I have 4 VFTs in;
Container: 5" pot, standing in 1/2 inch water tray.
Compost: Pure peat. (ph reading of 6.1)
Spacing: 2 inches apart.
Light: Indoors, south (sun) facing window with grow tubes on a timer to
ensure good light for 16 hours/day.
Humidity: between 45 and 60%
Temperature: 50 to 75 degrees farenheit
Pests: aphids, which return incessantly despite regular sprayings of
Safers's Soap. (enough sprayings that I'm worried about the ph levels near
the surface!)
Symptoms: Slow new growth. Browning (as opposed to immediate blackening)
of all but newest leaves from tip or trap, and outermost corners of
non-trap portion of leaves. Deformation of some traps, probably due to
munching by aphids at early stages of development.
Theses plants were not properly wintered, they were kept indoors and the
light reduction was not extreme. They have been in the same soaked peat
that they were re-potted to last year. My theory is that I've got
compacted, non-ventalated compost which has led to fungus attacking the
plants' roots. Would I be wise to transplant these into new peat? should I
go half and half with peat and sand? Is there a chemical treatment I
should be using here? And why am I not able to rid my plants of these
aphids?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
-- - Andrew Flostrand <flostran@sfu.ca> Tall Skinny Guy with a Screwdriver Tel (604) 291-4397 Faculty of Business Administration Fax (604) 291-4920 Simon Fraser University Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, V5A 1S6WWW http://www.bus.sfu.ca/homes/andrew.html
"Uh, hey Beavis, pull my finger"