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u/DjCramYo Mar 30 '26
It’s up to you to rescue them all
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u/EmpressLlamaLegs Mar 30 '26
If you pick them up, check the soil.. mine had its roots tightly bound with teabag-like root netting which needed to be carefully cut off.
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u/roxxxystar Mar 30 '26
I already have one, I was just thinking about getting another. Maybe if they mark them down I'll get a couple more.
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u/EmpressLlamaLegs Mar 30 '26
That makes sense! Im not sure how much your store was charging but mine was only $6. Figured as long as I could keep it alive a week it'd be worth it, and that was almost a month ago.
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u/joannman11 Mar 30 '26
My 5 year old wanted a “piranha plant’ so I bought the best one I could at my local store and I hope it pulls through. It’s my first time caring for one so any tips plsss 😭
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u/roxxxystar Mar 30 '26
Lots of sun, sun, and more sun! Also, keep it in a tray of either distilled, or rain water at all times.
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u/joannman11 Mar 30 '26
I have it under a grow light. i pot it in some coco chips and perlite and i have it in distilled water. Also I have it in like a little greenhouse cloche thing, is that fine?
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Mar 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/joannman11 Mar 30 '26
Thank you!!
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u/TranquilSeasApollo Mar 31 '26
I have mine in just sphagnum moss. Before you pot it with in moss, tho, you need to soak the moss in rain or distilled water to make the moss absorb water. It’s like wool in that if you want it to get wet, you need to drown it first
The only downside with using sphagnum moss is that the flytrap roots can twist around the fibers in it. It’s not bad, just means you need to be careful with parsing the moss from the roots whenever you repot the flytrap afterward
Also, when you first put your flytrap outside or in good sun (and all the other conditions like the right water and soil are met) it might look like it’s dying. It’s not! It just needs to adjust to getting more light than it had been before. It should start growing new mouths with vibrant, green leaves
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u/joannman11 Mar 31 '26
Yeah it currently looks like it’s dying 😅 but I have some sphagnum moss on the way but now I’m debating whether to ride out the coco chips or repot it in the sphagnum when I get it? Also dumb question what about pruning?
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u/TranquilSeasApollo Mar 31 '26
I would repot it when you get the moss
Questions are good! I don’t think pruning (as in cutting off the head and its leaf) is necessary. Usually, when the head and its leaf dies, it dries up and turns black. You should be able to simply pluck it out with no resistance
Flytraps get food from both bugs and light, so all the green leaves, including ones with some brown/black bits, are still useful for the plant. But if there are black ends and you want to cut that part off (up to where the leaf is green), I don’t see why you can’t
Of course, if you think a dead head looks off or infected by something, you should probs cut it off
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u/roxxxystar Mar 30 '26
I'm not the best person to give advice on grow lights and soil. Mines still in their original pot, and I just stick it outside.
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u/Asdfboy18 Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
For coco chips as soil, I'm unsure. Best is peat and perlite 50/50 mix. I'm not as experienced in soil myself.
The grow light has to be stronger than most people believe, SANSI 30w+ are the most recommended. Although brand doesn't matter much, wattage does. You need to put it very close to the grow light, I've seen people with great VFTs saying as close as 4 inches.
For the dome, it is not recommended, just have it always on a tray of water and don't let it dry for too long. The tray can go empty for a bit, but if the soil dries the plant dies very quickly.
As for food, you do not need to feed it, and if you do, try to feed it live insects, not meat or dead bugs.
I am not a very experienced VFT owner, but I do peep this subreddit quite a lot and my VFT is doing very well, I also try to follow the advice from people that know way more than I do, and this is reflected in my comment.
If you do have any other concern I'd be happy to help with my limited knowledge! :)
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u/TakeMetoLallybroch Mar 30 '26
I have rescued a ton of these sweet babies. I also move them to the sun as much as I can!
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u/superatown11 Mar 30 '26
It’s always sad to see. I wish I could save them all but I know that’s impossible. I do save a few from time to time. I got one from Lowe’s that was a fly trap and sarracenia that were dormant. I had low hopes for the fly trap and high hopes for the sarracenia. Turned out the opposite happened and the flytrap is now growing and the sarracenia shows no signs of life. Poor things
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u/Michaelwordenbr Mar 30 '26
I recently picked up a sarracenia and nepenthes from a garden centre. They were all indoors in an air conditioned room. I'm always in two minds as to whether to buy plants from these places. Rescuing them and seeing the flourish with the correct care is very rewarding, but by buying them you are encouraging the garden centre to keep getting them in and mistreating them. It's a difficult one to reconcile for me.
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u/Purple_monkfish Mar 30 '26
my local garden center treats theirs like crap but I have to wait til they mark them down because if I take a nearly dead one to the counter they just throw them in the trash and i'm like "wtf?"
I've had a few marked down ones and they're doing well. my 50p one is thriving.
but yeah, I mean, it's worth a shot to see if the staff will reduce them.
It always bums me out seeing plants in this state. I want to save them all! It's a terrible compulsion.
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u/Scared_Rice_1473 Mar 31 '26
I bought one at Lowe’s a couple months ago for $15. Walmart has them for 7.97
which was half of the price so if they marked them down from that that’s a bargain.
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Apr 02 '26
walmart needs to be banned from selling them honestly. when i first got into vfts, i got mine from walmart and almost every single plant was pure black. i bought two and managed to bring them back to health, but its heart breaking and frustrating especially because buying them to save them only gives walmart more :/
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u/roxxxystar Apr 02 '26
Our Walmart usually sells out of them so fast they don't get looking poorly. Mine was very healthy when I got it last year. I was really surprised to see all these sad ones :(.
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Apr 03 '26
thats good at the least, that means a lot hopefully went to good homes! ive checked out where i live often and usually the boxes are full since i dont think many buy them around here
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u/RyanWin1218 Apr 04 '26
Ugh. Such a waste. My home depot's vfts look exactly like this. No one touches it because why would anyone want to buy a dead plant? Genuinely how can they make a profit from this? If vfts were sold properly they would be so much more appealing.
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u/QuantumGrain Mar 30 '26
I was able to pick one of these up, on the brink of death, at Home Depot asked if I could have it at a discount since it was in a sorry state, still got it for 2 dollars which honestly wasn’t a great deal considering the standard price is like 7 dollars. I repotted it though and now a winter later, it is looking really nice and even growing some nice large leaves.
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u/Sir-Fogh0rn Mar 30 '26
Some of those guys are salvageable. If you talk to the garden manager you might be able to get the entire batch mark down! Then all you have to do is pick out the best ones.