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Akai Ryu's not as strong?

Hi,

This might be common knowledge, but has anyone felt that their Red Dragons aren't as robust as typicals, dentes, etc? Grown in the same conditions, it seems the Red Dragons always are a bit more stunted, produce smaller traps, and grow slower than their normal counterparts. They also seem to bounce back from being flooded a lot slower. Thanks.

Johnny
 
Mine has acted funny ever since I got it. I repotted it into an oversized pot this season in hopes of appeasing it. When I got it last year it looked OK; the leaves were small but upright and with relatively large traps. But after I took it home it seemed to be unhappy and the leaves got smaller - first the traps became tiny, then the leaves hardly had traps at all, and then even the petioles started to come out smaller until it looked like a 1:3 scale model of the flytrap I had purchased. It overwintered fine, although it's quite diminutive, and this year it seems to be slowly picking up the pace. But my Green Dragon which I acquired at the same time is the same way, and I recall going through similar troubles with my Dentate when I brought it home last year. I've attributed it to the small containers I recieved my traps in - now they all go into pots with a minimum of five inches soil depth.
~Joe
 
They might grow a little slower then most VFT's, but not much.

The one VFT that I have found to be extremely slow and weak is the Cuptrap.
 
I agree. There are much more robust red plants around nowadays.
 
Mine grow as fast as my typicals.


Jerry
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (elgecko @ May 06 2006,10:03)]The one VFT that I have found to be extremely slow and weak is the Cuptrap.
Agreed. Cuptrap is a weaker plant than most and Wacky is a step or 2 weaker yet. I'm amazed at Bob Z's Wacky plant - largest I've seen in pics.

My Red Dragons seem as robust as the others
 
Here's my theory, for what it's worth. The red coloration (anthocyanine?) protects and shields the plant from intense sunlight, and is an adaptation of certain strains of VFT to growing in an environment with relatively more intense light. It's kind of like a suntan on a human--
smile.gif


However, VFTs, like all (?) plants, need light to produce food via photosynthesis. When the plant is shielded from some of the light, less photosynthesis occurs, which means that the plant produces less food for itself. So in lower light, a red VFT will grow more slowly than a green VFT, everything else being equal, because it produces less food. But it can tolerate--and needs--more light than a green VFT.

--just my theory; take it for what it's worth, if anything.
smile.gif
 
With so many different red dragon clones going around these days, there are sure to be some weaker strains and some very strong ones as well. I have several from different sources and some grow ok, while others make one inch traps on a regular basis.
 
heheh perhaps I'm just not providing optimal conditions, but it's happened to me a couple of times now--both in a terrarium and outside. In terms of adjusting to a new environment, overcoming shock, even digesting prey, they just seem to be more delicate.

Does anyone know if Red pirahnas or royal reds are more robust in general? What other red VFTs are out there? Thanks.
 
  • #10
I have "Royal Red". It grows fine but not too robust. I can't seem to get longer cilia on my plant. I believe "Royal Red" is notible for its yellow margins, which I can't enjoy for long as full sun turns my plant's bands red. Other traits include very skinny leaves and mostly upright growth. Green Dragons on the other hand are uncontrollably vigorous, both in propagation and in leaf production.

Here's a shot of "Royal Red" Notice the skinny leaves, arched mid rib, and yellow margins.
Royal%20Red.jpg


Here's a shot of "Green Dragon" dwarfing a "Royal Red" plant.

Green%20Dragon5.jpg
 
  • #11
^wow, excuse my choice of words but that was pure HOTNESS. Very impressive.
 
  • #12
Nice photos.

My Royal Red is very robust and grows large traps on long leaves. After the low spring leaves, the long summer leaves start off held high and gradually lower over a few weeks.
 
  • #13
yea, mine are starting to do that. It's very intriguing to see a rosette of low leaves and all of a sudden, a new one decides to adopt the tall slender version. I can't figure out how they "know" it's summer since the days haven't been getting hotter or longer in my opinion...but it has rained a lot recently.
 
  • #14
[b said:
Quote[/b] ] Alvin Meister wrote:
My Royal Red is very robust and grows large traps on long leaves.

Yeah, mine is robust too, so that makes me wonder about my musings regarding anthocyanine (in red VFTs) and its (possible) diminishment of photosynthesis, elsewhere in this same thread. Most of my other red VFTs are slow growers, the Red Piranha and Clayton's Red Sunset for example, but none of my mostly-green VFTs are slow growers. I wonder why--

I wonder if I gave my reds more intense or prolonged sun if their growth rate would catch up to the green VFTs, or whether they are just slow-growers for genetic reasons.
 
  • #15
I'm not sure about the pigment theory. The problem is that the red pigment is an accessory pigment. The red pigments will protect the chlorophyll (as accessory pigments often do) but they will photosynthesize as well; they aren't there just to be colourful. Also, the chlorophyll is still there, doing its thing.
Though, it is worthy to note that through propogation, we may simply be fostering and perpetuating a gene which is diminutive to photosynthesis (say, if the plant wasn't just creating the red pigment as an accessory, but that it we overburdening)- it's not impossible.
It's easy to test the pigment theory though: if it is true that the red were overburdening/overprotecting, then we should see growth rate closer to the rate at which other non-red VFTs grow if we turn down the intensity of the light. This would cause the plant to produce less red, and thus free up the chlorophyll.

My guess is that the red isn't blocking too much light or anything like that.

In my experience, my red VFTs don't neccessarily grow slower/less robust, but when winter rolls around, they die back much harder (all the way back to the rhizome.)
 
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