FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

i went to home depot to get peat moss and perlite. they nursery guy said that Miracle Gro Sphagnum Peat Moss was just pure peat moss but i got sphagnum moss.
the only perlite they had was a miracle gro one and i got it.... will this be bad?
should i go ahead and plant my stalk and how?

Anything with Miracle Gro on the label will be deadly for your Venus flytrap. I've used that same exact sphagnum moss for pullings and flower stalks and it works fine. Don't use that Miracle Gro perlite though!

what do i do with it?

kevinqwe wrote:what do i do with it?

The Miracle Gro perlite? You can either take it back or use in on other plants of yours that aren't carnivorous.

where did you get your perlite?

I got mine at a local nursery near my house in Boulder.

can i use the sphagnum as a medium? without peat moss? and do i need perlite?
or should i just return everything and get peat moss? i dont want a bunch of things
thanks

I'd just return the sphagnum and perlite and just get peat. Pure peat will work fine. It's best to mix it with sand or perlite or vermiculite, but you can get away with just straight peat.

hmm.. would it be better to do a sphagnum and peat moss 50:50?

Hi Kevin,

When it comes to soil mixes for Dionaea, there are a wide variety of opinions. When repotting your plant, use a standard carnivorous plant soil mix of 1 part peat moss and 1 part perlite. Peat moss adds acidity and retains moisture, while perlite provides drainage. Some growers like to mix in silica sand for drainage which is fine also. I would highly recommend trying different soil mixes to see what works best in your growing area. Just make sure that peat moss is at least 50% of the growing medium. I hope this helps and please ask, should you have any more questions.

Giovanni

If you can't find perlite, sand will do. I think it's actually better. Sand sold for growing cacti worked for me last year. You want the sand to be silica sand.

peat = dead compressed sphagnum, so the difference will be minimal.

Right now my VFT is planted in that exact same sphagnum moss, no perlite or sand. I used some scissors to cut the long fibered sphagnum into pretty small pieces until I had enough to fill the cup. It will work, my plant is growing pretty well. 4 new traps growing right now and 1 new trap just opened So it works.

im gonna return all of it and just get peat moss at lowes