How to Prepare the Best Potting Mix Used for Venus Flytraps

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Wes on behalf of Expert Village.com, and in this video segment I am going to show you how to grow the Venus fly trap. If you want to know more about carnivorous plants and Venus fly traps, you can visit us at equilibriocarnivorousplants.com. In this video segment, I am going to talk to you about what kind of potting mix to use. Now when you are trying to decide on what kind of potting mix to use, you want to focus on again the kind of growing conditions that these plants have in the wild. In the Carolinas, the soil that they grow in is extremely poor. They grow almost completely in the fine white sand. The kind of soil that we like to use is a combination of peat moss and pearl light. Now peat moss is very very poor in nutrients and slightly acidic, and the pearl light is just an inert substance that you can use to have more aeration. Depending on the kind of mixture that you want to use, you always want to use peat moss as a base, but you can also use something like silica sand instead of using pearl light, or you can use a mixture of peat moss, pearl light and silica sand; or you can also throw in some sphagnum moss in addition to everything else. We like to use a mixture of about 50 percent peat moss and about 50 percent pearl light. When we make this mixture, you want to have these two elements completely incorporated with each other. Before you pot your fly traps, you always want to make sure you have the soil well moistened and again, incorporate the water into your mixture. "