- Mon May 23, 2022 1:10 pm
#411916
Here's my newbie summary of providing a good home for your VFT.
Container: A 6"/15cm-deep by 15cm-wide pot will be a very nice size container for a single plant...something a little deeper would be great, but the width good. The plant will probably be good in this pot for a few years. The pot should have lots of drain holes.
Saucer/tray: The pot may come with a saucer attached or not. I prefer a pot that has a diameter 5cm larger than the pot and about 1"/2.5cm deep. That size saucer will allow easy watering and should hold an ample amount of reserve water for a couple of days.
Potting mix: Use sphagnum moss or sphagnum peat moss and either coarse silica sand or perlite. Rinse your moss at least a couple of times with distilled water or rainwater...not water from the faucet! Wet the moss good and squeeze it out...the water will be very brown...you will never get to be clear. The sand/perlite can use rinsing, too. Mix 1-part moistened moss with 1-part sand or perlite.
Location: Maybe for the first couple of weeks after re-potting the plant place it where it has full morning (cooler) sun...maybe placed beside an east side of a wall or other vertical object. As the plant stabilizes in it's new home gradually move it further away from the wall which will allow an increase in the length of direct sunlight. Eventually allowing it to have full sunlight all day.
One thing that I wonder about is whether the plant has not went through dormancy. From my understanding VFTs need a dormant period or they will die within a couple of years. Singapore appears to not really have climate conditions that would allow a dormant period. But, from your previous description of the traps being wet, soggy, and rotting I think the potting and watering issues need addressing first. VFTs want moist conditions but not soggy conditions.
Keep trying. You can only fail if you quit trying.
Container: A 6"/15cm-deep by 15cm-wide pot will be a very nice size container for a single plant...something a little deeper would be great, but the width good. The plant will probably be good in this pot for a few years. The pot should have lots of drain holes.
Saucer/tray: The pot may come with a saucer attached or not. I prefer a pot that has a diameter 5cm larger than the pot and about 1"/2.5cm deep. That size saucer will allow easy watering and should hold an ample amount of reserve water for a couple of days.
Potting mix: Use sphagnum moss or sphagnum peat moss and either coarse silica sand or perlite. Rinse your moss at least a couple of times with distilled water or rainwater...not water from the faucet! Wet the moss good and squeeze it out...the water will be very brown...you will never get to be clear. The sand/perlite can use rinsing, too. Mix 1-part moistened moss with 1-part sand or perlite.
Location: Maybe for the first couple of weeks after re-potting the plant place it where it has full morning (cooler) sun...maybe placed beside an east side of a wall or other vertical object. As the plant stabilizes in it's new home gradually move it further away from the wall which will allow an increase in the length of direct sunlight. Eventually allowing it to have full sunlight all day.
One thing that I wonder about is whether the plant has not went through dormancy. From my understanding VFTs need a dormant period or they will die within a couple of years. Singapore appears to not really have climate conditions that would allow a dormant period. But, from your previous description of the traps being wet, soggy, and rotting I think the potting and watering issues need addressing first. VFTs want moist conditions but not soggy conditions.
Keep trying. You can only fail if you quit trying.