Transplanting

[karyl]

I just received 2 vft's two days ago.  These are my very first.  I grow other houseplants and they do great, and without thinking I transplanted these 2 vft's into one 8" pot.  Did I harm them by transplanting them? I bought a peat and perlite mixture made for vft's and bought distilled water and have watered them from a dish under the pot. I live in NM, 45min from CO and I only have one window that catches the afternoon sun (I live in an apt.) and it is on the west side.  I have been steaming water on the stove for humidity (very,very dry here).  I ordered "Superthrive" that has vitamins and hormones that I am to add to the water. It was recommended, but I have seen no mention of this, in this forum.  I am using artifical lighting now because I am afraid that the sun will be to harsh.  The lighting is a 150w grow light that is almost 3 feet above the plants.  With all this information, can you help me to be as good a provider for my vft's as I am for my other plants.

 

[dommiel74]

it depends if you exposed the roots or not, if you just took the plant out of the pot with all the dirt covering the roots, most likely it will be fine. if you removed the dirt and exposed the roots it depends on how rough you were. i recieved a plant about two weeks ago and accidently pulled a plant right out of the soil (the same day i received it) i gently put it back in kept it moist and out of direct sunlight and it now has 3 new groths and appears to be doing fine. my only prob. (only with the last 2 plants i ordered, my others are fine) is fungicide immune mold on the soil surface.

 

[karyl]

I did try to remove the soil with the roots with no success, the roots just pulled right out of the soil. I held them as still as possible and made a deep hole with the other and replanted, trying to be as gentle as possible. These also had a green slimmey mold on top of the soil, I tried to pick as much as I could off with tweezers. Also I just moved my cool humidifer into the front room and turned off my water on the stove and placed the plants on a table in front of my window. Should I only open my blinds a little bit to let the sun on them slowly at first, then graduate them to full sun?

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Hi Karyl and welcome to the Forums

!

Your Vft may suffer a little transplanting shock, but nothing more serious.  That only means it's growth may seem to stop while it readjusts to the new conditions and grows new roots to replace the ones damaged when it was transplanted.  It sounds like you tried to keep the damage minimized though by handling it as gently as possible.

The green slimy mold is probably algae and shouldn't affect your VFT.  It just looks bad.  It often grows when the soil is kept too wet.  You might try keeping the soil damp but not wet.  Try keeping the pot setting in a tray with a ½" of distilled water in it and allow the tray to dry out before refilling it.

Slowly adjusting the VFT to full sun is a good idea and depending on how harsh it is where you live you may eventually be able to grow it in full sun or at least partial shade.

As for Superthrive I would suggest using the Search button above (has a magnifying glass) and entering superthrive in the Search keywords field.  There have been several times it has come up for discussion in the last month or so.

Best wishes,

 

[karyl]

Hey thanks dommiel and BigCarnivourkid (Steve).  I tried to read up and do right by these plants, but there is still so much to learn.  And Steve I appreciate the helpful info. on how to search a topic from here.

 This is a great forum, I'm glad I ran across it. I just checked on Superthrive, and it seems that those who use it are very pleased or don't see a difference. So now I know it can't hurt and may even help. Thanks again!!!!