To repot or not to repot?

[kusanivy]

Hi,

I'm new to the forums and still quite the newbie at growing CPs. I live in southern Canada near Toronto.

I was given three VFTs as a surprise housewarming present last year in November. I'm assuming they were store bought and are of no particular, or special cultivar.

I became a serious student of Barry's FAQ and so made sure to give them light, light, and more light, (using a pair of banker lamps and the highest wattage "daylight" bulbs that would fit) as well as pure distilled water. Because I wasn't sure what time of year the plants thought they were in I didn't give them a winter dormancy. I figured I was doing quite well - I was soon getting lots of nice red traps at a regular rate and "the Colony" seemed quite happy in their fishbowl home.

I made it all through spring and summer, and when fall came around I started decreasing the amount of light they were getting and tried putting them in a slightly cooler (but not outright cold) area of the house, in the hopes of inducing dormancy. One VFT lost it's traps very quickly and died right back - actually I thought I'd killed it. But a month later I noticed a tiny trap starting to sprout from the hole in the pot. However when that trap turned brown and died back before opening and this time the moss grew over the hole I figured "He's dead Jim."

The other two VFTs seemed to definitely go through a winter phase with low, ground hugging traps but I don't know if I was able to get them cold enough for a proper dormancy (the best I could do was put them near an open window. Now they've "woken up" and are starting to put out longer, taller traps.

I think that one of the two surviving VFTs is in fact three different plants all growing in the same pot - I can discern at least three distinct places where new traps are emerging from the soil. And it's getting pretty darn crowded in there - one of these plants is very, very, small and is getting crushed by the larger traps of its immediate neighbour. The traps of all three plants are so close together that they are literally growing into each other - a new trap will end up opening inside an older trap and triggering it.

And after that long-winded history here's my question. Since I have a, now empty, pot full of moss might it be a good idea to attempt to repot one of the smaller, crowded VFTs? Or, perhaps move the larger of the three to the empty pot and leave the two smaller plants to share their current pot?

Or should I just leave them all together and not mess with a good thing? Especially since I don't know 100% what killed the empty pot's original inhabitant. I don't think it was disease, I think it was botched dormancy, but I don't know for sure.

One of the plants in this crowded pot has attempted to flower twice now since the beginning of April - I've cut the stalk both times (or at least I'm planning to on the second one, once it fully breaks the soil), and took this to be a positive sign that it's a fairly happy plant.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[adymitruk]

I doubt they are getting crushed. I would not bother repotting. It's better to let that little plant grow more. Don't forget that he's probably still attached to the big plant and is getting some energy from there. You will probably repot next year.

[ICPS-bob]

You did not tell us the size of pot. If the pot is tiny relative to the size of the plant, you might simply knock the plants and soil out and put it intact in a larger pot. I grow all of my VFTs in 3.5 to 4 inch square plastic pots. I have had up to 10 plants in a single pot and, although a bit crowded, they grew just fine.

The advantage to separating and repotting is that you decrease the chance of losing all of your plants in a single pot. The disadvantage is that growth will get set back. I find the best time to separate and repot is in early spring just as the plants initiate root elongation, but before new leaves have emerged. If done carefully, you can repot at any time without serious damage.

VFTs respond to changing photoperiod. As the days get shorter, they get ready for winter dormancy; as the days get longer, they initiate new growth. Under artificial light, the plants sometimes do not get the correct photoperiod clues.

[kusanivy]

There are in the same little pots they came from in the store (round, plastic, about 2 in across and maybe 2.5 - 3 in tall).

For the winter dormancy I had them in a sunny window without the artificial lights, so that they got a period of shorter light. I started putting them back under the artificial lights only about a month ago (they get anywhere from 12 to 14 hours of light under the lamps)

I originally had them under lamps because I was living in a basement apartment and the only window I could put them in front of was inside a window well which faced north (so not very much light at all)

I've since moved and would be able to put them in a very sunny, southern facing window that gets light most of the day. Would it be best to put them back in the window or leave them under the lamps?

Also I have noticed a bit of slime growing on the very edges of the pots - someone mentioned in another thread this might be a sign of minerals in the soil. Should I just scoop it out?