Question
Hey experts,

A while back I emailed to ask about what to do with my flytraps growing pretty badly after skipping dormancy.  Well I've managed to get them back on track.  I started off with putting them in their own pots inside a terrarium (gasp, I know) but I think the high light combined with high humidity healed them back.  And now they're growing like champs outside on my patio like they should--full blazing Houston sun and all.

Ok now on to my question.  For some reason, whenever I try to grow a clump of flytraps in big tall pots, they don't grow as well as when I grow them in smaller pots that are much closer to the tray water line.  I would think giving them more soil and room to stretch would be better, but it seems like when I got them cramped up is when they get really big.  Any thoughts on this?  Compactness of soil, moisture level, temperature differences, etc?  I'm thinking maybe their roots get hotter since they can't access the water as easily as the shallow potted plants.  Thanks!

Answer
Hi Johnny,

I really had to think about this one a bit.  In the nursery our flytraps are in standard nursery pots, and some are in big pots, and many are in little pots.  I've seen plants get big in all sorts of pots.  My best guess in your situation would be the water.  More of a tendency would exist for the flytrap to have drier periods in big pots.  Also flytraps really like warmth (within reason), and smaller pots would allow them to be warmer.  We notice our flytraps grow much faster in our coldframe during the spring than the outdoor plants since the daytime temperature is higher. (Night temperatures are the same)  Your excess heat theory has merit also, especially in a place like Houston, where it stays warm at night in the summer.  An interesting experiment would be to plant flytraps in a course soil mix in big pots and water them with cool water after dark to see if the night cooling has an effect.  It's definitely very warm at night in the Carolinas, but flytraps probably always have a trickle of water moving through their pocosin.  Here in the Northwest, it can be quite warm during the day, but it always cools down at night.

The main reason we recommend bigger pots has more to do with winter than summer.  Many growers loose their flytraps to rotting when rain fills up a deep water tray, drowning the plant.  Many folks here will then make the false assumption that their plant died because it was too cold, but in reality, it was too wet.  Taller pots lift the plant up above a water tray keeping it from drowning.


Good Growing!

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