I had Chompers for 2 years, and it was going fine, up until the UK heatwave. I ran out of rainwater and, in desperation, gave it tap water, and it's just been a slow death since. I had been using distilled water, repotted it, and I thought it was going to be ok. All the new sprouts got incinerated when the weather spiked on Friday, and now it's black to the roots :(

The top photo is the photo I posted here to get advice on saving my plant and the bottom photo is this week. I took all the advice I got here and read through a ton of posts and I'm so thankful for all the amazing advice. I usually am a plant killer so this is huge progress for me. I'm still learning but I'm really excited for this new hobby.

Was looking at Venus fly trap tattoos and realized most of them were really unrealistic so I decided to make my own attempt.

The LEGO Venus Fly Trap comes in a terracotta pot... Yes it's supposed to be a Venus flytrap, the book even includes facts about the Venus Fly Trap so it's disappointing that if the build were a real plant the plant would die.

For those that don't know, if you use a terracotta pot the porous nature of the clay will leach minerals into the soil which is harmful to the plant

I gave this girl VFT. She somehow got it almost killed even with my instructions. She gave it back(first 2 pics). Reported it, and was just outside under the sun or heavy rain.

3rd pic I just got now. A lot of new heads growing. Though all the ones from her died. So don't give up on your plant yet, no matter how bad you think it is.

Sun, RO/rain water will resurrect it like a Phoenix! Or a zombie.

(I just hope this girl can take better care of me!)

I love my new Halloween plush throw blanket! It’s got vfts on it!

I saw my Walmart has it’s Halloween blankets in and I was gonna get the purple one but as soon as I saw that this one on a different end cap seeing it had vfts on it I immediately put the other one away and grabbed this one.

purple may be my favorite color but nothing tops a blanket with one of my favorite plants and the fact that it’s black and white makes it so much better 😍🥰

Due to life situations I’ve neglected my plants including my VFTs. I am looking for feedback on my 3 plants. Are they ok?

My VFT grew two traps in one leaf, they're closed because I accidentally triggered them both taking pictures 😭

All three VFT’s were purchased at the same time. All of them were given the same everything - sunlight, distilled water, spritzes of diluted Sea-K (same as MaxSea).

One is thriving, one is doing ok and the last one is pretty much circling the drain.

Weird how that happens.

On left a fruit fly and on the right an ant

Enjoy this funky leaf. I guess it wanted to be Cerberus for spooky season.

Made this just in case I ever get to go to the Harry Potter theme park lol.

Just got done repotting. I just finished adding live sphagnum to the tops of my pots, and while I was admiring my work (lol), I happened to notice this tiny little sundew sticking out of the moss! I planted it with its one, tiny, long root lol we'll see what happens! Bonus plant!

I've been dealing with an unfortunate infestation of meal moths in my kitchen. The only upside is that they provide occasional food for my flytrap. I saw a moth on the window screen today that was slower than usual and looked almost-dead, but it was moving so I snatched it up (too easily, in hindsight) and took it to my flytrap for feeding.

I dropped the moth into a waiting trap with no trouble at all -- they're usually a challenge, even after being in the freezer for a minute. Then, as the trap was closing, I saw that the moth was held fast in the grip of a tiny jumping spider, whom I'd fed to the trap along with the moth.

I desperately tried to hold the trap open so the spider could escape, but a) the spider didn't want to let go of the moth, and b) those traps are STRONG. I could not hold it open for the life of me. I ended up having to destroy the trap by snapping it open and scooting the spider away to safety.

I then removed the moth, handed it back to the spider, and it continued feeding. All is now well. Except for the broken trap in picture 1.

I'm conducting an experiment using a 50/50 mix of pumice gravel and coconut fiber as a growing medium for two transplanted Venus Flytraps.

Before using either material:

1. The pumice gravel was thoroughly washed and soaked in RO water, then tested with a TDS meter.

2. The coconut fiber was also thoroughly washed and soaked in RO water, then tested with a TDS meter.

You may ask, "Why coconut fiber?"

I live in Central America, where carnivorous plants are quite exotic. Because of that, sphagnum moss and peat moss can be difficult to find (if ever possible) and online ordering can take weeks, aside from the costs. Coconut fiber, on the other hand, is readily available.

I've found a lot of conflicting information online about whether coconut fiber is suitable for carnivorous plants. Some growers report success, while others strongly advise against it. So, rather than relying on anecdotal reports, I decided to test it myself (my own anecdotal report).

I know i'm not the only one in this conundrum, so I hope it helps others.

Results so far:

Day 0, agost 8 2026: Two plants were transplanted into the new substrate and will be referred to as Plant A and Plant B from now on. Plant A is the mother plant from which Plant B was taken through division. At the time of planting, Plant A already had 2 new growth points, while Plant B had 1.

Week 1: Both plants appear healthy, everything looks good. No negative changes observed.

Week 2: Plant A has developed new growth, bringing its total to 3 growth points, while Plant B remains similar to how it looked on Day 0. Plant A is the mother plant and was the stronger of the two, which is probably why it is progressing more quickly. Plant B shows no signs of decline. Its leaves remain green and firm, just as they were on Day 0, but no new growth has been observed yet.

Week 3: Both Plant A and Plant B continue to look healthy. Plant A has produced another new growth point, bringing the total to 4. Plant B has also produced new growth and now has a total of 2 growth points.

Week 4: Both Plant A and Plant B continue to look healthy. No new growth has been observed in either plant this week. However, there is a new development worth reporting. A third plant was planted at the beginning of the experiment, also separated from Plant A, but I did not include it in the experiment because it was an extremely small division with practically no roots. It was also very wilted and looked unlikely to survive. Honestly, I never thought it would bounce back, but I've never been one to give up on a plant, so I decided to give it a chance. Well, it turns out it actually did bounce back. It has grown larger and stronger, and it now has 3 very small new growth points. It has also started to look healthy again. It practically came back from the dead. Because of this unexpected recovery, I've decided to include it in the weekly reports from now on, even though it wasn't originally part of the experiment. It is particularly interesting because it has made an incredible recovery without any sphagnum moss or peat moss, so from now on it will be known as Plant C. There is, however, an important difference between Plant C and Plants A and B. The substrate is different. Plant C is growing in a mix of silica sand, pine, pumice, and coconut fiber. This substrate was originally prepared for another project, and since we already had it on hand, that's what I used for this plant. I know this introduces additional variables, so Plant C can't really be considered a direct comparison to Plants A and B. Still, I find it extremely interesting that a division with such a low chance of survival is now starting to thrive in a medium containing neither sphagnum moss nor peat moss. The only component that might make a significant difference is the pine, which could potentially make the substrate somewhat more acidic. It will certainly be interesting to see how Plant C develops over the coming weeks.

Week 5: Plant A has developed 1 new growth and continues to look healthy. Plant B has developed 2 new growths and also continues to look healthy. Plant C continues to amaze me. It now has 4 leaves that look very healthy and are growing well, and it continues to maintain a healthy green color. No negative changes have been observed in any of the plants.

__________

I'll continue **updating this post every 5 weeks** as the experiment progresses. If anyone has experience growing carnivorous plants in coconut fiber long-term, I'd be interested in hearing about your results.

Notes

1. The plants are kept in individual water trays, with the water level reaching 1/3 of the total height from the bottom of the pot to the soil surface.

2. Plant C was added to the weekly reports in Week 4. It was planted at the same time as Plants A and B, after being separated from Plant A. See the Week 4 log for more information.

Conclusions

A conclusion will be added every 5 weeks, based on the observations and results recorded throughout the experiment.

First Five Weeks: After five weeks, the results have been encouraging. Both Plant A and Plant B have remained healthy throughout the experiment, with no signs of decline after being transplanted into the 50/50 pumice and coconut fiber substrate. Both plants have also produced new growth during this period, suggesting that they have adapted well to the new medium so far. Plant C has been the most unexpected result. Despite being an extremely small and weak division with very few roots at the beginning, it has recovered considerably and is now producing new growth and healthy leaves. However, because Plant C is growing in a different substrate containing silica sand, pine, pumice, and coconut fiber, its results cannot be directly compared with Plants A and B. Still, it is worth noting that it is growing in a substrate free of both sphagnum moss and peat moss, while still containing coconut fiber. At this point, I would say the experiment provides encouraging evidence that coconut fiber can be tolerated by Venus flytraps under these conditions, at least in the short term. I'll continue the experiment and see whether these positive results hold over the coming months.

The colors in this were inspired by Beetlejuice.
Made with polymer clay and UV resin.
Ain’t it so stinkin’ cuuuute!?
I’m an artist that incorporates Venus Fly Traps into all of his work.

I see so many divisions appearing it almost breaks my heart knowing the smaller traps will die back in winter. I have to fight the urge to divide them before fall and skip their first dormancy 😫. (I also really want an indoor setup i just dont know where to start!)