My VFT (pics) few questions

[sherkas]

First off, couldn't find my camera at all this last month so these were taken with my super duper phone camera. Some of the pics are blurry but thats all I had =(


Anyways I know theres aLOT I could do to make these vfts happier but I only had a few questions..

1. I have some leaves that are basically weird. One grew and did a complete 360 halfway down and spawned a trap that didn't work. Whats up with that?

2. I also get leaves that are really bent, like they grow straight but near the end they curve REALLY bad towards the ground. Whats up with that?

3. I get a successful leaf but near the end the trap starts out half black on the tip and never really develops (I can see the black trap from the earliest stages of its leafs growth)

Why are my leaves/traps so bad?


But besides that... I got 4 vfts that seem to be doing alright. I leave the lid off during the day and at night I put on a lid that keeps them at a good humidity (The eye lashes of the traps are SOOOO long and strong!!)

*on the left you can see a small leaf that is growing south to the dirt and has a bad trap.

*the 360 leaf.

Yes I actually use toothpicks to most of the time make the leafs grow nice and pretty and seperate them from clumping.

I do not use spagnum moss atm (maybe soon I will add some), I do use only distilled water. They get a little bit of sun atm, but since I bought them from a store I never put them through dormancy so they seem to be loving it by the showing of flowers (so far 3 out of 4 plants have flowered in the last month)


Comments?

 

[PlantAKiss]

You don't give much info about your growing conditions. What soil ARE they growing in? If its any commercial potting soil, that would not be good.

"A little bit of sun" is not enough. 8 hrs of sunlight or 14 hrs of fluorescent is a general rule of thumb.

Distilled water is fine...but how much? Are you keeping them wet?

I really think your plants look fine. A lot of new VFT owners tend to fuss over their plants too much at first, worrying about every little anomaly. It's a plant...parts die off, leaves grow in different ways, etc.

Pure water + lots of light + good air circulation + nutrient-poor soil + good moisture will give you happy plants. Humidity is not an issue for VFTs. They aren't tropical plants. Give them similar conditions to coastal NC and you'll be doing great.

BTW...if at all possible, resizing photos is good. That way those on dial-up don't cry and people won't have to scroll around to see your whole picture.

 

[Clint]

Those need a LOT more light.

EDIT: Suzanne was faster!

 

[PlantAKiss]

heehee

Of course I just edited my post about 5 times in the meantime. lol

 

[SirKristoff]

jumping etoliation batman!
these are a couple of my VFTs

 

[sherkas]

Pictures have been resized.


I keep them watered well one day and then let them sit for up to a week without the next watering so that they dont get too humid.

I also am using a low mineral dirt (bad I know!) but I wanted to replant them soon (in a month or two) and take my small sprouted vft and seperate them all and redo their dirt conditions properly.

I give them about 6 hours of real light (all we really get) and about 4 or so of flouresant lights.

I noticed if I dont put a lid on them overnight their little eye lashes dry out really bad and so when I do, they grow HUGE and are moist so Im always aware to make sure I dont humid them to death but like I said, most of the day the lid is off and they have really good ventilation.


Im not too worry about the leaves but it definitely makes me go wtf when I get leaves doing 360's, warped traps and all that. But thats also why I bought 4, incase 1 dies I still got others. Even though I could do alot better on upkeeping them, the signs of a couple HUGE traps, flowering between them and shooting off new vft bulbs I think they are ok until spring when I give them a super proper dirt mix. Although I have been watering like I said with proper water so im sure thats stopped them from dying until this point heh.

 

[upper]

i think low mineral a month or 2 would kill the plant.

 

[D_muscipula]

umm full sun nor fertilizer a 50/50 mix of peat moss and perlite is good
and cp's grow in nutrient poor soil not nutrient free soil so i mighe be oaky for a little while but not sure about a month
repot or it could be a slow decline.

 

[SirKristoff]

peat and perlite is REALLY cheap.
any form of fertilizer will kill them in a couple of months.

 

[phissionkorps]

any form of fertilizer will kill them in a couple of months.

No it won't. Dews don't take well to fertilizer. Any other CPs respond favorably. I used to fertilize my VFTs regularly when I grew them, and they were pretty awesome (until dormancy time at least)