FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

(I figured I'd ask in a different thread instead.)

I've heard a few conflicting things in regards to putting distilled water in metal or glass plant misters, and I was wondering if using a glass plant mister with distilled water, to lightly water VFTs is a good idea.

I don't think distilled water will hurt anything in either glass, metal, plastic, or whatever. Its pH is neutral so it shouldn't react to metal and any minerals or other impurities should have been removed by the distillation process so it shouldn't clog the spray nozzle. But, from what I understand, flytraps don't necessarily like to be misted.

I'm no sure about the "different thread" part...

Fly traps are pretty tough plants, I don't think misting them would have any advantage.

a good photo log of there natural growth cycle, just sitting in my back yard no care but watering and re potting with new media.
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Intheswamp wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 7:50 pm I don't think distilled water will hurt anything in either glass, metal, plastic, or whatever. Its pH is neutral so it shouldn't react to metal and any minerals or other impurities should have been removed by the distillation process so it shouldn't clog the spray nozzle. But, from what I understand, flytraps don't necessarily like to be misted.

I'm no sure about the "different thread" part...

I initially asked the question in a different thread but figured it would probably be better to create another short thread for it ^^;.

I have heard about that, and they probably wouldn't like being misted in such a small pot (As much as I don't want it, they will remain in their tiny store pot until they don't seem stressed (I picked them up earlier this month, and they came in a plastic box that was too much of a hassle to take off ;_;)). However, I feel like they could use some humidity, as they seem to dry up very quickly and I don't want to water them too often.

That's great to hear. Admittedly I'm a little scared though, the last time I repot them 2-3 days after getting them, and shortly after they were practically fighting for their lives (every leaf was wilting in a mineral burn-y way, flower spikes were popping up left and right, they were just in really sad shape. Bagging helped for a bit, but at one point I bagged them for too long and practically over-watered them...).

Yeah, don't leave it in the plastic box...they don't call them "death cubes" for nothing.

Ohhh absolutely not (Apologies if it wasn't clear in the last post, but I did take it out of the box, they looked a little sad in there. The "Taking out," part was pretty stressful though).

Good that they're out of the boxes.

A few of the things can cause them to dry out too quickly...

*Temperature too hot...plant is too close to grow light or in a very hot, arid environment...desert conditions, indoors with heating/cooling zapping the humidity out of the air, etc.,.
*Water tray is too small, too shallow...the issue is that you don't want the water level so high that the tips of the roots are constantly in water and that the grow mix stays waterlogged/soggy all of the time. For the tiny retail pots that flytraps come in you really don't want more than 1/4" of water in the tray, but you have to be sure the grow mix is moist at the same time...maybe top water, let the water drain well, throw the drain water away, then top the tray off.
*The grow mix that the flytrap is in could be substandard with a lot of perlite or ??? that allows too much water to drain away. This is usually not the case from what I've experienced the grow mix in the death cubes are usually "mush"...very little perlite and very fine material.
*The problem that I see is that the pot is simply too small. A small pot of grow mix will dry out much faster than a larger pot of grow mix will...there's simply lots more moisture in the larger volume of grow mix to evaporate/be transpired. With a larger pot the depth of the grow mix will be deeper and you can use a deeper water level in the water tray being as the root tips will be at a higher level from the water. And, by potting up to a larger container you can be sure that the grow mix is a good one.

Just some thoughts, nothing carved in stone or anything.

Distilled water is made by evaporating water, then catching and condensing the vapor. It's essentially rainwater, though it tends to have less in it because it hasn't gone down through an atmosphere full of dust and pollen. It won't damage any solid surface unless that surface would also be damaged by regular tap water.

The tiny store pot and terrible, probably tainted media inside are part of what stress big box store flytraps out. Best to repot them as soon as you get them. Sounds like your prior batch got put into something that had minerals in it, or given water with minerals, since repotting into an appropriate pot with appropriate media and water wouldn't cause mineral burn.