Question
hi,
  Not long time ago, i have bought a nepenthe (alata) and a venus flytrap. And I was wondering if I need to repot it every year? Since i am only 16, i am quite busy with school works and stuffs. And besides, I barely know anything about repotting and soil. How do we repot carnivorous plants? (they look so fragile, i am afraid i would kill it)

And i have a question about sun light. To confirm, venus flytrap needs alot of direct sunlight and nepenthes don't. Would it hurt if my nepenthe gets couple of hours of sunlight? Since i am at school, and i put it somewhere next to my window, there must be some hours where direct sunlight is directly facing it.  

  Oh last thing!!!! Why is my nepenthe's pitchers green... :( ?? On the internet, most of them were red. Is it unhappy? or it is just because it is too young?

THANK YOU SINCERELY,
Nicol

Answer
Hi Nicol,

Don't worry about having to repot your plants.  We repot thousands of plants each year, and they all make it through the process just fine.  While these plants look delicate, they are much hardier than you think!

Ideally potted plants should be repotted every year to freshen the soil.  With your flytrap, use a mix of 1 part peat moss and 1 part perlite.  With your Nepenthes, use 1 part dried sphagnum moss and 1 part perlite.

With lighting, both plants require different types of light.  The flytrap should be grown outdoors where it can get 6 or more hours during the growing season.  Nepenthes on the other hand require less lighting.  Most Nepenthes grow best in a very sunny south or west window.  It's OK if your plant gets direct sunlight.  It just doesn't need as much as a flytrap.

When Nepenthes don't have sufficient sunlight, they either stop producing pitchers or they produce less colorful green pitchers.  Since your pitchers are green, I suspect your plant is not getting enough sunlight.  Find a different location where it can get a bit more lighting.  Again, a very sunny south or west window should do the trick.

For more information about growing Nepenthes and flytraps, read our care sheets online:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

Good growing!
Jacob Farin