That top dressing moss is unfertilized, however, might not have the acidity required by carnivorous plants. Whenever you see a bag that says decorative moss, it could be anything but Sphagnum (it could be actually harmful for other reasons to carnivorous plants too), never trust the people behind the counter, they just want to make a sale and do not know what is in the bags or what plants they even have.... telling you the Flytrap was tropical was a sign of that.

Uni-Grow does have bags of long fiber sphagnum and peat moss, but I do not know if they are fertilized. The clerks at the store would not know either... only the people that made the stuff would be able to tell you... but I would not trust the decorative moss. It is just for dressing, not planting.

Yeah, I had this strange feeling about "green moss".
And how the guy told me how "Tropical" VFTs are.

Well I didn't even open the bag, so I'll most likely return it.

But the sand and the lightbulb prove themselves worthy, right? How long should it be under light again? I don't think 24hrs is a good idea...

As long as the sand is just horticultural sand for mixing in plant medium it should be fine. Rinse it out and mix it with the moss you get in about a 50/50 mixture and it should make a nice chocolate brown soil for the plants.

The compact bulb should be good for 16 hours a day as close to the plant as possible. Try setting the plant in a window with that bulb over it and it should be fine for now.. If you were just using florescent light with no window, I would suggest ramping up to 12000 lumens of bulbs to give the Flytraps a fighting chance. They really need a lot of light. I use four 40 watt shop light tubes over mine and they still need more...

The guy at the store appears to have enough knowledge of CP' to be what I call, "dangerous & cornfused". VFT's are actually temperate plants, requiring a change of seasons and a dormancy. I would recommend the 2.2 cf bales of peat (Lambert, Nirom... brands), as well as the small bag of dried LFS (long fibered sphagnum), and pool filter sand, just to make it easy for ya. The peat & LFS can be gotten at Lowes, Home Depot, etc.. and the sand at a pool supply place.

mutant hybrid,

You said that for a light it needs to be 12000 Lumens?
How expensive is your electric bill!?

Is there even a light bulb that bright?
Do they make it in energy saving form?

As a last resort, is it possible to even get multiple lights on one plant?

How good is 2050 Lumens?

hero81,

Actually my energy bill is lower as I use compact florescent energy savers everywhere in my house. 16 hours of 40 watt shop light tubes will not make much of a dent in the energy bill. Florescent light costs less than incandescent to use and produces less carbon.

As an example of light intensity, sunlight outside in a desert would be like 50000 lumens hitting the ground. I would say that Venus flytraps in a bog would get at least 40000 lumens for 4-6 hours a day. With less lumens, you have to go with as much intensity over a longer time as you can.. so 12000 lumens is only a fraction of what these plants would need, so I leave it for 16 hours. Another point of reference would be the cfl you have at 2050 lumens. One 40 watt shop light tube has the equivalent of 3000 lumens along a 4 foot area. Get two of the twin tube shop lights side by side, and they add up to 12000 lumens over a 4 foot area... great for growing on a large shelf in front of a window. If I could ramp that up to twice or three times the intensity in lumens, I would be able to grow anything inside without window light. The cfl you have is good for one plant, but only with supplemental window light or more florescent lights to augment it.

i have a question myself about vtfs. What would happen if a trap were to close over another trap? Would the trap digest the other trap?

They're not cannabilistic. Nothing would happen.

open window maniac:

That occurred with mine a couple times already. The only thing that happens is that one trap closes over another if the plant is moved around. If movement contines, like in a breeze or moving the pots around, the closed trap will narrow and produce digestive enzymes, but the trapped leaf will not be harmed since the digestive fluid is limited, not being able to digest cellulose.

...plus, one trap in another can look really cool!
-Don
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