VFT Pictures

[eBeyonder]

 

[cool85k5]

Nice vft ebeyonder!How long have you had these plants?And what growing conditions are they in?


Jerry

 

[eBeyonder]

Thanks

I've had most of them for about 2-3 yrs, save for the last one which I only recently acquired. They are grown in full sun in a tropical climate (constant temps all year-round of around 30 degrees c and very high humidity). They have not been given dormancy for the time I've had them. Maybe this year, if I feel confident enough.

 

[Bugweed]

EB, You had better give them a dormancy if you expect to keep them. They can live without dormancy 2 to 3, maybe even 4 years long, but they will die if they don't get their winters rest.

 

[peter]

I'm curious about those plants, they have not had any type of dormacy for about 3 years?  Maybe you should save one or two as test plants and continue this method of growing them to see how they grow.  Because in my experience a season of skipped dormacy is ok, but they plants start declining quickly if they don't rest the following season.  But in your case of a few missed dormacys those plants are one of the best looking plants I have seen for a while!

 

[Kirkscoastalcarnivores]

Very Nice! must be perfect for thos healthy vfts

 

[eBeyonder]

Thanks for all your comments and advice. Yes, I will be giving them dormancy this year; I think I feel confident enough and will acquire a small wine-chiller just for this purpose. I will, of course, be keeping some plants out of dormancy - in case I lose them all - so they can serve the purpose of seeing if VFTs can survive for long if grown like this.

I have to clarify that some plants may actually have only missed 2, as opposed to 3, dormancies. The reason for this is that some are actually cuttings/splits of the main plants. I suppose if it's a cutting, the dormancy starts from 0 again? But I am a bit more curious about the splits - are these to be regarded as being part of the parent plant so that they can be said to have/have not experienced the same number of dormancies? In some cases, the "splits" are smaller than the parent plant, leading me to think that they are actually fresh, though unintended, cuttings.

 

[*Barracuda_45*]

Wow weeeeeeeeeeee those are beautiful VFTs, wish mine looked that nice... Just stunning... Thanks for sharring awsome pics...

 

[Cindy]

I am more intrigued by the sphagnum moss!  

 Have they been growing like that the whole time? They are growing soooo slow at my balcony unless they are inside a plastic container to keep the humidity up. I suppose "overhead watering" with rain helps. Perhaps I need to shower my plants every week.

 

[eBeyonder]

Here is how I grow them outside of the VFT pots. Two of them were not actually growing well; one was covered in slime, the other just turned brown. I recently replenished them with overgrowth from the VFT pots. The pictures above show the pots after I had done this - prior to this, there were lots more LFS.

It's quite weird that they grow very well. I have the VFT pots in full sunlight. Sometimes, unlike the past week, it would not rain and the temperatures would be very hot (typical Singapore) but they still manage to thrive. I have the VFTs watered using the tray method but occasionally shower them overhead, just to get some water to the moss.

I got the moss from a small specimen from Hong Yee's plants. He had them as top covering for the 3 pots of plants I bought from him. The specimen was so small that one could hold it in one palm. Three years later, they have grown a lot, enough for me to have them in most of my pots (VFT and Neps mainly). I heard from Hong Yee that the LFS were "specially conditioned" for growth in our climate - how true this is, I don't know, but results perhaps speak loudest.

Cindy, if you like, I can pass you a bit of the moss for you to try in you conditions. Perhaps it is not your conditions but the type of moss? If they grow well, I can then pass you more.

 

[Bugweed]

Not a bad job, just the same. Good luck with dormancy. Some go semi dormant rather than fully dormant. The growth either slows tremendously, or stops in place for a long time before normal growth resumes.

 

[eBeyonder]

Bugweed, will this "semi dormancy" be sufficient? I'm thinking of getting a wine-chiller for dormancy. However, I also read that I can't just stuff them from 30 deg c temps to 10 deg c temps in the chiller. The part about adjusting them slowly to dormancy is the one that bothers me the most. But still, as you have said, if I don't do this I'll lose them for sure, so it's a case of "must do", I suppose. In the meantime, I'll just take some cuttings.

 

[Cindy]

Thanks for the offer. I was just being envious.

I do have live sphagnum moss but it is growing rather slowly and spindly. Occasionally I have them regenerate from LFS. At the moment I have enough to keep my Cephalotus company.