VFT dormancy

[TS]

OMG, you made me so "pai seh" lah Jeff, we all are still learning, I'm just "old" enough to have more experience cos I started growing them earlier, that's it. Don't use "guru" on me again, I don't deserve it.

Talking about dormancy, I used to place my pot in shady place and reduce the water. Lately I found this also worked, in fact reduce some work for me especially when I have more and more VFTs to take care of. (lazy )

Just leave the VFT where it was, reduce watering, it'll looked pretty eyesore during dormancy, but be patient and just ignore it for two months. Then break the dormancy by repotting the plant. Use new potting media. Place it back at the same spot, ter...ter... it grow back!

One thing I must mention here is I kept my VFTs quite dry, I grew them in 1 part perlite : 1 part peat, it retained water quite well, that's why I didn't place any tray underneath, but I water them every day. For some very hot days, whenever I found the media very dry, I'll place all my VFT pots in water to make sure the media is totally soaked with water.

For those who use sphagnum moss, remember to monitor the water sufficiency in the media during dormancy when watering is reduced, I do this by feeling the media with my fingers. Sphagnum moss can get dry pretty fast during hot days. You may still use water tray system but only water the plant when the top layer of the media is dry or let the water in the tray to dry out for a day before you water again. Keep it this way for two months, do the repotting as what I mentioned above.

For new VFT grower who may not know how it tells when the plant go dormant, below are some of the signs VFT go into dormancy:
1. The petiole become broader and the traps getting smaller.
2. The leaves and traps blacken but the growing point / core is still green.
3. It normally transformed into rosette form or ground hugging form when under dormancy, but for some forms the leaves still grow up right.
4. The growth slows own, at the same time the speed of closing of traps slows down too.

Hope this helps.