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: Here is the Cobra Lily: 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): 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 guys. I'll have to check out home depot. I kinda wanted a better tray for 2 reasons. 1) For more water 2) For more protection. I just think that the current tray my pot is in is not secure. I moved my butterwort and VFT under a roof hang to protect them from the storm that's coming here. I don't think my VFT would have stood a chance on top of the open hill with these winds, it would have just blown over probably. I hope this storm blows over quick cuz my flytraps we're starting to get a hint of red in their traps! On the other hand I want some rain water :D!

'tis good to be here, i assure you! LL and Necro, i take it that you grow your plants outdoors? my giant staghorns are not "giants" yet, they are standing only about 5 inches tall. they catch small gnats and other small bugs, havent seen them catch anything else. i havent seen a yellow jacket this season, believe it or not. i just deal with weevils (may i reiterate... i HATE weevils). i started off with CP's as a child, after that moved on to bonsai, then cacti and succulents, then ... well everything else. i found success with everything else but CP's at the time. back in those days, the info i had was limited saying that they were exotic tropical plants that need high humidity and temps that should be around 60 degrees... that is how i killed em. i was fortunate to have a grandfather that was patient enough with me, since i was always bugging him to go to the nursery to buy some more for me! i was quite happy and surprised in my latter years in my discovery that they ARE relatively easy to grow! i just placed em outside, rain/distilled water, full sun, and viola! "e unum pluribus" (the reverse of "e pluribus unum", found on our currency... which means "from many, one"...) in my case it was, "from one... many!" many of the d capensis's i have actually appeared from my red dragon vft pot. i guess there were seeds in the soil. they started popping up like magic and overcrowding my red dragon VFT! ive transplanted many of them. some into their own pots, some still grouped, some in a terrarium. ive divided a few VFT bulbs, and they are doing fine. a few of my plants were "rescued" - from various nurseries that had no clue whatsoever on how to take care of them. instead of paying $20, i paid $5. in one case for a dente flytrap, two bucks! (pocket change! yeah!) you never know what you might find. im always on a constant quest to resuce those precious plants from the "cp ignorant"! :-)

I've had more experience with killing cobra lilies than keeping them alive. But then again, it's the experimenting that has given me the results and I've learned a lot. One thing that I have learned about these plants is that one ought provide new surroundings with respect to not only what we have read from the experts, but also to go from point A to point B gradually (acclimation). My second cobra lily died pretty much from shock - taking it out of a Lowes cube and repotting into better conditions, but in summer heat.It withered within jours. My first plant was an attempt to provide it with cool, running water ovef its roots. So I anchored the pot at the edge of a streamlet. A 3" rainstorm dislodged it and sent it along a raging river, lost forever. I was given a group of seedlings and had them growing in a bucket, as a minibog. I asked about whether I should provide drainage holes and then decided to poke some in there. The water level went down and they withered. My last plant went through a proper dormancy in our cold attic and was placed outside in the spring. All was going well until they and my VFT's got attacked by mammalian critters. So I brought it (them ) inside to the screened window sill, where they began to recover. I asked about my suspended setup and was advised by a 14 year hobbyist to all ow the plant to be submerged in water. So I let it be 'open tray", sitting in water and the plant withered away. I have done cold stratification for seeds and so far I have nothing to show for it. Another thing I have learned about these planst is to be patient. They may appear to be dead or shocked to death, but I have seen weeks go by and then new life appears. Another thing I have learned is that while there a few absolutes, there's still a variety of ways, usually a variation on a theme, to cultivate them successfully. Lastly, it is best to get the plants in the best conditions you can provide and then refrain from changing them. Too much tweaking could easily result in plants that react. Greenfreak: Your best bet is to stick with cobra lilys, VFT's and Sarracenias, with maybe a few temperate sundews (D. binata, filiformis, rotundifolia, and intermedia) Alyss: My guess is that your temps are on the warm side of acceptable, but dormancy is mostly photoperiod and secondarily temperature. I really defer to Flytrpl8e since she is more experience than I and is a native to California. Lois: Your 2 cents is worth a million!