Rant: My venus flytrap disaster in the kitchen window

I killed my venus flytrap last week because I gave it tap water instead of distilled. I had it right by the window at my apartment in Portland and it turned black within 4 days. My coworker at the restaurant said I should have used rice water or something instead. Has anyone else accidentally nuked a carnivorous plant with the wrong water?

3 comments

3 Comments

diana_king2mo ago

Wait, did you use Portland tap water? That stuff is basically liquid rock, I swear. My friend Jenna killed her sundew the same exact way, she was so mad. She tried to fix it by switching to bottled water but by then the roots were already toast. She even tried giving it a bloodworm from her aquarium but it was already too far gone. Now she just buys distilled water in a gallon jug like a normal person.

evan2952mo ago

Yeah I had the exact same problem with my first Venus flytrap. What finally worked for me was just using rainwater from a bucket I left outside, total game changer. I also stopped fertilizing it completely and just let it catch its own bugs in the summer. The roots bounced back after about a month of consistent distilled waterings. It's wild how picky these plants are about water but once you figure that out everything else is pretty easy.

the_blair1d ago

Wait, do you actually think rainwater is different from distilled water for carnivorous plants? I've been growing these things for 6 years now and I have to disagree a bit. Rainwater from a bucket can pick up all sorts of dust and pollen and even bacteria from your roof or whatever it's sitting in. I lost a bunch of flytraps one summer because I got lazy and left my bucket out too long without cleaning it. Now I just buy distilled from the grocery store for $1 a gallon and call it a day. Once the minerals are gone, the source doesn't matter much.