Potting Mix
There are a wide range of opinions on what the best potting mixture to use for a Venus flytrap is. However the one thing everyone agrees on is that the soil must be low quality. You can’t use rich, nitrogen filled soils as your plant will not like it at all. Venus flytraps evolved to catch bugs as a response to low soil quality and they don’t cope well when they’re out of their usual environment. And whatever you do, don’t add any fertilizer as you will likely kill your plant.
If you purchased your plant from a garden store and aren’t sure of what soil to use for repotting, it is often a good idea to keep using the soil your plant came in. Garden store workers are often uneducated in Venus flytrap maintenance, so be wary of any store assistants recommending you to use a particular potting mix. Some store assistants do know about Venus flytraps, but most assume that they are like any other plant and recommend incorrect soil mixes which can kill your plant.
john ang responded on 02 Feb 2008 at 6:57 am #
Im here in the Phillipines I have a Venus fly trap where or what kind of soil do i use to repot the venus flytrap soil from an flower pot which has not been use is it poor enough?
Ryan responded on 03 Feb 2008 at 2:32 am #
Hi John,
I hadn’t realised how little information I have on this page. I definitely need to add more information about what soil to use here.
Various experts recommend different mixtures of soils. However a mixture of 50% peat and sphagnum moss seems to do the trick quite well.
Some garden shops sell mixtures of the two which you could look out for.
Ryan responded on 03 Feb 2008 at 2:44 am #
I forgot to mention that perlite, sand or fine gravel are adequate alternatives to sphagnum moss and you can play around with the ratios. There is no sure fire solution to this, different people recommend different mixtures and I have no idea what is best. It possibly depends on the situation of your individual plant and possibly is down to pure luck. Basically, as long as the soil has no nutrients and good drainage, your plant will thrive
If you use gravel and particularly if you use sand, make sure you wash it thoroughly with clean water to get rid of any residual salts as they will cause serious harm to your plant. This particularly applies to beach sand as it usually contains very high quantities of salts.
Noel responded on 19 May 2008 at 10:05 am #
Hello Ryan,
I was wondering if you can recommend a substitute to peat moss? Most of the articles that I read on soil mixture for VFT’s require mostly of 50:50 ratio of peat moss (for it’s acidity) and perlite. Unfortunately, I can’ find any peat moss available here in the Philippines. Will a spagnum moss and perlite mixture be sufficient enough? Thanks in advance
Ryan responded on 27 May 2008 at 6:22 am #
Hi Noel,
Yes, a sphagnum moss and perlite mixture should be okay. Many people use various concoctions of soil mixtures and I don’t think there is a perfect combination.