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darthvft

Repotting VFTs (?)

darthvft
14 years ago

My VFTs are now in their fourth year in the same pots, same original sphagnum... They are as vigorous as ever, crowding each other and dividing like crazy!

Now I know the common wisdom is that by now they should be re-potted, especially as the soil must have compacted and their roots need stretching room. But I wonder....????? Wild VFTs never get re-potted though they may not be as vigorous, I assume. Do I wait until one year they all look puny or should I go ahead and shock my babies before that happens? Photos provided...I know they need dividing but I really don't need dozens of potted VFTS and don;t really want to invest in that much distilled water anyway (it'll soon be quite dry around here and my caught rainwater will be exhausted)

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Comments (7)

  • hunterkiller03
    14 years ago

    Damn! What a cluster of hungry mouths!

    I suggest repot, VFT bulbs tend to Âwalk around the grwoing media as the grow. What I mean is that they may start one side of the pot and slowly the groing point will reach the other side. I had some VFT pushing deeper into the growing media when they hit the wall of their pots, basically buring themselves deeper into the media.

    Once I pulled them out of the old soil, I was more then surprised to find dozen of plantlets growing under the soil! They were all white due to lack of sunlight but now they are doing fine.

    I donÂt know if you will experience the same thing I did but I wouldnÂt be surprised you will find more bulbs you didnÂt know you had.

    But nice clusters! Impressive when you see so many VFT growing in bunches!

    Cheers!

  • ltecato
    14 years ago

    A few months ago I bought three containers of vfts from the 99 Cent store. As is often the case, the each one had at least a half-dozen plants crowded in there. I wanted to see if they'd do better separated, so I teased them all out and gave them separate tiny pots.

    Most of them are still alive, but I have to admit they don't look as nice as Darth's. So I'm thinking, maybe VFTs are supposed to be somewhat crowded.

  • darthvft
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks, Hunterkiller. I probably will repot next year as their dormancy ends, I think that is the best time. I'll be looking for those little plantlets in the soil! Side note: I 've had several plantlets spring up over the past couple years and they are quite vigorous, too, but of course are overshadowed and crowded by the larger masses...

    ltecato, was each "plant" that you separated a group of several traps, or are you talking about having separated individual traps? I think an individual plant may grow larger and more vigorously if manually divided from it's siblings, but you'd never get the "mass" of traps that I have wound up with - I also have a warm (hot) Southern US climate and lots of sun on my patio which doesn't hurt any! ;)

  • ltecato
    14 years ago

    Darth, each plantlet had at least a couple of trap leaves and a little bulb. The pots came with two or three bigger plants and dozens of babies. Some of the plants were connected to each other underground. I left a couple of them together.

  • tommyr_gw Zone 6
    14 years ago

    That is one AWESOME collection! Great job! I repot mine at the end of dormancy. Mid-late February here.

  • ltecato
    14 years ago

    Darth, are those plants growing in smaller pots inside the troughs or did you fill the troughs with growth medium and insert the plants? I can't tell by looking at the photos. Either way, amazing results.

  • darthvft
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks, Tommyr...I *do* plan on repotting next February...

    ltecato, there are just the three pots you see there, nothing hidden!

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