FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I recently replanted my VFT in a new pot with Premier peat moss and Vigoro perlite, 1:1, and I swear it’s now moldy with some kind of like plant matter that wasn’t there before mixed in?

If it’s something I did or didn’t do I’d like to know what. If it’s the medium and happens to be the peat moss it’s going to be extremely frustrating.

The only small options for bags at Home Depot were Miracle Grow and Mosser Lee, so I had to buy a mega bag of the Premier which I’m guessing they’re not going to take back.

Also I know how bad the VFT has gotten, but I was trying to wait until it was nice to stick the pot outside and see if it might regrow. I know probably not, but I just didn’t want to give up.

Did you rinse the peat moss? Rinsing helps lower the incidence or amount of mold and algae growth.
Too high of a moisture content can cause mold. A flytrap (or any other plant) doesn't need to be wet if it's trying to recover...it needs to be moist, not wet.
How long has it been in the pot?

Lot's of people use Premier and don't report any problems with it. Every batch from every supplier is subject to be different from the last one...for good or bad. The harvesters move to a different part of the bog or hit a rough stretch of weedy stuff or...??? I suspect your bale will be fine. Dodging Mosser Lee for a good move and dodging MG was definitely a good move. Having the pot in open air can help reduce mold growth, rather than bagged or domed.

I repotted it February 17th. I have kept it moist not wet. A couple times it actually got a little too dry. I tried to rinse the moss as well as I could, but I didn’t really think of a good way to do it? The peat was very fine so I couldn’t even use a colander which I thought was going to be how I did it until I saw what I was working with.

Now that I’m thinking about it I could have probably put a paper towel at the bottom of one of my extra pots like I have been using for repotting in the first place to keep everything in there. I may be missing an easier solution but I’m not sure. That is the first plant I’ve ever repotted. So I doubt it was washed well. I thought that was more optional, so in the end I just gave up the want to do it and tried to focus on the mixing part. I said it was 1:1, but I’m like 99% positive that I ended up adding more peat because it looked like all perlite in there. I’m not great at eyeballing that kind of thing until I have experience with it ya know?

Yeah I avoided MG from just reading through threads here that looked informative, and I think it was you that said avoid ML and said Premier was good. I figured each bag would be different, but I guess I was already frustrated that I had to buy a huge bag when I didn’t need that much. I thought Home Depot would have a better selection. Eh.

So what should I do here? Repot again? I know that stresses the plant, but at this point it’s doing as bad as possible I think so it doesn’t seem like I can make it worse.

You can spray it whole top with some SULFUR fungicide. Mixed half strength. DO NOT use a copper based fungicide.

Oh cool thanks! Any brands I should stay away from that you know about? I know there’s well known good and bad stuff for most of the things that you might use with cps, so I’m trying to be sure to avoid the bad. And is that a Home Depot thing? I have a nearby Lowe’s too that I’ve been meaning to get to just to see if their selection on certain things is better.

Whole top just means like spray the entire top of the pot and let it set that way for a short while? Sorry I’m a total noob when it comes to this stuff.

Jade wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2024 5:36 am Oh cool thanks! Any brands I should stay away from that you know about? I know there’s well known good and bad stuff for most of the things that you might use with cps, so I’m trying to be sure to avoid the bad. And is that a Home Depot thing? I have a nearby Lowe’s too that I’ve been meaning to get to just to see if their selection on certain things is better.

Whole top just means like spray the entire top of the pot and let it set that way for a short while? Sorry I’m a total noob when it comes to this stuff.

Any sulfur fungicide is fine READ THE INGREDIENTS label. I use Bonide brand. Make sure copper is NOT listed on the label.