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Tall vs. shallow pots

Hi everybody,

Used to post a lot here under SpyCspider but I guess it locked me out once I forgot the right username/pw combination. It's been a while.

Anyways, just something I've noticed with my plants lately. For some reason whenever I try to grow a bunch of plants in big, tall pots via tray method outside, they don't grow as well as plants that are squeezed tightly in smaller, shallower pots. Smaller traps, etiolatation, traps that die prematurely, etc. I've been trying to come up with explanations for why this might be the case (ie, soil compactness, closeness to the waterline, temperature differences, etc), but I would like to know if anyone else had similar growing situations. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Johnny
 
Oh, and I grow them under the blazing sun of Houston, TX where it regularly reaches up to 110+ degrees and humidity drops to 42%...at least according to the little thermo/humidity meter. Around the plants, the conditions should be a bit different.
 
Andrew can reactivate and merge your accounts so you can go back to your old handle. Just PM adnedarn.

As for the pot question others find they get the opposite results.

I picked up several VFTs from the 99 cent store that I wanted to try to see what effect pot size might have on growth if I ever get around to repotting them.
 
Welcome back!. You know me as Petiolaris, BTW.
 
Hi Jim and everybody,

I repotted today (got bored) and moved them to a shallower container. I have a feeling it's the lack of access to water that stunts their growth. With my bigger plants, they enjoy the deeper pots as they have longer roots. However, these guys were younger Lowes flytraps (Lowes is another added factor) and probably couldn't adapt as easily. Usually, with Lowes flytraps, I don't even give them time to overcome shock..I just stick them right out in the blazing sun and they fry a bit..but eventually come back strong. However, from my experience, growing them in shallower sometimes even non-drained containers gets them going quicker and once theyr'e bigger, they can be transplanted to deeper pots more successfully. I probably could've just left them in the deeper pots and they would've adapted sooner or later. What can I say--I get impatient.

Here's a pic of VFTs (and others) in a 2.5 inch deep undrained container. Looking fairly happy, imo.
n625743_35332884_5193.jpg
 
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looking rather nice and healthy.
 
I read somewhere that putting VFTs in smaller pots will encourage larger traps, TRUE OR FALSE?
 
the plants look really nice. I especially like how they are from Lowes but are rosetted and have good color. Nice job :-D

Overmind1632: I've heard that too and the theory I guess is that if you make it so the plant can grow it's roots longer due to the small pot size then the plant will put the energy that it was going to put into extending the roots into making the leaves bigger. I'm not sure if the theory is true but that's what I've been told :)
 
  • #10
i did hear this when i was growing cacti and succulents....and i did find it true for that type of plants
 
  • #11
thanks, yea whenever i see Lowes plants in sordid conditions I usually think right away to myself "i can rear that back up." All those in that container were Lowes. I also find that if your sphagnum grows exceptionally well and lush, then it's a good chance your plants will do the same. In my experience, dying sphagnum = dying CPs.

As for asking Lowes to give me a discount or give me the dying plants for free, I tried it once. I waited and waited, manager came back and disappeared, then finally never got back to me..oh well.
 
  • #12
Yeah, I've been wondering how some growers have managed to talk the clerks and managers into discounting those deathcubes.???
 
  • #13
I live in the Houston area, and grow my VFTs right out there in the hot blazing sun, and I've generally found that VFTs grown in taller pots actually do quite well. And by tall, I mean something like 6 or 7-inches tall or so.

I think it's because a tall pot means you can keep them in a deep tray of water without water-logging the roots. VFTs like wet soil, but they prefer not having their roots sitting in the water table. I think the soil temperature also stays a little more stable this way.

The only drawback is the incredibly rapid evaporation rate. There's a lot of volume to saturate in a deeper pot.
 
  • #15
I know a grower located in New Mexico that grows all of his VFTs in tall pots and he has the best and biggest VFTs I have ever seen.

After acquiring some from him, I could see how much the roots are capable of growing when given enough space.
 
  • #16
Im talking about size of traps, not plant size in general

So can anyone debunk this myth

VFTs in smaller pots will produce larger traps?
 
  • #17
This would make a good "Mythbusters" episode.
 
  • #18
vft in the wild are probably big because of the unlimited rooting space.
 
  • #19
Im talking about size of traps, not plant size in general

So can anyone debunk this myth

VFTs in smaller pots will produce larger traps?

Im curious about that as well i have on the other hand noticed that the VFT's i get in that are crowded in tiny pots do have large traps but i quickly transplant and within a few weeks notice fast growth, traps about the same size if not larger, the pots are just a size larger and deeper than what they were in BUT "it depends on the size of the VFT as well", if its a real big VFT thats badly crowded in the pot then i go with a pot 1 1/2 size bigger/deeper than what it was in. I got a few VFT's in that were in such tiny tiny pots that there traps just looked bigger and there roots were comming out the bottom holes. :-(
 
  • #20
Im talking about size of traps, not plant size in general

So can anyone debunk this myth

VFTs in smaller pots will produce larger traps?

I don't really think so. The roots of Dionaea are fairly shallow compared to, say, Cephalotus, and the corm (or bulb -- rhizome really) doesn't grow that quickly. The size of traps depends more upon cultiivation and variety than anything else . . .
 
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