2023 had a great start for Fyukinta’s Flants. Not only did we start the new year with a sale, but we also did something completely new: film a whole documentary!
Thanks to Rembrandt “Inoh” Olegario and his team (Harold Prince Zabarte and Marc Rosaceña), Fyukinta’s Flants got its own YouTube documentary featuring my garden and yours truly.
So you’ve decided to buy your first carnivorous plant! Plants are beautiful, and carnivorous plants aren’t just gorgeous—they can actually eat bugs in a wide variety of ways. You’ve likely seen them on social media, and these interesting bug-eating plants are just the kind of thing you want to try.
What would you need to prepare for your carnivorous plant, though? Let’s say you’ve read up on their needs, and you know the basics about their food, their water, and their media. Is there anything else you, the new plant parent, need to make sure they thrive?
That’s what we’re answering in this guide. After reading up on the requirements and nature of carnivorous plants, check this guide to find out how best to prepare for your plant before your carnivorous plant comes home.
We’ll cover each of these points in detail below:
• Find a grow space for your plant once it’s acclimated
• Collect rainwater
• Buy a TDS meter
• Prep a plastic water dish
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Pitcher plants, and carnivorous plants in general, are known to need sunlight to photosynthesize and grow, along with the bugs they catch for food—until N. pudica literally came to light.
However, a newly discovered species of pitcher plant challenges that need by adapting so that it doesn’t need sunlight quite the same way. This is Nepenthes pudica, a tropical pitcher plant in Indonesia that grows traps underground!
N. pudica, the underground pitcher plant
This new species was first found in North Kalimantan, an Indonesian province on the island of Borneo. Most pitcher plants grow their traps from the tips of green, photosynthesizing leaves while suspended in midair. However, N. Pudica grows underground shoots with small, white leaves devoid of chlorophyll. Its reddish pitchers are also much larger than the leaves they grow from.
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This blog is a little different than my usual, but it’s worth sharing because it can help you earn a bit of extra money while doing absolutely nothing. This is passive income that’s 100% passive, and no, you don’t have to sell anything to your friends or buy anything to actually earn money.
You don’t need any capital, background knowledge, or even close attention to turn your computer into a passive income machine. All you need is any kind of computer, an internet connection, PayPal, and a few programs that you can leave on while you’re sleeping or even just when you’re using your PC like normal. Everything is automated and effortless.
These programs are like idle games, but with real money. Isn’t that cool?
This guide will share safe programs that let you earn steady passive income and how to make the most of them.
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Propagating Venus flytraps is a great way to make sure you always have a spare of particular flytrap cultivar. It’s also a great way to prepare flytraps to sell or trade with other hobbyists!
In this guide, we talk about how to propagate Venus flytraps and what you need to make sure your propagations grow nice and healthy.
• Venus flytrap cultivars
• Propagating Venus flytraps
ㅤㅤ• Seeds
ㅤㅤ• Pullings
• Growing flytraps in the Philippines
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The Venus flytrap is arguably the most famous carnivorous plant. It’s the classic bug-eating plant like Audrey II from The Little Shop of Horrors or the Chomper from Plants vs. Zombies, with a “mouth” and “teeth” that snap shut to trap prey.
Though this carnivorous plant is popular, it has specific needs different from non-carnivorous plants. Not providing these needs can result in killing your flytrap.
This guide will cover everything you need to know about growing the Venus flytrap in the Philippines:
• What is a Venus flytrap?
• Basic care
ㅤㅤ• Lighting requirements
ㅤㅤ• Water
ㅤㅤ• Growing media
• Feeding
• Dormancy
• Pests
Venus flytraps are small plants that grow from a white, bulb-like rhizome. Each leaf is composed of a heart-shaped petiole, and the actual “trap” at the tip is (sometimes) lined with eyelash-like cilia that cross together when the trap shuts to keep prey inside.
The trigger hairs inside the trap are sensitive enough to sense when a bug walks through but evolved only to shut when their prey moves inside. It takes a lot of energy to close a trap. In fact, a trap only has a limited number of times it can move and “eat” before it dies.
Just like how Byblis is named after a Greek figure of the same name, the Venus flytrap is named after the Roman goddess of love. Its common name is Venus flytrap, and its genus is Dionaea Muscipula.
Venus flytraps follow the same basic rules all carnivorous plants do. If you understand the basics, you can care for almost any carnivorous plant. These basics are lots of light, low ppm water, and nutrient-free media.
Venus flytraps, like most carnivorous plants, love sunlight. A plant that gets enough light will have smaller, colored leaves and larger, redder traps. The pic above, taken by #HappyFlanter @claudinesy, is a great example of how a flytrap acclimated to her sunny grow area, coloring and developing red traps.
This post below shows how my friend and #HappyFlanter Kayce’s D.M. B52 acclimated and colored in her indoor grow light setup, achieving deep red traps.
If your Venus flytrap does not get enough light, it will not get red traps. Less light produces broader leaves and smaller traps. Venus flytraps also won’t survive for long without enough sunlight. Light-deprived plants look like “vegetables”: very green, no other color, and very wide and leafy.
I live in a condo/a place without much sunlight. Can I still take care of a Venus flytrap?
You can, with the help of grow lights!
Grow lights also bring out the best colors in your plants, which won’t look as red or bright in just sunlight. This is especially true for red carnivorous plants. With strong grow lights, even a D.M. Sinagtala can achieve deep red colors, like Carnivorey’s D.M. Sinagtala below.
I bought my grow lights from Delponting, an affordable, trusted source for plant parents. Mars Hydro is another trusted source, though it’s pricier than Delponting.
All carnivorous plants, not just Venus flytraps, need low ppm water such as distilled, rain, reverse osmosis (R.O.), or aircon drip water. Do NOT use tap water, please. Low ppm water has little to no minerals, which burn a carnivorous plant’s roots. If you keep using tap water, your carnivorous baby will eventually die a slow death.
How can I tell if the water I use is safe for my carnivorous plant?
By using a TDS meter! This tool measures the ppm levels of the water or media you use. Just stick it in the water or low ppm water mixed with the media (for media testing). A reading below 50 ppm is good, but the lower, the better.
The water I use from both collecting rain and aircon drip is only 3 ppm. Some neps can survive higher ppm levels, so I use regular tap water on them, but not Venus flytraps or sundews. If you want to buy a TDS meter, you can check my online shop!
Should I use a water tray for my Venus flytrap?
Yes, this will make it easier to avoid making them dry out. My plant rack fits exactly two take-out trays that I use as water trays. Venus flytraps enjoy moist media, but to avoid overwatering, let the water tray dry out before refilling it again. This might change during the summer when it’s very hot or if you’re using grow lights like mine, which generate heat.
It’s best to observe for signs of overwatering: new traps that become black before opening. If you see this in your plant, just don’t water it for a few days until you see a new leaf.
Minerals kill carnivorous plants. That’s why you can’t use normal soil for your Venus flytrap or any other carnivorous plant. The correct media includes coco peat, sphagnum moss, or peat moss. This guide explains the different kinds of media and what they’re good for.
Just make sure that they don’t have any fertilizers, and make sure you use a TDS meter to measure their ppm levels first. When I first bought coco peat for my plants, it was at 300 ppm when I tested it. The only way to fix this is by thoroughly washing the media.
You can also check this helpful video guide from Carnibro on how to repot Venus flytraps, along with other carnivorous plants.
Why do I have to wash the media if no one in nature does so?
The natural habitat of Venus flytraps is usually by rivers or in marshy areas. These places constantly have running water that doesn’t allow minerals to settle. The media is naturally “washed” clean—which is why carnivorous plants like the Venus flytrap evolved to trap bugs in the first place! This doesn’t mean they like living in water, though: I let my water trays dry out for a day or so (if it’s not too hot) before I refill them.
They can’t get minerals from the soil, so their roots only developed to serve as an anchor (nothing more) that draws up water, and their leaves developed to get nutrients from bugs.
What kind of pot can I use for my Venus flytrap?
Because minerals are an issue, avoid anything porous: wood, unglazed ceramic, terracotta, cement, etc. If you want to keep it safe, use plastic pots or even Styrofoam cups. The same applies to the water tray. I’ve killed sundews before because I used a ceramic water tray when I first tried raising these plants. Do not repeat my mistake. D:
Can I use loam soil for my Venus flytrap?
Use loam soil if you want to kill your flytrap. Please read this three times. Please. May hugot ako dito.
Venus flytraps catch food when they’re outdoors, where bugs are free and many (sadly). They can eat any insect that triggers their traps if it is small enough to fit. A trap that eats a bug too big for it will turn black and die.
As a rule of thumb, food that is 2/3 and below the size of the trap is ok. Traps will also die after eating a certain number of times, but as long as your Venus flytrap is making new leaves, this is ok! Don’t worry too much about dead traps. New growth is key.
Some traps are so big they can eat little animals like tiny frogs or lizards. This is kind of gross but cool. Though they feed well, the dry carcasses of the prey stay behind. Nature washes these away with rain, but in this case, you’re the one who does clean up.
Since carnivorous plants evolved to eat bugs, they need to be fed, right?
I said before that you don’t need to feed your Venus flytrap or any carnivorous plant, but their growth is supported by eating. They can get their food on their own if they’re outdoors. For fun, you can also feed your flytrap live flies or bugs. If I swat a fly that’s still alive, I feed it to my flytraps.
You can also use Maxsea plant food, a kind of fertilizer good for carnivorous plants that I regularly use myself. If your plant is in a place where it can’t catch food or there are just no bugs, you can try feeding it yourself. Some growers also feed live flies, rehydrated bloodworms, or even moist plain fish food (the red and green pellets).
To feed bloodworms or fish food, moisten it until it’s squishy (but not too wet). Leave it inside the trap, then gently press the trap between your thumb and forefinger about 15 times. This will signal to the trap that the prey is inside. Check the trap later, and if it looks sealed and tight, then your feeding worked.
Just avoid feeding them meat or any human food. They’re plants, not animals, and they don’t need the same nutrients we do.
Can a Venus flytrap overeat?
Not really. As long as the Venus flytrap keeps producing new growth, you’re ok. Your plant will just not look as pretty because all the traps will die more quickly as the plant expends energy to digest food.
Can a Venus flytrap eat me?
Only if its name is Audrey II and your name is Seymour. Or if it looks like a Final Fantasy Marlboro.
Seriously though, most carnivorous plants are small, and Venus flytraps especially. Big trap cultivars like D.M. DC XL, D.M. GJ Goliath, and D.M. Giant Peach can grow up to maybe two inches in trap size. Your Venus flytrap will not be able to eat anything bigger than its traps.
By the way, the record holder for the largest Venus flytrap is actually D.M. Alien.
What happens if a Venus flytrap bites me?
Nothing, but remember that a trap will close a limited number of times. If you’re always poking your Venus flytrap, you make the traps die quicker. You won’t feel anything if you try to touch the inside of a trap.
This is a hefty topic for an already hefty blog, but long story short, Venus flytraps are a temperament plant.
They expect to experience winter and spring—and which also means it’s not native to the very tropical country that is the Philippines.
I used to believe that they needed dormancy to be able to live for a long time. Lots of sources say that without dormancy, they last maybe 2-3 years, though I don’t know exactly how long.
This is actually not true.
To quote the International Carnivorous Plant Society‘s guide on growing flytraps:
“In spite of what many people believe, VFTs do not require a terrarium, nor do they require dormancy to survive long-term indoors. The plants only require dormancy if they are going to experience freezing temperatures outside. Putting an indoor plant in the refrigerator to encourage dormancy is a waste.”
However, sometimes a Venus flytrap enters a sort of “dormant” state (like the D.M. Coquillage above), which can be seen by no new growth for weeks. During this time, your flytrap will look ugly, but the rhizome will be intact.
When this happens, you can try repotting your flytrap in fresh media (I use sphagnum moss) to try to “wake” them up, like what I did with my D.M. Werewolf Spawn. I’m not sure why this happens, but it’s good to know our flytraps can survive with just proper care!
I also try to propagate through leaf pullings to make sure I always have a clone of my Venus flytraps, even if the mother plant dies for some reason. It’s hard to figure out why flytraps die if you think you’ve done everything right, but sometimes they just… do.
Even if carnivorous plants eat bugs, there are some pests even they can’t handle. This doesn’t mean that your garden is bad; pests can happen in even the healthiest gardens. One such pest is spidermites. These annoying pests make reddish-brown splotches on Venus flytraps.
You can treat pests with systemic pesticides, like Starkle G. I use it myself by sprinkling some inside the hole I make in the planting media before I stick the plant in. Starkle G doesn’t dissolve in water and is used just by sprinkling. It’s supposed to offer protection to your plants for 30 days or until the pink color fades.
There are also ready-to-use pesticides that can be sprayed directly on plants to help protect against pests as a preventative measure.
Mealybugs are another really annoying kind of pest because they can attack the roots of your plants. I usually check for them when I notice a plant isn’t growing new leaves or has too many dead leaves. They appear as fuzzy white fluff in the roots and have to be washed off.
My usual treatment for this includes sprinkling Starkle G into the media to kill these fuzzy annoyances.
How I put Starkle G when I repot
If you don’t want to use pesticides, you can also do a 24-hour bare-root soak. This means you uproot the infected plant and soak it in low ppm water for a full 24 hours. I don’t like doing this, though, as you need to acclimate the plant all over again, helping it readjust after having its environment drastically changed.
Soaking assorted flytraps overnight to get rid of spidermites
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If you have any questions, feel free to ask in a comment! And now that you know how to take care of Venus flytraps, check out my guide on how to propagate these amazing plants!
You can also message me on Facebook or Instagram. I post plant content every day about learnings, experiments, and just the regular progress of the plants in my collection.
If you haven’t seen them yet, I have guides on how to prepare for your first carnivorous plant and how to grow other carnivorous plants like Venus flytraps and Byblis in the Philippines. You can check here for all my guides.
You can also check what carnivorous plants and gardening items I have for sale in the links below!
I sell Venus flytraps, sundews, pitcher plants, and more carnivorous plants in my online shop, all grown in my own little garden in Marikina. I also have pots, Maxsea fertilizer, and even some non-carnivorous plants available. For grow lights, shelves, and even water trays I use, you can check my Shopee affiliate link collection.
I ship nationwide, and customers can enjoy free shipping and a loyalty card.
I’m Micah, and if you’re looking for a carnivorous plant and how to take care of them in the Philippines, I can help you with my free guides!
I grow carnivorous plants like Venus flytraps (Dionaea Muscipula), sundews (drosera), byblis, and more as a hobby. By sharing what I’ve learned and researched, I do my best to guide new enthusiasts who want to try raising carnivorous plants of their own, too.
Want a FREE STICKER?
Check what carnivorous plants and gardening items I have for sale in the links below!
It’s the biggest plant show of the year this Sep 19-22!!
We’ll be here with plenty of carnivorous plants that are also available for pre-order here. Come say hi!!
What do you need to prepare for your first carnivorous plant?
This guide covers everything you need to do before your carnivorous plant comes home.
Sundews can be propagated through seeds, leaf cuttings, or root cuttings, depending on the sundew.
This guide covers how to propagate certain sundews based on my experience and some experiences from my customers.
Sundews use sticky dew to trap and digest bugs.
This guide covers how to care for several affordable sundews you can buy in the Philippines.
The Venus flytrap is a very popular carnivorous plant, but it has specific needs to thrive.
This guide covers everything from basic care and information to dormancy and pests.
This guide talks about how to propagate Venus flytraps!
These plants aren’t necessarily cheap, so it’s good to know how to make sure you always have spares.
Byblis is an easy to grow carnivorous plant that looks like (but isn’t) a sundew.
This guide tells you everything you need to grow this mosquito-catching plant, including how to propagate it.
Is Byblis safe for children and pets? Will they solve a pest problem? How much can Byblis eat?
Check out the answers to these frequently asked questions and more!
It’s confusing to choose and find the right planting media for carnivorous plants if you’re unfamiliar.
This guide helps you understand the kinds of media most local growers use and identify the kinds you shouldn’t use.
You can use Maxsea fertilizer on your carnivorous plants to help greatly boost growth.
This guide will help you learn what it is, how to use it, and where to find it in the Philippines.
The awesome Rembrandt Olegario or Inoh and his team visited my garden to do a documentary! I talk about who Fyukinta is, how I restarted this hobby, and even the most expensive plant in my collection!
In my garden tour, we explore my carnivorous plant garden! Venus flytraps, sundews, Utricularia, pinguiculas, pitcher plants, and North American pitcher plants all grow in my balcony space with the help of automated LED grow lights and a water sprinkler system.
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Many people ask me questions about Byblis guehoi and other carnivorous plants, and it’s understandable. Carnivorous plants are fascinating and different from most houseplants—so there’s plenty to learn and discover about them.
Note also that some of these links lead to the items they indicate if you want to buy them yourself! Some are links to my shop, and some are affiliate links direct to my own suppliers. I only link items that I’ve tried and tested myself, so you’re assured of quality.
You can heck my free care guide if you want to learn about how to grow byblis in the Philippines, but if you want to learn even more, like the kinds of byblis and if they’re safe for your pets and family, check out these 8 facts about byblis below!
• Byblis is not a sundew
• Byblis plants are safe around children and dogs
• Byblis won’t completely solve your pest problem
• Byblis Guehoi seeds need pollination
• Byblis like big pots, but can grow large in regular cups
• Byblis can grow in water
• Byblis Guehoi only lives a year
• There are 8 total kinds of Byblis
• Byblis and other carnivorous plants can still be affected by pests
Is byblis a sundew? Even though they look similar because of their sticky leaves, especially if you compare the Byblis to Drosera Indica, Byblis guehoi and the rest of its varieties are actually not sundews at all. They’re more closely related to Pinguiculas, or butterworts.
If you have trouble seeing the difference between drosera and byblis, check their stems: Byblis stems are covered in sticky mucilage, just like their leaves. Drosera indica only has mucilage on its leaves, and its stem is a plain, non-sticky stalk. Also, drosera leaves actually curl over their prey, byblis does not!
Are carnivorous plants ok for kids and pets? If anything, the only danger is that cats may knock them over, but that’s a danger to the plant, not the kitty. My own dogs like sniffing my byblis guehoi, and they’re pretty ok.
My research shows that while there are some cases where pets ingested a Venus flytrap, they only had a mild gastrointestinal upset at most. Rest assured, these carnivorous plants aren’t a danger like the ZZ plant or Pothos.
Is byblis a good flycatcher? Yes, it certainly can catch flies well, and many people buy carnivorous plants to kill mosquitoes and flies. However, although it’s true that these plants consume insects, you will need a much, much bigger garden’s worth of them to make a dent in any insect population.
Between you and a Byblis in the same room, mosquitoes will still prefer to land and feast on you. These plants consume insects to grow, but they can also grow without bugs since they can still photosynthesize. They just won’t grow as fast without prey.
What I personally like to do is put my plants on top of my compost bins once in a while to let them feast on fruit flies. Some people I know do this too! I also spray Maxsea fertilizer over them every two weeks, which gives them a huge growth spurt.
I also grow stinkies like Stapelia in my carnivorous garden—these plants get their name from their flowers, which smell like rotting meat. These do the job of attracting flies that will also be exposed (and hopefully land) on my carnivorous plants. Some growers even put fruit peels next to their carnivorous plants for the same purpose. Though they can attract insects looking for water or just a place to land, it doesn’t hurt to help them a bit.
Sundews can produce seed, so can you get seeds from byblis too? Unlike some drosera, Byblis flowers do not automatically produce seed. When they flower, you can only get seeds if you pollinate them with a genetically different plant. However, it doesn’t work if you pollinated two genetically identical plants (or two plants made from cuttings of the same plant).
Byblis made from cuttings are genetically identical with the mother plant they were cut from. All plants made from cuttings or pullings are genetically identical too.
Meanwhile, plants grown from seed are genetically different, so if you try growing a byblis from seed, you can try pollinating its flowers with another byblis. I’ve only tried hand-pollinating flowers from byblis aquatica, which is capable of getting self-pollinated!
Many people ask me if they need to repot their byblis in a bigger pot when the plant gets really big in a styrofoam cup. Understandable, since the plant sometimes has roots creeping out of the pot’s holes.
The answer is no, there’s no need to repot, and for three reasons.
• Byblis don’t like being repotted unless you transfer the whole media with roots intact. If you disturb the roots too much, the plant might die.
• Byblis can already grow to a very big size that you can make several cuttings from in a styrofoam cup.
• It’s much, much easier to just let it grow, make cuttings, and plant the cuttings in a big pot.
To make sure I have lots of byblis, and to save space, I like making byblis compots, or community pots. I just stick my rooted cuttings in a big pot or tub, keep the pot in a very sunny area, then let them grow. I make cuttings when they grow too long.
In case you haven’t, do check out my byblis care guide and scroll down to the propagation section, where you’ll see one very useful guide from a Singaporean gardener who grows his byblis completely in water.
Strawberries in SG shares that his byblis are all completely grown in water bottles. They’re held up by foam, with the bottom of the stalks touching water. They’re grown in netcups that are also used in hydroponics.
I do like rooting my byblis cuttings in water, but I prefer transplanting and growing them in media once they root just to make sure that they don’t dry out. Sometimes I forget to top up the water in my cups, and once the water evaporates and goes below the stalk of the byblis cutting—they dry up very quickly and die.
Most Byblis varieties are annuals, meaning they’re a kind of plant that only lives one year.
This means they grow faster than other carnivorous plants like flytraps and sundews, but if you don’t propagate them through cuttings, they’ll die and you won’t have any byblis anymore.
However, if you make cuttings, the cuttings start a new year ahead of them, as if they “reset” into a new lifespan. You then can keep cutting and keep making more byblis, making byblis an immortal plant as long as you keep making cuttings.
Not all byblis are annuals, though! Two of the eight identified species are perennial, meaning they last more than two years: Byblis gigantea and Byblis lamellata. Neither are available in the Philippines yet, as far as I know.
Speaking of all identified species, two of them are more common here in the Philippines: byblis liniflora and byblis guehoi.
I’m honestly not sure how to tell them apart, but I hear guehoi is the sturdier species. Aquatica and Liniflora are awesome in that they can self-pollinate!
The other six species are:
• Byblis gigantea
• Byblis lamellata
• Byblis aquatica
• Byblis filifolia
• Byblis pilbaran
• Byblis rorida
I was able to propagate this awesome compot of Byblis aquatica from my friend Monster Mama PH, who grew these plants from seed herself. It was my first time growing carnivorous plants from seeds apart from sundews, and the process was definitely unique compared to my other experiences. For one thing, byblis seeds need smoke to germinate!
Unfortunately, although byblis can catch most insects for its nourishment, it can still fall prey to pests—especially mealybugs. These are very annoying pests that appear in the form of fuzzy white bugs. The white fuzz prevents them from being capture by the byblis mucus.
If you find these mealybugs on your plant, you can remove them with your fingers. These days, I give my plants some protection against the potential mealybugs by sprinkling Starkle G into a hold their media before I pot cuttings. I use Starkle G the same way for my Venus flytraps too.
I still think byblis guehoi is incredibly easy to raise in comparison to other plants. If you want tips on how to care for them, check out my Byblis care guide below! Just comment or message me if you have any questions.
You can also message me on Facebook or Instagram. I post plant content every day about learnings, experiments, and just the regular progress of the plants in my collection.
If you haven’t seen them yet, I have guides on how to prepare for your first carnivorous plant and how to grow other carnivorous plants like Venus flytraps and Byblis in the Philippines. You can check here for all my guides.
You can also check what carnivorous plants and gardening items I have for sale in the links below!
I sell Venus flytraps, sundews, pitcher plants, and more carnivorous plants in my online shop, all grown in my own little garden in Marikina. I also have pots, Maxsea fertilizer, and even some non-carnivorous plants available. For grow lights, shelves, and even water trays I use, you can check my Shopee affiliate link collection.
I ship nationwide, and customers can enjoy free shipping and a loyalty card.
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What’s the deal with Maxsea fertilizer? Whether you’re in the Philippines or not, if you’ve been researching carnivorous plants, then you’ve probably read that you’re not supposed to fertilize them. This is somewhat true.
You’re not supposed to fertilize them because they get their nutrients from the bugs they catch. However, there’s a kind of fertilizer that you can use, just in tiny amounts: Maxsea fertilizer.
It’s like a vitamin for carnivorous plants: you don’t need to use it, but when used correctly, it provides a great boost for any carnivorous plant’s growth.
This guide aims to help you understand what it is, where you can buy Maxsea fertilizer, and how to use it for your carnivorous babies.
It will cover the following:
Maxsea fertilizer is a water-soluble blend of seaweed and primary plant foods designed to be readily absorbed by plants.
What I and many other growers use is Maxsea All Purpose 16-16-16 plant food.
According to its label, it’s designed for all-year-round use on all plants and is an ideal formula for the growth cycle of annuals (plants that only live for one year).
If you want to use it for regular plants, you can!
Make sure that you mix only one-fourth (1/4) tsps. worth of the fertilizer into a gallon of low ppm water (rain, distilled, or aircon water are examples).
What I do is use a thoroughly cleaned and repurposed fabric conditioner gallon container, then mix in 1/4 tsps of Maxsea using a measuring spoon used for baking. I shake the container to mix, then fill a spray bottle with the diluted solution.
If you want to get properly diluted Maxsea that’s ready to use instead of mixing it yourself, I still have Maxsea for sale in convenient ready-to-use 250ml spray bottles in my online shop.
You can also buy the powdered version on Shopee.
Take note, I don’t measure ppm when I dilute Maxsea, so if you ask me how much ppm the solution should be, I don’t know. As long as you use 1/4 tsps per gallon, you’re ok!
Spraying fertilizer onto just the plant itself (leaves and stem) is called foliar feeding. Like in the video below, I just lightly mist my plants, not too close, not too far. Don’t overthink it!
It won’t harm the plant if a bit of the Maxsea touches the media. I just eyeball things and sometimes top water the media to help avoid Maxsea buildup, which sometimes causes pesky algae. I also spray inside one or two of the pitchers of my nepenthes and sarracenia.
Sometimes I use a dropper or pipette to apply a bit of Maxsea on a leaf of seedling venus flytraps, drosera, or juvenile pitchers.
You can overdo Maxsea if you’re not careful, which is why it’s recommended to only spray it onto your carnivorous plants twice a month. I spray mine every other Friday, and I know some who spray every payday.
As long as you remember not to overdo it, you’re ok! If you’re in doubt, less is more.
Using Maxsea can definitely speed up the growth of your carnivorous plants. Still, keep in mind that by nature, carnivorous plants grow slowly. Some grow even more slower than others, depending on their cultivar (like D.M. Korean Melody Shark). Annual plants like byblis grow quite quickly and grow even bigger with Maxsea, but this is because their lifespan is only one year.
Observation is key in checking the growth of your carnivorous plants. However, if you think your plants aren’t growing, try to take pictures every week to track them. You’d be surprised at how much they can grow without you noticing, and more so with Maxsea!
You can also message me on Facebook or Instagram. I post plant content every day about learnings, experiments, and just the regular progress of the plants in my collection.
If you haven’t seen them yet, I have guides on how to prepare for your first carnivorous plant and how to grow other carnivorous plants like Venus flytraps and Byblis in the Philippines. You can check here for all my guides.
You can also check what carnivorous plants and gardening items I have for sale in the links below!
I sell Venus flytraps, sundews, pitcher plants, and more carnivorous plants in my online shop, all grown in my own little garden in Marikina. I also have pots, Maxsea fertilizer, and even some non-carnivorous plants available. For grow lights, shelves, and even water trays I use, you can check my Shopee affiliate link collection.
I ship nationwide, and customers can enjoy free shipping and a loyalty card.
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If you’ve tried searching for the right soil, potting mix or planting media for carnivorous plants, you’ll see a wide variety of suggestions. Coco peat, perlite, peat moss, sphagnum moss, and silica sand are just a few of the options in different guides.
However, it can be challenging to find the right planting media if you’re new to the hobby, especially in the Philippines.
Many local gardening shops aren’t familiar with carnivorous plants, leading to using the wrong media—which very likely kills your plant.
This guide aims to help you understand the kinds of planting media most local growers use and identify the kinds you shouldn’t ever use. Hopefully this lets you grow your bug-eating plant babies with peace of mind.
It will specifically cover the following:
• What kind of plant media to use
• Different kinds of plant media
• Coco peat
• Where I use it (pros, cons, and where to buy)
• Peat moss
• Where I use it (pros, cons, and where to buy)
• Sphagnum moss
• Where I use it (pros, cons, and where to buy)
• Additional planting media: perlite, silica sand and coco cubes
• What kind of pots are best to use?
• Can you mix these different media together?
• Planting media you shouldn’t use
• Are you ready to grow carnivorous plants?
Please note though: this is not an exhaustive guide on planting media. This is to help newbies understand the basics and allow them to experiment with what works for them based on my own experience and research. Everyone’s garden is different, and many factors are involved when it comes to getting the best results, including the kind of plant you’re growing.
Venus flytraps, pinguiculas, sundews, and nepenthes (pitcher plants) all have varying needs, and even different varieties of the same plant can have opposite needs (like Mexican vs. tropical pings). There is no universal “best media for carnivorous plants” or special formula. To really know what the best is, nothing can beat research and your own observation.
Carnivorous plants grow in nutrient-poor media. This is how they became carnivorous in the first place; they evolved to take their nutrition from the sun and bugs. Their natural environment is usually very wet and frequent rain or running bodies of water constantly wash nutrients away while keeping their media loose. Because of this evolution, minerals and stronger fertilizers will burn their roots, which are only meant to take in water and provide anchorage.
The media options I’ve listed below are commonly used, and honestly, they’re often used out of preference. They all have their own advantages and disadvantages. While some are better for specific kinds of carnivorous plants, you ultimately choose what to use based on the type of plant you have and what you have available.
Commonly used, coco peat or coco coir is different from peat moss. Coco peat is a more sustainable natural fiber created from coconut husks. Peat moss is created from dead fibrous material formed when mosses and other organic materials decompose in peat bogs.
There are also sustainability issues surrounding peat moss, which isn’t considered a renewable resource due to the long period of time it needs to break down into the final product.
I use coco peat mixed with perlite for my byblis, and for most of my sundew seed propagation tubs. This is because I can see seedlings better in coco peat, and it forms algae less easily.
Pros
• Easy to source
• Less susceptible to algae
• Affordable
Cons
• Usually needs heavy washing with low ppm water
• Dries out easily
• Builds up minerals faster
Where to buy
• Washed and ready to use coco peat
• Perlite
Sphagnum peat moss, or just peat moss, is a dark, broken-down version of sphagnum moss. It’s the decomposed version of sphagnum moss, with the acidity that carnivorous plants love but when with a faster tendency to build up more minerals over time. This can be easily addressed by flushing (or top watering) regularly and discarding the run off.
This is what most growers abroad use due to its affordability and accessibility. It’s much cheaper than sphagnum moss, and plants are given good growing conditions by getting repotted every year in fresh rounds of peat moss and perlite. A good mix recommended by growers like Sarracenia Northwest is 50/50 peat moss and perlite.
I like using peat moss for sundews and pitcher plants. It’s also good for community pots for either since it’s more affordable.
Pros
• Cheaper than sphagnum moss
• More acidic than coco peat
• Easy to repot plants in
• More water retention than coco peat
Cons
• A little more expensive than coco peat
• Can get messy when rained on
• Builds up minerals; requires regular flushing
Where to buy
• Peat moss
• Peat moss with perlite (25g)
Sphagnum moss comes in dry and live options, but hydrating dry sphagnum doesn’t bring it back to life. I use a lot of it myself, so I usually buy it by the sack.
This can be more challenging to find if you’re new to the hobby due to how sphagnum moss is often mistaken for or considered synonymous with java moss (see pic below). They’re not the same, and java moss can’t even used for carnivorous plants (I think due to acidity). They’re used interchangeably in most gardening stores because they’re both used for orchids, and most stores aren’t familiar with carnivorous plants.
Sphagnum moss is grown in cool, shaded areas with higher than usual humidity, and is colored a light tan when dry. You can also buy live sphagnum moss to use as a nice topping for pitcher plants, though I don’t encourage using it for flytraps or sundews since the moss can easily overgrown these smaller plants.
I like using sphagnum (sometimes mixed with perlite) for my Venus flytraps and my sundews. This is because sundews can handle being overwatered, but they are in higher danger of drying out. Flytraps can get overwatered but are more sensitive to ppm levels.
Most growers also have great success using sphagnum moss to propagate leaf cuttings from sundews and pullings from Venus flytraps. You can learn about propagation in my flytrap guide.
Pros
• Retains water well
• Some washing might be necessary
• Can be grown in the right conditions if you start with live moss
Cons
• Much more expensive than coco peat
• More likely to form algae
• Often mistaken for java moss by gardening or online stores
Where to buy
• Live and dry sphagnum
• 5kg wholesale moss
These options are more amendments to media, added for better aeration or drainage for certain plants to encourage them to thrive better. These are also all optional—you don’t necessarily need to use them, but some growers have better growing results with them. It’s ultimately up to you.
Perlite is a white, highly porous, and light media addition that aerates other media like coco peat, sphagnum moss, and even gardening soil for regular plants. This helps keep media loose, draining and uncompacted.
Perlite is optional, but I personally prefer mixing it into my coco peat (and layering into sphagnum for venus flytraps) for aeration purposes. You can buy perlite here.
Silica sand is sometimes used for sundews (mixed with coco peat) or pinguiculas/butterworts (mixed with other rocky media like perlite, akadama, and coco peat.)
It’s fast-draining, compact and helps prevent overwatering for Mexican pings like Moranensis or Sethos in particular. They especially like rocky mixes.
You can buy silica sand here.
Coco cubes are often used for nepenthes/pitcher plants to maintain an airy mix. Most neps, especially highland neps or Truncatas, prefer a light mix that doesn’t get soggy. Chunky coco cubes ensure that their roots don’t rot by keeping the planting media from getting compacted.
I’m not sure if media mixes for other plants would benefit from coco cubes, but like with all media options in this list, always ensure that it’s washed with low ppm water to flush minerals out. You can buy coco cubes here, but it still needs to be washed to lower ppm.
Does the kind of pot you use for your plants matter? Yes! Personally, I use small net pots (like in this photo) for juvenile plants, or small sundews like D. Burmannii.
For my personal collection, I use these tall square plastic pots. This specific design has thinner plastic than other varieties, but it helps me save space since I can group my plants together. A tall pot also helps the roots of venus flytraps grow deep, which in turn helps the plant grow bigger. I transplant smaller plants into taller pots when they get bigger.
Some growers do, depending on their setup. The mixes vary on how much a certain carnivorous plant needs. Taking into consideration what each media option can give, you can experiment yourself.
Do you need more moisture? Try to incorporate sphagnum. Do you need a drier, more draining mix? Stick with coco peat, or even add rocky, non-absorbent amendments like silica sand, perlite, pumice, and other chunky media options (as long as they’re all thoroughly rinsed).
You can buy a 500g or 250g full potting set with perlite, sphagnum moss, and an optional TDS meter and pots from my supplier.
Some people line the bottom of their pots with sphagnum moss to keep peat moss or coco peat from leaking out when the pot is watered. I also do this, but keep in mind that keeping media constantly wet like this can build up bacteria. This will lead to your media potentially smelling like sewage, and adversely affecting your plants. You can mitigate this by letting your pots dry out and watering only when necessary.
Since carnivorous plants grow in nutrient-poor media, you unfortunately can’t use most media meant for regular plants. This means no garden soil, vermicast, or any potting mix with a fertilizer like Klassman and other pre-packaged gardening media.
However, there’s a way you can tell if your media is ok for sure, since some growers are able to use pre-packaged gardening media with enough washing. The best way to know if your media can be used—and the best tool you can get to help your carnivorous plant hobby—is a TDS meter.
TDS stands for Total Dissolved Salts, and a TDS meter measures ppm levels or parts per million. To put it simply, it tells you how much minerals are in your media or your water. As long as your level is below 50ppm, you’re ok! The lower, the better. Our aircon water is at a happy 3ppm, and I’ve been using it on top of collected rainwater. Some growers even found out that their water refilling stations have ppm levels below 15, giving them more options.
A TDS meter also lets you know if your media has mineral buildup. For example, I check my water trays once in a while and find that the levels rise sometimes. In cases like that, I flush them by watering from the top with low ppm water until the levels lower. It’s much easier than eyeballing things.
I hope this guide helps, but please note again that this guide is not exhaustive. Even though I’ve been growing carnivorous plants for a while, I welcome new insights and experiences since I’m constantly learning too.
You can also message me on Facebook or Instagram. I post plant content every day about learnings, experiments, and just the regular progress of the plants in my collection.
If you haven’t seen them yet, I have guides on how to prepare for your first carnivorous plant and how to grow other carnivorous plants like Venus flytraps and Byblis in the Philippines. You can check here for all my guides.
You can also check what carnivorous plants and gardening items I have for sale in the links below!
I sell Venus flytraps, sundews, pitcher plants, and more carnivorous plants in my online shop, all grown in my own little garden in Marikina. I also have pots, Maxsea fertilizer, and even some non-carnivorous plants available. For grow lights, shelves, and even water trays I use, you can check my Shopee affiliate link collection.
I ship nationwide, and customers can enjoy free shipping and a loyalty card.