- Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:43 am
#150265
Hello from Canada!
So, for years and years I have seen VFTs around garden centres, grocery stores, wal-mart... all over the place. I've always found them interesting, and have wanted some for a great deal of time. A few years back I was lucky enough to get a small one for Christmas. Being an oblivious, first time, uneducated owner... I killed it.
Recently though, stores have been getting in much larger plants. Where before you'd be lucky to get three traps in a pot, you can now get ten plus. Not a lot, but when I first saw them, I thought they were huge.
So, long story short, I was gifted one of these big boys, only now I was determined to care for it right! After going online, I came across this site, and have used it as my guidebook to making Audrey (my VFT [Most typical name for a typical VFT]) as happy as can be. I started using the right water, got it out in the sun (honestly, the tags that they come with are so wrong after comparing it to information found online!), and then I replanted him.
I used a 50/50 mix of perlite and peat moss, got a nice big, ten inch deep plastic pot and put Audrey in it after carefully getting him out of that old container and rinsing his roots with distilled water. At first, I admit, I was worried. The traps he did have died, save for three or four tiny sprouting ones, and he looked very small and pathetic in his massive new home. I kept at it though, watering him and letting him bask in the sun (he stays outside all the time), and now, about three weeks later, Audrey is out of control!
Oh yes, he still looks small in his big pot, but he's got more traps than ever growing in, with three or four nice big ones getting teeth, and the others well on their way, not counting the tiny sprouting ones still coming in. He doesn't yet have big open traps like he did when I first got him, but again, he is well on his way.
So thank you, FTC for all your helpful posts! You've helped a noobie and her VFT! I look forward to exploring the site more, and branching out from having one typical VFT to other varieties.
So, for years and years I have seen VFTs around garden centres, grocery stores, wal-mart... all over the place. I've always found them interesting, and have wanted some for a great deal of time. A few years back I was lucky enough to get a small one for Christmas. Being an oblivious, first time, uneducated owner... I killed it.
Recently though, stores have been getting in much larger plants. Where before you'd be lucky to get three traps in a pot, you can now get ten plus. Not a lot, but when I first saw them, I thought they were huge.
So, long story short, I was gifted one of these big boys, only now I was determined to care for it right! After going online, I came across this site, and have used it as my guidebook to making Audrey (my VFT [Most typical name for a typical VFT]) as happy as can be. I started using the right water, got it out in the sun (honestly, the tags that they come with are so wrong after comparing it to information found online!), and then I replanted him.
I used a 50/50 mix of perlite and peat moss, got a nice big, ten inch deep plastic pot and put Audrey in it after carefully getting him out of that old container and rinsing his roots with distilled water. At first, I admit, I was worried. The traps he did have died, save for three or four tiny sprouting ones, and he looked very small and pathetic in his massive new home. I kept at it though, watering him and letting him bask in the sun (he stays outside all the time), and now, about three weeks later, Audrey is out of control!
Oh yes, he still looks small in his big pot, but he's got more traps than ever growing in, with three or four nice big ones getting teeth, and the others well on their way, not counting the tiny sprouting ones still coming in. He doesn't yet have big open traps like he did when I first got him, but again, he is well on his way.
So thank you, FTC for all your helpful posts! You've helped a noobie and her VFT! I look forward to exploring the site more, and branching out from having one typical VFT to other varieties.
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