Question
Hello!

You guys helped me last year growing my Venus Flytrap along with my Dente and 2 Pitcher Plants.  I was using a hose to water them and found out our water was too hard and it ended up hurting my Venus Flytrap - the leaves were turning black.  I have since only been putting Distilled water in the saucer that the plants sit in, unless we have plenty of rain and the rainwater fills it to the brim - which it has been doing recently (I live in the Pacific NW).

My question is, regarding the rainwater...the saucer holds about 2 gallons and I have 4 pots sitting in it.  It is looking a bit brown at the moment.  I think some maple seeds landed in it and have decomposed and turned the water color.  Should I worry about this?  Should I change the water often?  Or is the rainwater just fine until it naturally starts to evaporate with the hot weather approaching and I then I can just add more distilled water?

My plants - mainly the flytraps are doing much better since I've switched to distilled water, but the Venus Flytrap is still very small.  It will take this season I think for it to get back up to the size it was when I first bought it from Sarracenia.

So my main question is regarding the standing water and how often it should be changed.  Thank you!

Answer
Hi Christy,

This is going to be mostly an appearance issue.  We have many of our pools with lots of detritus in them, and we leave it to a degree since it encourages beneficial predators such as Dragonfly and Damselfly larvae.  We do clean it out when there gets to be too much, or lots of algae.  Unless you have tons of muck in your tray it probably won't affect the plants, especially with the rain we've had.  If it's just ugly, then feel free to change it.  You may need to watch for Mosquito larvae after that, however.  Otherwise, a few Maple seeds should be of little consequence.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com