Jagasian wrote:Lot’s of dogmatic behaviors and beliefs in this community. I suggest people be open to those that challenge conventional wisdom, especially when those doing the challenging present evidence....Back to my original point: dormancy is NOT required to grow a thriving venus fly trap. But hey, maybe the dogmatic types here will be right and in 6 months I will have to downgrade from this 12.5 inch diameter pot back to the 3 inch diameter cup the plant started in. I am confident that in 6 months they will move the goal posts again.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiment here with us. You've definitely opened my eyes (along with what I've seen John Brittnacher do over the years) to what Dionaea can withstand if they are constantly fed and provided good artificial lighting. Again, it is very much like what they do in tissue culture -- continually grow and as long as they are provided new media with lots of nutrients, they never need dormancy.
Great experiment! I love that people are willing to challenge dogma!!
Still -- I think the subject of this thread is a bit misleading, particularly for those new to the hobby of growing Venus flytraps. I would guess that Venus flytraps in nature absolutely do need dormancy and most growers lack sufficient resources to provide conditions where flytraps could be healthy without a dormancy. Time spent feeding flytraps would be a major consideration as well in the case of a grower with hundreds or thousands of plants.
However, in some cases when certain care conditions are provided (as you have done here or in tissue culture), dormancy is NOT necessary. I would say that has been proven here in this thread, by anyone who has done tissue culture, and by John Brittnacher for many years now. If grown in cultivation under very good lighting, fed constantly, and provided ideal conditions, Dionaea can outgrow their need for dormancy. Thus, I might alter the thesis statement (or the subject of this thread) to the following: Flytrap dormancy is not necessary when growing indoors under artificial lighting when plants are fed regularly.
That would be a slightly different (perhaps more complete?) statement than the subject of this thread.