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Repotting

F

fugazi

Guest
Hi guys,

yesterday I finally took my plant out of its bowl. At first I thought putting it in a bowl was a good idea. I bought it at a local nursery in a normal plastic pot. The plant looked good and had small, but fleshy red traps (the inside of the trap). I put it in the bowl the same night. Weeks later the plant grew and grew. At the moment the traps are roughly 2.5cm (err, one inch?) in length.

I had to take it out for a number of reasons,

1) made it too hard to catch insects in the bowl
2) made it too hard to water it
3) it outgrew the bowl
4) it wouldn't drain properly, the roots sat in water

So I took it out and put it in a larger plastic bowl. I bought the right soil and distilled water (of course). But it was one major ordeal! The soil is really dry and dust like. Here's what I did

1) I totally flooded the bowl with the plant so I could lift it out without damaging the roots (not all traps shut)
2) I wet the new soil so it would be so dusty
3) place the plant in the new bowl...so far so good.

The soil was too dustlike to put around the plant. I should have wet the soil on the side, but it proved too much of a juggling act at the time. The plant was totally covered in that soil (which is like sawdust). And then, idiot me, ran out of distilled water. I couldn't put the water from the bowl on the plant...it was chaos. All the traps had sawdust-like soil in them, it was covered in this stuff. And I'm unhappy.

Right now some of the traps are opening again...I just hope it survives this.
 
They're sturdy little basterds. I bet it'll make it just fine. You could put some distilled water in a spray bottle and spray it down. Get some of that dirt off.
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (fugazi @ Aug. 24 2002,7:26)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The soil is really dry and dust like[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Do you mean that the soil/sphagnum doesnt have water soaked up? (because when you buy it it is dried and 'fluffy&#39
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I usually put the soil in a bowl of water first and sort of compress the soil until it soaks up all the water. If u have a plastic glove thing you can use that and just squeeze the soil and it should all turn dark and dense and wet =]
 
Welcome to the Forums Fugazi
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!

I warm my water up a little in the microwave and mix it in wth the peat moss a few minutes before I'm ready to start transplanting.  The warm water soaks in a little quicker.  And doing it in advance gives the peat moss time to soak up the water and cool down so I don't cook my plant.  I also mix in perlite or vermiculite when I mix in the water.  It's the perfect excuse a grown man (or woman) needs to play in the mud
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Ok, here's a little update for those who are interested.

The plant's trap are opening. Almost all of them are open at the moment! WOOHOO! Overrall it looks a little limp, and the new shoots aren't growing. I suspect they will start to grow once it's fully recovered! More news once it starts looking a little better!

-fugazi

P.S.: thanks for the welcome!
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