eek.. that a is a badly abused flytrap! poor little thing.. I am glad that you don't give up on precious things that easily.

where is your little flytrap planted now? let us know.

if you bought your little flytrap at a hardware store, most likely it came with a small pot and with a clear plastic cup(dome) am i right? if not, correct me.

your flytrap will only benefit from peat moss media mixed with perlite. don't get confused with "potting soil" since potting soil usually has plant food which flytraps will not like.

flytraps can benefit from the following planting medias:
1) peat moss alone
2) 50% peat moss + 50% perlite mix
3) long fiber sphagnum moss(not green moss or sheet moss, these are only used for decorating reptile terrariums or other huse plants, these are not suitable for carnivorous plants)

* You should check if your flytrap still has its bulb white and not brown. venus' flytraps grow from bulbs. if your flytrap still has a few leaves with traps on it, and if it's still growing in its original soil that it came with, and it's already planted since the past two weeks, then might as well, let it be, it may grow back. don't bother it transplanting it again since it will go to shock even further. just leave it alone and water it with distilled or purified water with a watering tray method. you can do this by using some type of tray or small shallow tupperware or dish. fill in the container with water about 1 inch or two inches high, then sumerge the whole pot(with the plant above the water, slowly.. this is the easiest way to water flytraps since they shoot their roots downward as they grow.

remember, if you have transplanted your flytrap back in the ice cream cup with the flytrap's original soil that it came with.. just.. leave it alone and hopefully iy will grow back, just make sure you keep the compost moist at all times and keep the plant in full sun. if doesn't come back, there's no harm of trying again with another plant. there's many on-line carnivorous plant websites out there. many people in this forum have ordered sarracenia northwest and they have had wonderful shipping.

good luck with your plant. i hope the best for its health.

I'm sorry to hear of your string of tragedies. If the plant is indeed still alive, it can be revived. I once bought a 3 in 1 cube from Lowes and all I saw through the plasic was a cobra lily. I bargained for a discount and got it. When repotting, I found beneath the soil the intended VFT and lanceleaf sundew (D. adelae)I had to repot all 3. That D. adelae went through the wringer, contracting aphids and having to endure being submerged to drown the aphids. Here is a pic of that plant, (to the left) as of a few weeks ago:

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Here is the Cobra Lily:

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The point I am making is that a plant, no matter how abused, can be nursed back to health.

VFT's are very much an outdoor plant and very much a sun lover. However, one that is in bad shape will be put in worse shape if its conditions are changed significanlty enough - like going from 70 degrees to 15 (D. capensis of mine) or from a Lowes cube to outside in full sun (Cobra Lily victim) or be burned by too much sun too fast (Asian pitcher plants) or being gnawed to the ground by critters (my first VFT's to survive dormancy) They all survived - well half the pitcher plants did. But they all looked like "death warmed over" for a few weeks. They were in shock and it took that long before they got over it and showed signs of life.

Putting a CP in full sun can put into shock. So can a major change of humidity, temperature, or too much repotting, disturbing roots.

Everybody has their opinion about soil media. VFT's like a soil media that drains well and the dried LFS (long fibred sphangnum) found at Lowes or Home Depot is good for that. I have both the dried and live LFS. The live has antisceptic qualities, as well as being good for both drainage and water retention. They also like sand. Good sand comes from pool supply places. They also like sphagnum peat, which can be found at the garden centers. I like to mix sand & peat and topdress with LFS. I keep them in a minibog outside. Here is a pic of recently acquired VFT's, to give you and idea (blue bucket):

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Rinse all media well. I like to use a spaghetti collander. I would keep the VFT, once repotted, in a relatively shady spot for a few weeks and gradually move it to full sun. Make sure you are using rain or distilled water.

I have a lot of respect for Sarracenia Northwest, but a discussion forum is also a good idea, for persepctive.

If your VFT does die, I'd be happy to send you another. Poor thing!

Thanks for the encouragement. My flytrap is still in the ice cream cup, but it's pretty shallow and I understand they like tall pots so the roots are above the water in the tray. I have a suitable pot now, but transplanting would be a shock. Also, I'm wary of buying sphagnum moss anywhere but SN, because of all their warnings about fertilizer. So transplanting would have to wait several days. I don't have Lowe's or Home Depot here in Smalltown, WI, but if there's a brand of moss somebody can vouch for, I could try it.

The plant has no leaves whatsoever, and I didn't find a bulb: white, brown, or any other color. Just the wimpy little rootlike bit as I described.

The plant's conditions aren't changing much anymore. I take it outside every morning for some sun, about 50 degrees. The temp rises to about 70 and sometimes goes back down to 50 before I get a chance to bring it in, at which time I replenish the rainwater. (about 1/2 in water in the tray, usually gone by evening) Originally, I was bringing it inside at night so it wouldn't get too cold right away, but that's kind of a moot point by now, so maybe I should just leave it outside. The porch where it sits is shaded in the morning, but sunny all afternoon and evening.

I don't know how I'll know when to give up on my little guy. Would you really send me a new flytrap, petiolaris?

The bark stuff you found in the soil was probably from an orchid mix, which I noticed was not mentioned above as a suitable potting media for your flytap. I have bene using orchid mix and peat moss mixed together as a potting media. I tried perlite and didn't like it as much, so I am sticking with the orchid mix. A lot of people use it. The main thing is the sphagnum or peat moss, then you can mix it with whatever you feel confortable with, whether it is sand, perlite, vermiculite, orchid bark, whatever.

I have had a flytrap come back from some pretty harsh treatments also, but then I have lost some that I though were doing pretty well. The one that I lost came from Home Depot and was growing well as long as I kept it indoors, but when I moved it outside it wilted and died. I tried doing it gradually so that it could get accustomed to the sun, but I may have done it too fast and it went into shock and died is the only thing I can think of. What happened is that I had one flytrap outside, and I had another one indoors that I bought in December. I was keeping it under a grow light until it was time to plant it outside. I repotted both VFTs together in a large pot and put them outside in the sun. The one that was outside already woke up from dormancy and has been doing great, even though the dogs knocked over the pot and ate off all the traps, and I didn't catch it until it had dried out completely. I thought for sure it was dead, but it is doing great. The other one wilted and died.

It can take weeks before a shocked plant shows signs of new growth (overcoming shock) and additional amount of time before it looks decent. If there is ant green at all - there is life. So don't give up on it. Is it possible to show us pictures? It's case by case judgement call as to how badly shocked a given plant is and how much acclimation it needs. A healthy window sill plant may not be phased by a move to the outside, but a neglected one from a garden center or a healthy one that spent 3 days being shipped, may not be able to take being outside right away. Always best to put in "bright shade" for a couple weeks before moving to full sun.

Asise from H.D. and Lowes, i would think that any garden center / greenhouse / nursery would carry the dried Long fibred Sphagnum. This is not to be confused with Spanish Moss. They are sold in rectangular bags and will specifically say Long Fibered Sphagnum on it. But if you are comfortable with Sarracenia Northwest, then go with it. The live LFS is best. I have enough to spare as a starter if you'd like that. And yes, I could send you a replacement VFT is you'd like.

I'll wait as long as it takes. There's no green, just the wimpy brown root. I planted it so that the top was right at the surface of the dirt, and it might be a little above now, but that could be another bit of something, as the potting mix has a lot of debris in it. I could take a picture, but there'd be nothing to see unless I uprooted the poor thing again.

I found some moss in my yard but I don't know what kind it is. I wonder if LFS is common in WI, and if that's it whether putting it in my soil would be helpful. But I probably shouldn't disturb the plant for awhile yet.

Is there supposed to be a bulb or similar part? Because if there is, I'm pretty sure it's gone. Unless it's really tiny, in which case it could be anywhere in the ice cream cup and may never be able to get out the top.

It would be so sweet of you to send me another flytrap! With detailed instructions, of course. Email me, kiwigeek at mailshack dot com.