Most growers I know don't point and laugh much, becuase everyone loses
plants periodically and no one wants to be laughed back at :-).
>> I grow them in pure peat (though I plan on changing to live sphagnum
>>this spring...a good move?), in a pot-in-a-bowl (i.e., I keep water in the
They do just fine in peat, or better, peat/perlite (for a mix with
a bit better drainage).
>>bowl to maintain peat moistness). I've noticed other growths in the
>>peat...several tiny green moss-like plants, as well as some dark green (also
>>tiny) "puckered" objects (hard to describe). I also seem to have an
>>incredible infestation of some insect in the soil...armies of tiny
>>fast-moving silvery things...they don't fly and they don't seem to be
>>harming the plant, but the soil is literally seething with them.
Get a butterwort or sundew to eat some of these :-). Unfortunately
the larvae of these little guys tends to eat some ping roots, I
think.
>>
>> I've had the plant for about one year now. Just over the winter, I put
>>the pot-and-bowl unit into the refrigerator (temp=42! F). (left it in for
>>about 2.5 months) I took it out just this past weekend and it has already
>>started putting forth new growth. Can I expect flowering (I'm showing my
>>complete ignorance here...they flower like most plants, right?) this year,
>>and are these plants able to pollinate themselves (I forget the botanical
>>term for this)?
Yup. Now you can see why people say that dormancy is so important
in some of the CP. They REALLY do well when you let them go dormant.
The downside of flowering is that it can sap the strength of the
plants so they don't produce as many leaves. I usually let some of
my plants flower because it looks interesting, and the rest I cut
off the flower stalks as soon as I notice them.
As I recall VFTs won't self easily because different parts of the
same flower mature at different rates. If you have different flower
stalks however you may be able to self. I've only tried it once and
didn't succeed. The plants are easier to replicate by leaf cuttings.
Robert