Can watering my Venus Fly trap hurt it?

Question

I have it in a pot, then I sit the pot in a dish filled with water with rocks and it is sitting by a window. But when the soil is wet already on top is it ok to set it in that dish of water?

Answer 1

Yes, it is okay. VFTs are boggy plants that love moisture and humidity. Sounds like you are doing great. Let you water sit for 24 hours before using it though.

Unless your VFT is a Red Dragon then letting your water sit out will suffice. Only the Red Dragon needs a totally mineral free water.

FYI...just in case you are unaware of this then you should know that you should never feed your VFT any kind of fertilizer or repot it in anything other than 1/2 perlite and 1/2 peat moss. Fertilizers kill carnivorous plants. Also, when VFTs hibernate for the winter they look as though they have died so don't throw them out. If you are keeping your VFT outside in full sun, as well you should, then just put it in a garage or garden shed for the winter, but make sure you keep them in their saucer of water while they hibernate. However, if your temps stay above 20 degrees for the winter then they can be left outside to over winter.

"Of the three most commonly available Flytraps on the market (Typical, Dente, and Red Dragon), the Red Dragon is the least tolerant of hard water (over 100 ppm).

We are not sure why, but when we experimented with growing these three varieties of Flytraps in hard water (125 ppm), the Red Dragon showed considerable signs of distress and deterioration within a few of months, while the Typical and Dente forms remained healthy and robust." http://www.cobraplant.com/venus-flytrap.html

Answer 2

take out the rocks from the tray..they might be adding mineral hardness to the water, which is bad for your plant.

you dont need to let the water sit 24 hours before using it, because you are NEVER going to use tasp water..right? ;)
you need to use rain water or distilled water only.

The reason you cant use tap water is because tap water contains minerals, known as "water hardness".
if you use tap water with your VFT, the pure water evaporates, leaving the minerals behind. (which do *not* evaporate)..over time, the minerals build up to higher and higher levels, eventually killing your plant.

thats why you have to use only rain water or tap water, which has no minerals.

only chlorine evaporates out if you let tap water sit for 24 hours..minerals dont go away from tap water...

and you cant use filtered, bottled, or water treated by a "softener" either..softeners only replace one mineral with another.
if you buy it at the store, it MUST say "distilled" on the bottle.

***quote from reply above****
Unless your VFT is a Red Dragon then letting your water sit out will suffice. Only the Red Dragon needs a totally mineral free water.
**** end quote ****

that is simply not true..
all VFTs need pure water..
wherever you read that, its not true.

for everything you ever wanted to know about VFT's,
see:

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq2000.html

Scot

Answer 3

Dionea muscipula likes wet soil conditions. It comes from a marsh environment.

But you must not use tap water. It's toxic to them. Use only pure rain water or distilled water.

Answer 4

Don't use tap water. Only distilled. They will die otherwise.

Answer 5

Small amount of water for the 1st time will not kill the plant. -Birdy (USA)

Answer 6

http://www.cobraplant.com/venus-flytrap.html
Sounds like you are doing a great job.