FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I bought 6 different cultivars of Venus Fly trap some months ago from a reputable supplier here in Australia, they arrived in the mail bare rooted & wrapped in moist sphagnum moss. All were large healthy plants and I planted them in a terrarium as soon as I got them out of the packaging. They are still going strong but all plants are trying to flower. I cut the flower stem off each plant as soon as I could reach it with scissors...so before it got 1/2" high. Although I have removed the flower bud and a good portion of the stem on each plant, the remainder of the stem keeps on growing and I am getting more flower stalks next to the ones that I have cut off!!! These vicous little buggers just don't know when to stop flowering. Any ideas......anyone???

You should consider it a blessing! Just keep trimming them off after they get about an inch high and stick the flower stalk in the ground. There's a good chance that you will get another plant (or several plants) from the flower stalk. Be sure to cut the flower stalk as low to the rhizome as possible. If your flower stalk is successful in producing plantlets, it will look like this:

Matt wrote:You should consider it a blessing! Just keep trimming them off after they get about an inch high and stick the flower stalk in the ground. There's a good chance that you will get another plant (or several plants) from the flower stalk. Be sure to cut the flower stalk as low to the rhizome as possible. If your flower stalk is successful in producing plantlets, it will look like this:

I'm using your posted picture to clarify something.
We all know we should remov rotting parts of the plant. these are usually identified as they turn BLACK.

Using your picture, I see:
1. the main subject is a blackned flower stalk.
2. the lowver left min pitcher has a solid black bulb where the cup should be.

Qn? should these two be cut off?
What's the proper cut to remove them and allowin the plant fast rcovery...(rather than creating another wound for rotting)?

miico wrote:We all know we should remov rotting parts of the plant. these are usually identified as they turn BLACK.
Using your picture, I see:
1. the main subject is a blackned flower stalk.
2. the lowver left min pitcher has a solid black bulb where the cup should be.

Qn? should these two be cut off?
What's the proper cut to remove them and allowin the plant fast rcovery...(rather than creating another wound for rotting)?

First off, it isn't mandatory to remove rotting parts of the plant. Most growers do this, but it isn't necessary. In fact, I leave some of my plants alone and just let the black leaves rot back into the soil. On my "prettier" plants I will trim off the dead traps, but it definitely isn't required.

1) The tip of the flower stalk is black, but the majority of it is still green. In the case of flower stalks (and often leaf cuttings as well) I find it a good idea not to disturb them in any way. The black stuff won't do any harm as long as there isn't any mold growing on it.

2) Hah! That's actually the seed pod. That is a seedling that had recently germinated and hadn't shed its seed shell yet.

If it will damage your plant or disturb it's roots, I would never cut off blackened leaves and traps. The chance of the black stuff to cause any harm is almost nothing.

Matt,

Just to clarify.
What I gathered from reading forums is flower stalks get cut off promptly due to the fear that after flowering, the VFT dies. How seriously true is this?

P.S.
Thanks again for the active replies.
I've read froums where you have to wait day to get a response on a topic.

miico wrote:What I gathered from reading forums is flower stalks get cut off promptly due to the fear that after flowering, the VFT dies. How seriously true is this?

Good question miico. If a VFT is not very healthy, then flowering can in fact kill it. However, if your flytrap is healthy, letting it flower will do nothing more than set it back a couple of weeks. I let nearly all of my typical VFTs flower this year and none of them died. They just didn't grow much for about 2 weeks while the flower stalk was growing.

To keep a plant healthy enough to flower, it should be grown outside in full sunlight. Plants grown indoors are much more susceptible to dying from flowering.

Thanks Matt, I'll try to use the stalks as cuttings and see what happens. I was a bit concerned that the constant production of flower spikes would eventually exhaust the plants - can't ever have too many fly traps...can we?

linton wrote:can't ever have too many fly traps...can we?

Well said!

OK! So here's what I've done. I have removed the remaining portions of flower stalk as close to the crown as can without damaging the new leaves that are forming, and have planted them in the same pots as the parent plants to see if I can grow some new plants. The stalks that I have removed and planted were quite short - between 3/4" and 1" long, so it will be intersesting to see if cuttings this length will take.

Please keep us posted with the results. I've had very good luck with flower stalks as they are growing. They almost always start new plants. However, I've also tried after they've flower and produced seed and I haven't had one of those start growing plantlets.

I don't understand. So are we supposed to make seeds or not? I would definetily want seeds. I want more plants to grow. I thought they self pollinate or something like that.

You can make seeds if you want to. You can also grow more plants by cutting off the flower stalk and sticking it in the peat moss. New plants will start growing around the base of the flower stalk.

Venus fly traps will self pollinate, however most people think that you get better seed production and more robust plants by cross pollinating.

OK, so now it's December 3rd. the flower stems that I turned into cuttings at the end of October are still sitting in the potting mix, still green, but still doing nothing as best as I can see. I know this can take a long while, but while they're not black and rotten there's still hope that they will form new plants, so I'll just keep waiting and post again when something (anything) happens.

As long as they don't turn black, then you're good. You might not see growth on them for a long time. I usually do flower stalks in my terrarium, but once I just snipped one off and stuck it in the pot next to the parent plant that was outside. It took nearly 4 months before I noticed any growth. In the terrarium, where the temperature and humidity are better regulated, the growth happens faster, usually in a 4 to 8 weeks.

Can you let the flower have seed then collect the seed .Then cut off the flower and stick it in the soil to grow more plants?