Surprisingly, plants growing in the death cubes can be salvaged. Even the ones from Gubler's Orchids with plastic cup on top can be salvage. You can even negotiate with the sales clerk to mark them down if you show them the sickly plants.

I should've taken a before pic of the ping below but I didn't. This ping I rescued last November, it used to be nothing more then a single thin pale stem, I wasn't even sure it was a ping but I did purchased it for only 50â from the original $4.50. Now look how healthy it is. Leaves fragments even budded new plants!

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This ping was grown from Gubler's Orchids. I have an idea what species it is but wont be sure until it flowers. So buying plants in Death Cubes or with dome can be salvaged. You just need a little patience, planting them in the right media, and meet its requirements and they will rebound.

Not at all Sane Psycho ! I have some great pitcher plants and flytraps that three years later are HUGE and healthy ! Thay can be saved, but personally speaking, unless i was in total rescue mode ,I would not go out of my way to buy one with all of the other sources available . Good Luck !

They sure can! Here are my rescues:

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I have bought several over the past few years. Sarrs, 1 nep and VFTs. I immediately repot them and give them the proper conditions. All thrive.

That sure is encouraging to hear. =)

My parents bought me some VFTs when I was around 10, and needless to say they all died. I'm 16 now and want to try again as I've always had a fascination with carnivorous plants. I'll be sure to do some heavy reading on the subject first though.
How should I go about re-potting the plant without driving it into shock?
Oh and are there any specific websites that have particularly good information on them? I googled some different types of plants and read up on them, but any recommendations would be nice.

Thanks for the good news.

Make sure you remove plants with as much media as possible, preferably as one unit.

The ones at Lowe's have some kind of moss for a potting media. What about what it should be transplanted into? I read somewhere that a 50/50 mix of peat and perlite. I know that carnivorous plants in general grow in poor soil and should not be fertilized, but my Lowe's does not have organic perlite, only the miracle-grow stuff, would that be all right? They're out of peat at the moment so I don't know who does that.

Kind of a side question, I see peat being sold and peat moss, is there a difference?

What you see in the potting media is what's called Long Fiber Sphagnum Moss. Seems in the "death cubes" is not really necessary, some people have been growing them successfully. Long fiber sphagnum moss is intact moss not broken down into peat.

The true tried simple mix to grow most CP - venus flytraps, sundews, non-mexican pings & sarracenias - is the 50/50 mix of sphagnum peat moss and perlite. Nepenthes require a mix of 1:1 sphagnum moss & perlite, and in my case, one part fine orchid bark. While mexican pings require a mix of 1 part each of peat moss, perlite, pumice, & vermiculite.

Now there is no such thing as organic perlite, its a mineral but you already know that you shouldn't have fertilizer on the growing media, so don't use anything that the pachaging says additives like fertilizer and/or some other agents have been added to the product. So definitely stay away from "Miracle Grow". Going to some local nursery besides Lowes or Home Depot should have chemical free sphagnum peat moss & perlite. Pricier but you will be assured you but a pure product, ask a sales clerk of the nursery. They usually more knowladgebale then those in Lowes or Home Depot.

About peat, be careful because there is a type of peat composed of vegetative mulch; make sure you buy âÂÂSphagnum Peat Mossâ and make sure you read the package if it has additives.

Thanks hunterkiller03. I checked out Calloway's today and they have both perlite (not miracle-grow) and peat, but I'm not sure if its the sphagnum peat moss, or just peat moss. I was wathcing that Expert village stuff on YouTube about CPs and the stuff that the guy had look like light brown dirt. He simply said "peat moss" but I assume its sphagnum peat like you said. I'll check back tomorrow and read the ingredients on the stuff and see what they specific name is, and most likely pick up a baby VFT or Pitcher Plant that I've had my eye on. I live very close to Lowes and Calloways and they are right next to each other, like a 4 minute drive from my house to both places. The only thing I'm worried about the pitchers on is that they won't have any digestive enzymes in them, as I had gotten a Sundew ( when I was much much younger) without any dew lol.

Here is a link that might be useful: Heres the potting media guy

Peat Moss is the dust that falls off of dead peat, IIRC.

Your plants are growing in Long-Fiber Sphagnum Moss, which is what they grow in out in the wild.

I actually have a D. adelae still in the deathcube pot and media, it seems to be doing just fine. I'm not sure they need to be repotted -- although certainly, you want to make sure to get them out of the plastic cube.

Buy a $3 bag of the dried LFS and that will go a long way.

LFS is pretty much all that I grow in and my panys are doing great ! Someone long ago gave me the best plant advice that I have EVER received : " Find something that works for you and stick with it " . At the time, it was not quite what I was looking for , but, looking back, it has over-all, served me quite well .
Just make sure that when you do get your " deaathcube" you just crack open the top or qive it a quarter turn and not remove it all at once so that the plant may acclimate for a day or so first .
Once again , good luck and happy growing, sounds like you are on the right track !
Congrats !
Jay

I went today and picked up a one VFT and one purple pitcher from Lowe's and then when across the street and got a bag of perlite and sphagnum peat moss from Calloways. I'll take the lid off and turn them like you said and let them acclimate to life with no lid.

I went ahead and put the plants outside since here it's 58% humidity and at Lowe's they were kept in a green house area=in the humid cube. I also went ahead and potted them both in 4 inch clay pots. When I watered them though I had trouble wetting the top layer of the peat as it would bubble up making watering tedious.

Could I possibly submerge the pot partway to water?

You can waterlog them initially, and allow to dry out some. What I'm concerned about is that they may react to the being outside. They ware wek, neglected plants, going to direct sun. You should put them in "bright shade" until they show signs of new growth. I would have kept them inside until they acclimated.

Initially thats what I would have done, but I wanted to take advantage of some choice conditions. It was rather humid outside already and then it started lightly raining adding to the humidity. I currently have them in a spot where they get the not so intense morning sun, which as the days goes on turns into shade. Truthfully they weren't all that bad looking, and this surprised me. When I removed them they had newish growth and didn't have any dead. Of course this did not speak for all the plants I saw, some I had even rotted back into the soil.

I also just read a random site saying you shouldn't pot in clay, is this true?

I'd also like to thank everyone for their input thus far.

The problem with clay pots and even porcelain pots, is they may have a high mineral contents and will leach out into the soil, changing its composition. But I've heard Peter D'Amato, the author of Savage Garden growing his plants in different pots. He is a very experienced grower and is better to seek advice directily to him. But its better to leave it for the experienced grower.

So should I go get some plastic pots and un and the repot them again? That seems kinda stressful on the plant though.

I would recommend unglazed terra cotta pots as they are somewhat porous & will 'breath' a bit.

Zip me an email, SP, I have some info for ya. Do put something about cp's in the heading so I don't mistake it for SPAM