My heart is in my mouth...VFT transplantation

[vraev]

Hi guys,

I guess my VFT's have been pretty good to me so far. They have been able to withstand my conditions as they went from a single 13 watt OTT-lite to a 13 watt OTT LITE + 23 watt Lights of america sunlight desklamp + bright sunshade to give me beautiful red traps and nearly 2 inch traps on my B52.

Well...the day has come, my terrarium was getting pretty crowded...and its time to take out the plants and repot them. Finally after 8 months into this hobby, here I am turning back from the terrarium to the pots once again. I decided to remove all my gigantic VFTs from the terrarium, give them their own 6 inch pots.

materials:
------------
1 X 6 inch plastic pot
2 x 4 inch plastic pots
peat moss
perlite
long fiber sphagnum moss

Trying to stay exactly to what i did earlier 8 months ago, washed the sphag, put a wad in the pot...squeezed it down to ensure it is nicely thick over the drianage holes.
washed perlite 2 times with tap water, then final rinse with distilled water
peat moss, mix with distilled water, squeeze, hydrate it
then make a 50:50 mix of them both, put in the pot.

My heart was beating soo rapidly, I was sooo nervous, I hate unpotting my plants. I took out the B52.

here he is: He has grown very welll....but lately it is producing ONLY shock traps. I guess it was becos of lack of root space, whatever, I hope he can recover.



I tried firmly but carefully seperated the baby split and made some leaf cuttings just in case from OLD leaves.

and now here they are in their new homes:







BTW...finally I also got them a new upgraded light:

from that 23 watt + 13 watt to 2 x 32 watt daylight flouroscent philips 4 foot shoplight fixture. here is an older pic when the plant was still in the terraium




I am sooo worried right now. I hope the plants recover. :-( You guys have no idea how scared i am ... I am literally shaking. I know....its a plant...but man!! I am soo attached to this guy. But I know i needed to do this. Notice the shock traps and the bad leaves....there was some problem with the plant. It was conjusted in there as well. It had to be done.

thanks for reading, please let me know if you find anything that is wrong here. If I need to do any corrections.

 

[Cobalt Crow]

I would have chosen to do this project before the growth cycle started this year, but it's still early enough in the year that everything should work out ok. Just remember to harden them off if you move them into a new environment (ie out of the terrarium).

Good luck!

 

[Jefforever]

You neednt worry... Those are nice VFTs! theyll be established in no time

 

[vraev]

thanks for the help guys! This B52 is in the worst shape of all my VFT's. See how bad the leaves look on the mother plant. I am acutally considering popping them oustide in the sun. hmmm......

 

[ChronoKiento]

That is a really neat way to hang a light fixture. Nice VFTs too!

 

[vraev]

thanks! my friend designed it for me. I couldn't use the wall or roof as I would be moving this setup around when uni starts again next sept. Hence, this is my mobile setup.

 

[joossa]

Don't be that scared. You did a fine job.
Thanks for sharing and good luck with the leaf cuttings!

By the way, the pictures were great; nice way to start the day.

 

[vraev]

lol! thanks buddy! I took even more pics....pics of just perlite, dry moss + hydrated moss.....vereything so that I can make a guide of potting a VFT.

I hope the cuttings make it...I tried it with my typical and all of them worked. Actually one of the cuttings has like 4 growth points so ...there u go...a bonus.

 

[vraev]

IT IS DONE!!

This is how the terrarium looks now. barren.....a lot of void.

hmmm!!! A wait for 5 months to see my plants come back to glory with their supreme leaf cover. It looks soo shabby now!

 

[xvart]

They'll do great! Those are some huge traps in that picture in your hand, unless you have tiny hands.

thanks for reading, please let me know if you find anything that is wrong here.

The only problem I see is the fact that the font size is way to small! lol.

xvart.

 

[vraev]

lol! that is the B52. its traps are 2 inches in size.

that is like a golf ball corm.

lol! sorry about the font...I was trying to make it more compact and easy to read....I guess it didn't go that way

 

[vraev]

I am already missing this sight. The best looking VFT sight I ever had. The traps also had nectar on them at the cilia.

hmmm....I guess I have to wait a while ot see this again. the nice intricate crowd of neatly placed traps.

 

[bpullin]

Great looking vft

They obviously loved the lighting. Excellent coloration and form. Just remember to give them a nice, cool dormancy this winter. If you continue to grow them in a terrarium as a tropical houseplant, they will eventually weaken and die since they didn't get their rest. It will also encourage them to bloom.

If you ever need to transplant or divide them, dormancy is the perfect time to do it. It minimizes shock. They are actually very hardy and not as delicate or fragile as people seem to think. They just need excellent lighting and water while growing, and a nice rest for the winter.