Looking a little unhappy

[firewired]

I brought two new VFTs home, and they have those little covers on them to keep the humidity high.  Well, I took those covers off, and a few hours later, they don't look so happy anymore.  One of the plants looks fine still, but the other one looks a little weak.  Is this because they probably didn't have much air flow in the store?  I have air conditioning too, so I thought that this could be another issue for it.  I thought maybe I should put the cover back on to let it slowly adjust, but I can't get it on there anymore since some of the leaves have drooped a little bit.  

Would they appreciate a little but of superthrive?  Should I cover them with something else so they can adjust to the climate changes in the house?

Thanks for any suggestions.

- Joel

 

[jimscott]

I have only recently used ST, so I can't speak from experience, However, Bugweed, who has been growing CP's for 42 years, gave us a recipe for 4 drops per gallon. Where i have had some experience, is troubleshooting plants that are in shock from being in a large hardware store without any real care and / or being unhappy from the trip home. For that I have had good success with covering the plant for a few days, in a less lighted environment, and keeping the plant in stable conditions - kinda like bedrest and life support in a hospital. Gradually, over the course of several days, remove the lid during the day and put it back on at night, until it seems to have recovered. The plastic dome, while keeping in humidity, is designed more for protection during shipping. VFT's do well in an open tray set up. That is, the pot should be sitting in another container, filled ~1'' with DI or distilled or rain or RO water. Covering a healthy plant does more harm than good. Again, I speak from experience. Mine did well in a room with low humidity, but sitting in a container of water. Air circulation was a bigger issue than air humidity. Good skill!

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

You need to adjust them to low humidity slowly to give the leaves time to adapt.  If you have a 1 gallon plastic storage bag, you can use that to cover them with.  Remove it for a little while each day, increasing the length of time its uncovered gradually.  Save the cup/cover.  I catch flies with them and stick them in the freezer with a cover over the top until the fly quits moving.  When the fly quites moving I take it out of the freezer and drop the fly into an open trap.

I find superthrive works best for transplanting.  It helps the roots regrow and that makes it easier for the plant to recover from transplanting shock.  As your problem is with the leaves, I don't think SuperThrive will be much help. I would keep it in bright indirect light until after you can leave the covers off the plants then begin to gradually adapt them to direct sunlight.

BCK