World of Carnivores - Carnivorous Plant Soil

Carnivorous Plant Soil

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Carnivorous Plant Water

You must use pure water, NOT tap water. Bottled, Distilled, Spring and Reverse Osmosis water from the store are all acceptable for carnivorous plants. The jug MUST say "Sodium Free" on it though. Some water has salt (sodium) added for flavor, salt will kill your carnivorous plants. Rain water is great too, but not off your roof. An under the sink reverse osmosis system works well and if you have a lot of carnivorous plants it can pay for itself. Make sure you get one with pre and post filters, along with the RO membrane.

Pure water not only needs to be used to water Carnivorous Plants but for everything pertaining to them too. Use it to make your fungicides and insecticides. Use it for misting and for soaking your plants in when needed. Basically if it touches the cp in any way it must be pure water based.

Most carnivorous plants like growing in acidic soil, PH of 3.5 - 5. Most water has a high ph, 8 - 11. Depending on how you water the plants the soil may not be as acidic as it could be. This is yet another reason to tray water. If you have a ph meter its worth checking it out. Should you find the ph is to high you can lower the ph of the water with vinegar. I generally lower my water ph to around 7, the soil takes care of the rest. Vinegar doubles as a mold inhibitor. :-) Try not to use more than a milliliter per gallon of water.

Most of the time PH will not be an issue if you are using the proper soil. If new leaves are growing kind of yellowish for no reason you can find, it could be from high PH. Change it gradually or you can shock the plants. Old leaves yellowing can be from several other problems.

ALWAYS let water get to room temperature before using. Water too cold or warm can shock your carnivorous plant and kill it.

For the amount of water to use look in the care section under the type of plant you want to check on. As a general rule of thumb carnivorous plants like to be damp at all times. Too wet and the roots will rot, to dry and they will die. The amount of sunlight, time of year and soil type all have a direct impact on the amount of water that is tolerated. Outside in bright light carnivorous plants can generally be kept pretty wet. Indoors in low light they must be just damp. Too little water is almost always better than to much, just do not let them dry out.
If you use a course soil mix that allows plenty of air to the roots they will tolerate more water. Medium Perlite allows a lot more air to the roots than fine perlite. If you add some coconut husk or LFSM to the mix then even better.
If you have a fine mix the water tolerance will generally be much less. Fine mixes do not allow for air flow and can compact around the roots making matters even worse.

Symptoms of root rot may be hard to notice without removing the plant from soil. It will grow slower and have stunted growth. Depending on the type of plant the new leaves may yellow. The plant may start to wilt, like you see a house plant do from lack of water. If you do not notice the symptoms then eventually it will suddenly die.

Roots suffering from root rot are generally soft, even mushy. If you check and all roots are mushy then do some leaf cuttings and pitch the plant. If some of the roots appear ok then cut off the damaged ones. Treat with a fungicide and re-pot in new soil and a different pot, or soak the old pot in 10% bleach for an hour or so. Use a course well draining soil and keep it much drier then you were and maybe it will survive. Root rot is not good, generally very advanced by the time you notice there is a problem. It can kill in days to weeks depending on how overly wet the plant was kept. Root rot is actually a disease.

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