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Advise on planting bulbs

Y

yumikeg

Guest
I just ordered a few bulbs from pft. I got a common, a green dragon and a red dragon. I live in atlant GA and plan to grow them outside in a mix of peat moss and perlite. I have a couple questions.

Can I put all three bulbs in the same pot? If so what size pot? How much spacing between the bulbs? Is this a bad idea all together? I'de like to avoid having to repot them any time soon since it seems to injure the plants.

Also, how deep should I plant them?

Great info on this board, thanks for the help.
 
First WELCOME.
I live outside Atlanta in Hiram and my VFT's stay outdoors year round. Second some questions: Are you planning on stoping at the VFT's or do you plan on adding some sundews and pitcher plants? Do you have room for a container bog? I made one for my nephew out of a Rubermaid container and it lasted several years before failing due to UV damage. For both his small and my large, 8'X8', bog I used the same method. A layer of river or silica sand about 12 inches deep and topped it with a mixture of 2 parts peat to 1 part sand. Keep it watered so that when you press several inches into the soil you can see water.  Keep at least 6 inches between the plants. If you are not going to be able to make a container bog, I would recomend planting them in clay pot(s) and placing the clay pots in a container of water. This will keep the planting medium moist. Also if you are doing a contatiner bog, don't use pearlite. It floats and can make a mess, and I am speaking from experance.
 
Plant the VFT bulbs so that the soil comes up even with the part of the leaves where the dark green color starts.  The leaves tend to fold back over the bulb part when it's out of the ground so you need to pack the soil firm enough that the leaves can't pop the flytrap back out of the soil.

Steve
 
Hey Yumikeg
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and welcome to the forums!!!
You should have no problem with hem growing outside but make sure its an a pot thatcan be moved to a shady spot when it gets too hot.

You can put them in the same pot I would go with a 4" pot to give them plenty of room I had 6 in a 4" pot, well here's a pic to give you an idea. they were starting to get a bit crowded but 2 should be just fine. And just to let ya know being crowded didnt mess with my plants in the least I just personally didnt like it.

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Um...Magore clay pots are a big no no for vfts unless they are glazed inside so you may want to keep an eye on your plant if its in an unglazed one. I cant remember why off hand besides it has something to do with putting minerals into the soil (I think?) Why did I have to return that Savage Garden Book to the library? The answer is in there I just know it!!!
 
Your right unknownclown.
It lists several reasons not to use terra cotta clay pots. High evaporation through the porous material, harmful minerals can be absorbed by the clay and may accumulate in the soil, and because the soil has to be kept so wet, you could end up with algae and mosses growing on the pots surface. I have my copy sitting next to me. I should have thought to look at it myself
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.
Steve
 
Thanks for the advise, will probably be putting the three of them into a 5 in plastic pot, does depth of the pot matter much?
-Mike
 
A little although most pots will be just fine, the deeper the pot the better. If you havent ever seen vft roots they are very stringy and thin there are only like 5-10 of the roots that grow straight down into the pot so there's no real "root ball" My way of knowing gow deep the roots are is just by measuring the distance from one trap on the right to another on the left of the plant I guess that would be diameter
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*Im tired* usually the diameter and the root length are about the same.
Youre getting bulbs so I would imagine they will be about 3"? its been awhile.
 
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