Re: Quick VFT Question
Wayne Forrester (forrestr@mendel.Berkeley.EDU)
Fri, 28 Jul 1995 08:29:15 -0700 (PDT)
> Hi Gang,
> Just a quick question regarding a VFT for sale in a garden catalog I
> just received this week. They have a small plastic terrarium type
> container with what appear to be small VFTs inside for $9.95 I think.
> My question is this: If I purchase the VFT/terrarium, should I try to
> start germination if it hasn't already started, or place the terrarium
> in a cool area and allow winter-like temperatures to simulate winter?
> I have had terrible success with my VFTs. Either they would never
> recover from winter, or they would die immediately following
> germination. Any help?
> Thanks,
> Jim Houston
> -Atlanta-
HI Jim,
I would recommend buying your vft's from someone who specialized
in cp (greenhouse propogated, not field collected). In my experience,
many of the plants offered by local nureseries and other non-cp growers
are inferior and on their way out. Also, vft's seem to benefit from
having a lot of root space (anyone out there know if this is really true?
I read it somewhere and I've been growing several plants in ~8 inch pot
ever since) so might not do well in the long term in some of the
mini-greenhouses which only allow 1 or 2 inches of medium. They really
aren't too hard to grow if you get healthy plants to start with. Just
provide lots of light, warm summers, cool winters, plenty of moisture and
the right potting mix. Good luck.
Wayne Forrester