFSM)
* 100% Live sphagnum moss (what they've been growing in, but it would decimate my stock)
* Live sphagnum in a 50:50 mix with perlite
* Dried LFSM (Better-Gro from Lowes), mixed with either play sand or perlite...50:50 ratio.

I'd like to hear some thoughts on this. I've brought the plants along this far...I'd hate to mess'em up now!!!
Thanks!

They look great! I'm surprised at how red they are. I know how you feel. I've got some nice baby mixed capes that need to be repotted and I don't want to murder them.

I would put them in 50:50 peat/sand. They naturally grow in sandy ditches and sand dunes. You could also do 50:50 lfsm/sand, but peat/sand is cheaper. I tried sowing filiformis white flower from chef in peat/perlite and nothing sprouted. Could be something I did but idk

I would be more ready to go with peat/sand but all I can find around here isn't very fine. I've got some play sand that I've been using and it does pretty good...but definitely not a coarse grade.

Interesting that you mentioned the filiformis Florida Red white flower from Chef. I got some, also, and didn't have any to germinate. I can't remember if they're in peat and sand or perlite, I'll have to check. I figured it was "one of those things" and me being a newbie that I probably didn't know what I was doing and did something wrong.

I had two pots of the Florida reds planted...one large pot and one small pot...and I just let them sit. One day (probably a month or more after I figured they should've germinated) I glanced at those pots and spotted some spots of red in them. I've now got probably a half-dozen seedlings coming along that are around 3/4" tall. Sometimes seeds take longer than we figure they should to germinate for some reason...and other times they germinate quick, go figure, eh?

I'll have to think on the sand a bit. I sure wish I could find some better/coarser sand.

Ooo, good to know they can still germinate . I also thought I did something wrong (I did cram them all into a 4" pot) and was very sad. I love filiformis and still don't have any!! IIRC, I did only plant them in early November.

The sand I use isn't coarse at all: https://www.amazon.com/Fairmount-Minera ... pldnSite=1

Also, I hardly consider you a newbie now. You've grown multiple plants from seed, have a good variety of plants, and all have grown well. If you're not already, you'll definitely be past the "newbie" stage after this first dormancy.

Yeah, leave those Forida Reds in the pot. I didn't get a great germination but I did get some! Let'em ride!

Naw, I'm still a rookie at this stuff. Figuring it out slowly...very slowly!

We were all there. In October 2021 I got my first purp and VFTs from some random store in Iowa. I just feel so bad because the torture that my now deceased purp and VFTs had to go through over winter was awful lol.

Just curious: where'd you get the cuttings from?

I got this plant from elaineo back in the summer.
I took two (I think) leaves off of it.

Use whatever mix works for you, I think any of those mixes will work fine but I use a mix of 3:2:2, or something around that of Peat, Perlite, and Sand.

Filiformis grow really well in live Sphag but the Sphag can over grow the growth point pretty easily. As long as you trim it back once in a while it's not a big deal but if you don't they kind of get swallowed up in a year or two, or at least mine did.

@Carnies, 3:2:2...a little more drainage than absorption. I've got a bunch of 50:50 peat/perlite mixed up. I suppose I could add a 1/4 part sand to give it a bit more drainage.

@Huntsmanshorn, thanks for the heads up on growing in live moss. I think @davinstewart, was doing an experiment with flytraps and growing them in different grow mixes. Seems a perlite and live sphagnum moss was working good for him...but, again, those were for flytraps.

I'm gonna think on this a bit more. Like Carnies said, any of the mixes will work. One thing I don't like is perlite floating everywhere. Maybe a lower substrate of peat and perlite and the upper couple of inches with sphagnum. Maybe I'll try a couple of different things and see what works the best. OCD-Me just flipping and a flopping here.

I’m just going to put this out there, I really love 50/50 lfsm/perlite (and my plants seem to too apparently). I use for almost 90% of my plants. I feel like it’s the all purpose cleaner for CP’s. Maybe not best suited for all chores but still gets the job done.

@Camden M, The filiformis strikes have been growing in flooded live sphagnum moss on a base layer of Better-Gro LFSM. I may replicate that but include some perlite in the lower/Better-Gro layer.

Something I've often thought about is replicating what I envision a bog being like. Some peat:perlite or peat:sand for a 3/4 to 1 inch layer at the bottom following by 2-3 inches of LFSM and perlite or sand, and then topped with and inch or two of 100% live sphagnum moss. I know I'm overthinking this, but "getting there" is half the fun.

I haven't gotten around to moving these to semi-private rooms, but they've been getting aclimated to the real world and no humidity dome!

The sprouts from my Drosera x Dreamsicle leaf cuttings were about this size when I moved them to 3-inch pots. I planted them in my regular soil, a 3:2:1 mix of peat moss, perlite, and coarse sand (a 1:1 mix of peat moss and perlite should work fine, too). It took them a couple weeks to get settled in to their new digs.