New to VTF

[cchang]

Hello,

I recently bought a vft at a grocery store of all places!  Anyways, thought it would be cool to own one only to find out after the first night that you can't just treat it like any other plant (thanks to my girlfriend who rescued it from the brink of death).  Since then I've researched all I could and decided to repot the little guy in a terrarium.  Here's the setup so far (I believe it's a dante with it's largest traps about half an inch):

1)  Container:  A round glass fishbowl-like container (probably holds about 3.5 litres.  Currently coverless but was thinking of either a mesh cover (so I can feed without the bugs getting out) or a plastic/glass cover for a full seal.  Any ideas which is better for South Canadian climates?

2)  Soil:  3:1 Canadian Sphagnum Peat Mosserlite Mix (1 inch in height) over a layer of perlite (1/2 or 3/4 inches in height).  I also spread the original live moss that it came with ontop of the peat moss/perlite mix.

3)  Water:  Monteclaire brand water (my dwarf hamster drinks the same stuff so I always have plenty in stock).  Will try to switch to rain water and see what happens.

I had to trim a few of the traps since they started to turn black, but there are new ones sprouting.

Also, they are very slow in closing (you can't even see it) should I use a heat lamp to up the temp. a bit?  Up here in Canada, we've already finished the hot part of summer and things are beginning to cool down.

Any suggestions on how to raise a healthier vft would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[schloaty]

Welcome!
You don't need to cover your fish bowl, VFT's aren't that sensetive to humidity. Mine are outside on the deck.

Soil sounds a little shallow. Anyone else agree with me there?
My VFT's are in at least 3 inches of soil mixture.

I'm not familliar with Monteclair water....Is it spring water or purified water? Spring water: BAD....Purified water: GOOD
Spring water has too many minerals in it. You want to get reverse-osmosis, distilled or rain water.

Slow traps: I had the same problem when we had a cool spell. The plants get quite sluggish when they are chilly. I would recomend something to keep it at least 70 degrees, preferable a little (not too much) warmer.

Hope this helps!

 

[dfalkanger]

Yes I would agree on the shallow soil there. Mine are all in at least 4 or 5 inches of soil. VFT's like to grow deep roots, I would surely reccomend a deeper container

 

[cchang]

Thanks for the help. I'll add atleast another 2 inches of soil mix. The original plastic pot it came in was no taller than 2 inches itself.

How about filtering tap water through a water filter like a Brita system? Will it remove enough of the Clorine and other minerals? Not sure what reverse-osmosis is but I'll look it up right now.

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Hello and welcome to the forums!
Most tap filters are just cartridges with activated charcoal in them. They filter out chemicals and some of the heavy metals like lead but they don't filter out too much of the other minerals disolved in most tap water.

I think the slow closing traps are likely due to shock caused by a new environment (your house) since it sounds like you just got the plant recently. If this is the case, it just needs time to recover.

 

[Guest]

WELCOME

I would say the plant is in shock from the move and the transplanting ( it does that )

With regards to water, I would try to obtain some distilled water from the grocery store.

Placing a cover over the bowl isn't necesary, plus if you place it by a window, you could fry the plants!

I would leave any cover off, air ciculation is good for the plant, and stale, stagnant air breeds mold.

If you have some time, or the means, take some pics! We all love pics of plants!

Also, keep us posted on how your plant is doing!

 

[cchang]

Well, it turns out I've been using SPRING WATER instead of DISTILLED!!!!  So... I went out and bought some rev.-oz water from the local grocery store.  I also decided to repot Mr. vft into a regular pot with a water tray since the terrarium was still moist with SPRING WATER!!!

I also started taking temp readings around the plant and the current temp is about 77 -79 degrees F.  Hope that's adequate.

My apartment faces N/W so the mornings are shaded while the afternoon/evening tends to be bright.  Is that enough lighting for the vft?

Though the current traps are starting to turn yellow (I guess from all the shock and bad water), the small sprouts seem to be doing well.  I'd love to take pictures but I figure maybe when it's healthier (don't know about you guys, but I'm not exactly at my best when I'm sick in bed).  

 

 

Thanks again for the help everybody... will keep you posted.

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

I think the bright afternoon light will work fine.  Also repotting was a good idea.  It's hard to rinse minerals back out of soil especially when it is still in the terrarium

 

.

 

[Guest]

Depending on how much touching of the roots went on, you may lose the newer growth as well.

I have found that any disturbance with VFT's are the best. If you lose a few more traps, don't panic.

Just don't repot

Give him/her some time to come around and as long as you see new growth coming from the middle of the plant, you are good

 

[cchang]

The first time I potted into the terrarium, I didn't touch the roots. I left the roots and soil attached to it as is and just plopped it in the terrarium. The second time though, the soil was wet with the spring water, so I had no choice but to loosen it up so that as little tainted soil was being repotted.

Didn't realize vft's were so sensitive to change.

By the way, I saw in the accessories section that there is a vitamin/growth hormone mix for sale. Is it necessary to feed this to the vft to get larger traps?

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

I think you mean the Superthrive.  I've used it but haven't noticed anything different in the size or health of my plants compared to what they looked like last year.  Some people do have results and swear by the stuff.

To get large traps, just let your VFT get plenty of sun, water it with purified or rain water, and let it catch the occasional bug or two.

Most CP's have some reaction to sudden changes, especially ones that change the humidity to something drier than what the plant is used to (that's my observation) or cause damage to the roots in one way or another.  The damage can be done by transplanting or the soil getting too warm.  If not to sever they will recover.

 

[cchang]

Here's an update on my vft...

The 4 remaining traps on my vft are convexed (bulging the wrong way) and the "teeths" have been brown/yellow a couple of days now. The largest new growth has a bit of black along one of the edges (but is very faint). The plant doesn't seem to be growing anymore. This all but indicates that the plant probably isn't doing so well... BUT... since I've slowly introduced it to sunlight, the inside of all the traps have turned a slight pinkish color which it didn't have when I bought it originally.

Anybody have any insight?