Re: Grey Mold/recurring problems with VFT culture

Ken Cusson (ccskenc@redshift.com)
Thu, 20 Jun 1996 21:04:56 -0700

I have mentioned before the interesting experiences I have had with
VFTs. I have 5, 6" pots full of VFTs (4-5 plants per pot) and they are
doing beautifully. Most leafs are between 6-10cm and most traps are an
additional 3-4.5cm long. No signs of disease or infestations.

The interesting thing is that the plants did not have the dormancy
everyone seems to be saying they need. I left them out, in their pots,
all winter (min temp of 40f)and they continued to grow smaller, wider,
groung-hugging leaves (w/traps approx. the same size) during the winter
months. Once the flower stalks came in Feb-Apr, the longer, upright
leaves followed (I did remove the flower scapes after a few flowered -
they seemed to slightly weaken from the effort, but quickly re-gained
their strength once the flower scape was removed). A couple of the
flower scapes were really strange - multi-stemmed, with 4-5 scapes
joined together all the way to the top. Odd!

As I mentioned before, many of these were "rescued" from a local garden
center (they were throwing them out) and I honestly didn't think they
would survive. They received SuperThrive with every watering (tray
method - 1 drop per gallon)and nothing else. All of the plants are much
bigger then they were (in some cases 3-4 times as large), with very
strong root systems extending down from 10-13cm.

I am convinced that the semi-dormancy that these VFTs received is really
all they need. Personally, the need to refrigerate the plants to get a
really cold dormancy seems very odd. But then they are getting
good results too ... go figure!

As for mold problems, this seems to be more of a problem with plants
that are inside. The only time I have ever had a problem with mold has
been plants inside with little or no air circulation.

Hope this helps!

Ken C.