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New big mouth

Im getting 2 new vfts and i am wondering if there is any difference between typical and big mouths? I am also wondering if there is a special way to bring out the purple color in the traps and making them ultra huge. Thanks.
 
Hello Carnivorous Freak. I think you'll find the "Big Mouth" variety very vigorous and tolerant of bad growing conditions. My "Big Mouth" plant is the only plant unaffected by low humidity, high temperatures, wind (it's a low rosetted grower), and old soil. Also the plant awakens from dormancy with very fast robust growth. To get the strongest and most colourful traps, it's best to grow the plant in good humidity, long exposures of natural sunlight(preferably full sun from sunrise to sunset), and cool temperatures in the 70's and 80's. The plant can take prolonged periods of high 90's like a champ, but it will be better in the 80's. Plant the plant in 60:40 peat to perlite. You could use tea in your water supply when the peat gets old to replenish the medium with acidity. Don't feed the plant if you want the red to come the strongest. Ideal growing conditions is enough to keep any plant happy.
Bigmouth6.jpg

This is as red purple as I could get the plant. This plant was getting plenty of bright light and cool temperatures as is was late May or June. Believe it or not this plant was grown under a 70% shade cloth meaning it recieved verry little direct light but a very long period of diffused light. It depends on you climate if you could grow the plants in full sun. All VFTs could grow in full exposure in my climate, but I would have to expect from time to time leaf burns and and trap malformities like unusually short or tangled cilia from stress. If you live in area where humidity goes down to around 37%-40% during the afternoon with temps from 85-90F, your climate meets more than enough requirements to grow VFTs outdoors in full exposure. Happy growing and wish you the best of luck on getting rich colourful traps.
 
I have a "Big Mouth" also and so I was very interested in your information and comments. Great stuff.
 
can you use tea with any cp to replenish acidity? How do you know if thats the problem? If so, what strenght and kind of tea should you use?
 
Tea is just something fancy to use. It's not necessary for healthy growth. When our peat and perlite mix gets about a year old, perhaps a light application of tea water would bring up acidity levels. You could use green tea since that seems to work for me. The whole tea stuff could be more or so on the myth area, but it doesn't hurt.
 
thanks for the info but I also got to ask since I got 2-3 year old plants they arent that big. So i was thinking of growing it in a wire screened greenhouse where it would receive about 50% sun and it would be protected from birds and stuff. Then when big enough I would put it out in full sun so it would grow like a weed. what do you think?
 
Peat shouldn't lose its acidity, so peat teas and such are pointless. Wild VFT don't suffer from their growing medium turning alkaline over a couple of year.

VFTs do like being repotted every year or two however. I suspect it's to do with the oxygen reaching the roots. Plenty of perlite seems to do a lot of good. Cultivated plants often seem to look bigger than those in the wild to my eyes. Maybe it's because wild plants flower every year?
 
  • #10
Yes the tea thng isn't big deal at all. I've read somewhere that VFT's procuce redder traps in more acidic soil. Perhaps the tea thing is to mimic the slight acidity of rain water VFT's get in the wild. Alvin is right in saying VFT's need repotting every 1-2 years. Hard old compact peat tends to slow down VFT growth. That is the main reason to repot. Repotting should be done with extreme prudence. A good tip is to make sure no peat goes into the center growth point. Carnivorous Freak, where do you live? That would help tremendously for us to advise you on how to grow your "Big Mouth" plant. Other traits of "Big Mouth" I noticed were its shorter and thicker than normal cilia and darker green than normal leaves.
 
  • #11
I live in Paramus, NJ northern NJ is where that is. And I also have some questions about repotting when I repot my plants should I pack in the root in a hole so that I have to stuff the roots or should I make it so deep that the roots could reach all the way down?
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  • #12
When I repot I try to hold the plant where I want it and have the roots go straight down. I use a pot deep enough for the roots. Then I slowly fill the pot with soil mixture so the roots are slowly buried (I use a spoon to move the soil into the pot so I can get the soil mixture past my hand holding onto the plant) and fill the pot up occassionally lightly compacting the soil as I go along.
 
  • #13
I've been told by a professional grower that topping the soil with a rough gravel can do wonders for trap size and overall growth. The idea is that the gravel absorbs and retains heat, increasing the plant's metabolism. They tell all their customers to top with gravel nowadays. I haven't tried it yet, but when I start moving things into larger pots for next season, I definitely intend to give it a shot.
~Joe
 
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