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Question regarding my vft.

A just recieved a spiffy and healthy Green Dragon, along with my terrarium and soil from this website, and transplated it in along with my sundew.

Thing is, I have rather large hands, and the opening for the small terrarium made it so getting the plants in proper without causing too much shock to the roots was a bit of a problem. I managed to do a pretty good job with the Green Dragon and it appears to have suffered very little root shock as the leaves are still perky and don't appear to be wilting or curving. My Sundew didn't do quite as well, but I'm sure it'll perk up in the next few days as I didn't touch the roots and bother its surrounding soil too much.

Anyways, I did encounter one problem in getting the VFT in. During the transplanting process, I accidentally shuffled some of the soil around a little too harshly around it, and now 3 leaves are munching on dirt, with another on the verge of doing so as a clump is teetering reeeeeeeally close to setting the trap off.

Now, will this harm the plant in any way? I figure this would expend a good amount of energy from it, and the fact that I just transplanted it isn't going to help matters much. I'm also curious as to how I can get it out once the traps reopen without setting them off again, or getting that bit out from the other one so I don't set it off. Is it okay to take something really thin and just dig it out of the closed traps, or well it damage their ability to close again?
 
Some bare root VFTs I ordered had dirt trapped in half the traps when they came to me. They're doing fine now... the plants, not the traps, that is. The traps are long gone. I wouldn't expect much out of your current traps. Just wait for the next ones.
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Bah, once again my extreme ineptitude has come and bit me in the arse.

Alrighty, so after I planted them I watered them with a decent amount of distilled water all around, and the soil was bone dry so I gave it a little extra and tried to distribute it all around so the amount of moist soil would be fairly even.

Here's the problem.

Apparently most of the water went straight through the soil and right to the bottom. I didn't notice this until I moved the terrarium into the house and saw it swish in a huge diagonal motion. The sundew came out okay, but my poor green dragon got COMPLETELY covered in dirt. I tried my best to dig it out without harming the roots and make it so the leaves weren't damaged and caked with soil, put it back in its original container for a few minutes, mixed the water on the bottom with the completely dry soil in the middle by hand, and then did my best to replant it properly. So far it doesn't appear to be in extreme shock, but I would assume that I won't know for a few days.

I also totally lost a tiny seedling that was next to it. Poor thing's buried alive and I can't find it.
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Is there any hope for it to survive this or is it basically a lost cause now? If thing dies the first day I got it I'm giving up on plants forever.
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Don't disturb the traps otherwise you'll have digested dirt on your hands, when it opens toothpick the dirt out, taking care not to disturb the trigger hairs, and then put it in the best conditions you can afford to get it back to full health - read the two pinned topics at the top of this board.
Oh yeah, and get ready for some serious hair-pulling!
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What a sticky situation. Okay, so I didn't read your 2nd post, you've got a situation on your hands. If your poor VFT's traps are closed on soil then the best thing you could do is flood the entire plant, leaves and all, in a bowl of water. That way there's a chance that you'll be able to find your baby seedling Then repot it gently into a fresh mix. The same rules apply for getting it back in green health.

And don't give up, we need you as much as we need everybody here to continue this interest and keep the forums going. Good luck!

Hope that helps,
Jason
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Alrighty, after some careful spritzing, I managed to get most of the dirt off the leaves, but I've had no luck finding the seedling. Looks like its gone for good.
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Now all I can do is hope the original plant survives.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Thing is, I have rather large hands, and the opening for the small terrarium made it so getting the plants in proper without causing too much shock to the roots was a bit of a problem.

THANK YOU!  I've been waiting and waiting for someone else with big hands to say something about that!
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  Anyway, I'm sorry to hear about your plantet, but I wouldn't worry about the original.  The one thing that you wanna remember for the future is make make sure to mix dry peat with water thouroughly, because (I found out the ward way too) it can be a pain in the rear end to get dry peat to soak up water, but once it's damp, then you're in the OK.  VFTs are pretty tough, they wont die without a fight, so I think that yours will be fine.  Just think, sometimes it rains like mad in nature too
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  Well, good luck, and keep us posted
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I think that most of us started out a little rough with these plants. I sure did...............I went through at least three Venus fly traps before I finally found this forum and started doing things right
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So.....this one sounds like it will be ok, but if you happen to lose one or two along the way, don't give up! It will only get better from here. Good luck with your plants Fygee.
 
Figured I'd give a little update if anyone is interested.
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My green dragon appears to have weathered the storm. None of the leaves are dying, even the ones still moderately covered with dirt and also chomping on clumps of it. Also, the new leaf that was relatively small has grown considerably and is shooting straight up, like a good health new leaf should. Not a speck of black anywhere and I couldn't be happier. This one looks like a Rambo of a plant.

My other VFT, which was in intensive care because I accidentally left it in the sun too long also appears to be recovering a bit. The new leaves are very small and are taking a while to grow, but for a while I thought it was going to totally croak as all the leaved died. It might take a while for it to reach full strength again, but it least its hanging on and producing new growth.

My sundew's in pretty bad shape and most of the top leaves have wilted and died, but its also producing new growth from the center and the bottom leaves are intact for it to get light from, so things are looking up for it too.

Dammit, I just might pull this off. ;)
 
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Good to hear that they are doing well! My sundew sounds like it's about in the same shape as yours. I've only had it for a week, and shipping was really tough on it. But it looks like it's still growing some new leaves too. Hope yours returns to good health too! Good luck!
 
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