Venus flytrap and carnivorous plant soil?

Question

does anyone know if i can use cactus soil? for re-potting them?

Answer 1

You need a peaty/acid soil. DO NOT USE GARDEN SOIL.

Water it with rainwater.

Try this website: http://www.pitcherplant.com/care_sheets/...

Answer 2

you can use anything just feed them. get some soil from your garden or even garden centre if you are worried about using cactus soil.  

Answer 3

Most insectivores are native to boggy areas where the peaty soil is extremely acidic and constantly saturated with water, or in soil which is essentially void of the essential nutrients needed by most plants.

Answer 4

Most growers use a 50:50 combination of peat moss and perlite.  I have written up an article about how to mix the soil here:

http://www.flytrapcare.com/media-soil-fo...

In case you are new to growing Venus Fly Traps, you might find the following information helpful. There are three major points to keeping a Venus fly trap healthy.

1) Sunlight - at least 4 hours of direct sunlight a day

2) Water - rain, distilled or reverse osmosis water only

3) Soil - Nutrient poor soil such as peat moss

Venus fly traps like lots of light. Try to give it at least 4 hours of direct sunlight a day. The more you can give it the better. It is best to grow your fly trap outside where it can get plenty of sun and catch its own food.

Venus fly traps need clean water. Usually tap water will not do. It is best to use distilled water, rain water, or reverse osmosis water. Venus fly traps need water with a TDS (total dissolved soilds) measurement of 50 ppm (parts per million) or less. In order to get this, you probably need to use distilled water or reverse osmosis water or rain water. Their soil should be kept wet at all times. It is best to use a tray and set the plant in about 1/2 inch of water.

I would guess that your plant came potted already, so the media that it is potted in is probably fine. But if you need to repot it, which wouldn't be a bad idea, you can use a combination of peat moss and perlite. Most growers use a 50:50 mix of peat moss and perlite. I have been leaning toward using pure peat moss lately. Venus Fly Traps aren't picky, but be sure to use some form of peat moss or sphagnum peat moss with perlite or vermiculite to ensure that the media is nutrient poor.  I have had very good luck with pure peat moss.

When October rolls around you have to start thinking about providing dormancy for your Venus Fly Trap. You can read about that here:

http://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-tra...

Good luck with your fly trap and enjoy growing it!

You can read more about how to care for venus fly traps here:

http://www.flytrapcare.com

And if you have more questions, feel free to join the forum and as them there:

http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/

Answer 5

Don't, whatever you do, use garden soil or cactus compost which may be too alkaline or rich. Carnivorous plants are just that because they lack essential nutrients in the boggy acid soil where they grow. Therefore they supplement their 'diet' with insects. They require very poor acid soil. I use peat or pond compost but I rarely repot as they don't need it very often.