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Need help with vtf

  • #41
OMG! whats the deal with all this being about my english skills. Okay! OKay! lol! I will try to consult a dictionary before i post next time. :p

Coming back to the topic, to divide Dionaea muscipula, A number of key factors should be considered:

1) Dionaea muscipula seem to propogate from their rhizomes as the plant ages. This should mean that a well cultivated plant, shouldn't necessarily require assitance for division, as in the course of time, the plant will put forth a new growth point, initiate growth and split in accordance as the division gets older.

2) It isn't recommended to disturb Dionaea muscipula for the sake of an additional plant by up-rooting it and taking a section. Veteran horticulturalists tend to perform divisions and showcase the process with even younger plants, but more importantly, very healthy plants.

VTFlover, my recommendation would be to let your Dionaea muscipula specimen grow undisturbed for atleast one whole season. Ensure that the plant has acclaimatised to your growth conditions and can strive and germinate in that habitat before considering a manual split.

----- Damn!! that post took as long as 10 minutes to write!!! sheesh!! There you go english "particularists" !! I know .. I know....there are mistakes in that as well. But meh! I am a science student, not a english major. So Bite me! ;) :D Jkg. :p
 
  • #43
:D ... its good to have internet lingo!!! :D lmao!! lol! .... :D
 
  • #44
My experience is that when happy and healthy, flytraps will divide on their own, kinda like many-mouthed, vegetable amoebas. As a result, a couple years back I found myself with more flytraps than I knew what to do with.

I also discovered that one of the surest ways to kill plants is to give them to my friends.

I am currently considering what I've seen some sort of large flytrap bowl, so that they can divide and clump as much as they like. I've seen pictures on this forum of plants grown that way. It's sort of a carpet of flytraps. Sadly, most of my flytraps have been neither happy nor healthy since I moved, so this isn't as much of a concern for me any more. :-(
 
  • #45
I am growing a VFT plant in a 10-gallon terrarium(uh-oh, I better watch out). I have been told that if they get any direct sunlight it will roast them. Why, then, would it be smart to put them outside where they will quite a bit of direct sunlight.

(The reason I have them in a terrarium is because, at first, I just wanted a terrarium. I got a couple plants for the terrarium. Then I learned that VFTs work in terrariums, and that sounded intriguing. I bought a VFT, but I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't make a terrarium, so I figure I should keep it in the terrarium.)

My only guess is that the terrarium acts like a greenhouse to the extreme. And when the VFT is uncovered outside it just stays more or less the temperature of the air. But then what about when it gets very hot like 90* and up. Wouldn't that also fry them?
 
  • #46
But then what about when it gets very hot like 90* and up. Wouldn't that also fry them?
That depends on several things. Such as are they in the shade, dappled sun or are they setting in direct sun and if so how long? Are they in a water tray? How windy is it? Shade or dappled sun will protect the plant from the being cooked by the sun's infrared energy. Setting in a water tray helps cool by evaporation. A light wind will also help cool by evaporation, but if it's very windy, that could dry the plant out too fast. If you keep the plants roots from getting too hot, they can take the high temps.
 
  • #47
The plants should be able to tolerate temps in the low 90s, it gets that hot in their native habitat in the Carolinas.

The problem with a closed system like a terrarium in direct sunlight it quickly becomes an oven temperature-wise. For example notice how much hotter the inside of a closed car is that's been sitting out in the sun then the outside? The same thing will happen to a terrarium, only more quickly (smaller mass to heat up, more percentage of glass).

Indoor terraiums are fine to grow plants in as it allows you a great deal of control of the growing environment. Just be aware of their limitations as growing environment for VFTs or any other plant for that matter.

VFTs have been in mass cultivation for only 30 years or so. Most other house plants have been in mass cultivation far longer than that and have been cultivated or at least chosen to tolerate conditions like low light levels or average temperatures much higher or lower than their natural habitats. Mass cultivated VFTs characteristics for environmental needs is still pretty close to those of in the wild.
 
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