A few months ago I transplanted a VFT into a large outdoor container bog. I am in Georgia, and have had success keeping VFTs outdoor all year. I did not disturb the roots and simply placed the entire previous soil into the larger pot and back-filled.
Since them, things have not been well. The plant first became infested with aphids, which I religiously addressed by picking them off one-by-one with tweezers. Then the leaves failed to develop. Now there are no leaves, but the "bulb" is alive because I can see it is green. Little leaves start to form, but turn black at the tips and wilt away.
I recently realized that the mixture I had transplanted the smaller soil clump into contained 70% dried sphagnum, and 30% a mixture of sand, perlite, and BONE MEAL. I had used a cactus mix instead of pure sand because I could find any. I searched for THREE weeks for sand, even looking on construction sites, to no avail (I live in a central city, where the basics are nearly impossible to come by).
Since the location, lighting and watering are the same as before, could the phosphorous from the bone meal be killing my VFT? Should I transplant it back to a bone-meal free mix (I've since identified a sand source)? At this point, the risk of killing the plant is irrelevant. It will die if I do nothing.
Since them, things have not been well. The plant first became infested with aphids, which I religiously addressed by picking them off one-by-one with tweezers. Then the leaves failed to develop. Now there are no leaves, but the "bulb" is alive because I can see it is green. Little leaves start to form, but turn black at the tips and wilt away.
I recently realized that the mixture I had transplanted the smaller soil clump into contained 70% dried sphagnum, and 30% a mixture of sand, perlite, and BONE MEAL. I had used a cactus mix instead of pure sand because I could find any. I searched for THREE weeks for sand, even looking on construction sites, to no avail (I live in a central city, where the basics are nearly impossible to come by).
Since the location, lighting and watering are the same as before, could the phosphorous from the bone meal be killing my VFT? Should I transplant it back to a bone-meal free mix (I've since identified a sand source)? At this point, the risk of killing the plant is irrelevant. It will die if I do nothing.
