FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I was gifted with a Venus Flytrap a few weeks ago and since then it has had a few brushes with death. First I overwatered it, it started looking better but then it was under watered, and it barely caught a break until the recent heat wave fried it! I had no idea it can't do temps higher than 95 I hope it survives and gets better, so now I'm giving it water and it's only getting the cool morning sun, but the new shoots aren't growing. Is there anything I need to know so I don't continue to hurt my plant? Should I repot it? It's in a tiny pot from the store but I'm scared to repot it bc it already isn't doing well. Also all the traps closed after an afternoon in 100 degree sun.... is it going to die?? I'm freaking out How much water? How much sun? There's so many conflicting opinions on the internet I want it to RECOVER PLEASEEEE

I live in northern Texas, btw

Thanks! Do I have to rinse my soil when repotting my Venus flytrap if I bought specific Venus flytrap soil?

It can handle 95F temperature. Between the store and living in full sun there should have been an acclimation period where the flytrap got slowly increasing hours of direct sun. Going straight from the store to direct sun can burn them.

Being in such a hot environment, it might not be a terribly bad idea to repot to a larger pot so that you also have a larger mass of grow mix for moisture retention. The little 2” pots that they come in most of the time can dry out pretty quick. You could “slip pot” it. That’s basically filling a pot with fresh mix, wiggle the potted plant down into the new grow mix until the plants current soil level is even with the surface of the new soil mix. Remove the small pot, leaving the formed hole in the new grow mix. Now carefully turn the small pot upside down in your hand, letting the plant be between your fingers. While you’re holding it upside down gently tap, squeeze, tickle, whatever, until the pot-shaped plug of grow mix and plant slide out of the pot into your hand. Now gently slide this plug into the prepared hole in the larger pot. Firm the grow mix around the plug..you might have to add a little more grow mix. Water it in well, letting the drain water go to waste. Let it sit over night with no water in the tray. The next morning add 1/2” of water.

White plastic pots would be my choice. The plastic won’t leach minerals and white helps reflect solar radiation. You could also use the pot-inside-a-pot technique…the outer pot acts as a shade for the inner pot.

Also, pay attention to what you have the pot sitting on. If it is sitting on cement/concrete, stone, thick wood then the pot is probably being heated by it. A piece of foam placed below the pot to insulate the bottom can make a big difference in reducing conducted heat. Let the foam extend out several inches around the pot…for example, you could put a 12” square or diameter piece of foam beneath a 4” pot. This would help with radiated hit from coming up the sides of the pot.

As for your flytrap recovering…if there’s green to it it has a good chance of being ok. It’s a plant and will make its own food through photosynthesis.

Best wishes!

So i repotted my VFT (thanks for the advice! The roots are getting a lot less hot) but Texas is 100 degrees right now.... it was doing fine in the sun until the heatwave. Can I use a normal bedsheet as a shade cloth? Bc right now, my VFT is working off the only licks of sun that's less than 95 degrees. (And it only have 5 traps, and the shoots aren't growing anymore....) (I'm not getting a shade cloth bc I'm a minor and my parents don't want to sponser my crispy plant's fancy medical care)

Here are a couple tricks for dealing with the hot weather:

• Give your plant sunshine from dawn until about 2 PM, then shade afterward. That's enough light, and it will keep your plant out of the hot, late-afternoon sun.

• I noticed that the pot is black; that will soak up a lot more heat which gets transferred to the soil. Wrap some aluminum foil around the pot to reflect the sunshine.