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Weird growth; sorta extreme clumping

My VFTs seem to have clumped like crazy. In the beginning of summer, they were normal VFTs, but then made lots of offshoots, and some strange deformed traps.

Here's the bigger one, which was only one plant when it came out of dormancy.

DSCN4642.jpg


And the smaller one, which came as an offshoot from the bigger one last year. This was the only offshoot the big plant made last year.

DSCN4643.jpg


And here's a funky trap.

DSCN4534.jpg


Other than that, the plants regularily catch insects, and produce normal sized traps. Could it be aphid damage? The only aphids that appeared were several months ago, and only one or two on a plant at a time, and not very often.

-Ben
 
First of all, congratulations! You have beautiful plants. :love:
The weird trap could just be that, a weird trap. Remember there is no such thing as a couple of aphids that do significant damage (they always show up in large groups), so if you don’t see lots of aphids concentrated on the new growth of the plant, then the problem is probably not aphids. Keep a close eye on it and the new traps.
 
lol Thanks!

There are other weird traps; at least 3 in total. Although I guess with all that growth, there's bound to be something like that.

And the fact that both plants made so many off shoots, is this normal as well?

-Ben
 
lol Thanks!

There are other weird traps; at least 3 in total. Although I guess with all that growth, there's bound to be something like that.

And the fact that both plants made so many off shoots, is this normal as well?

-Ben
From my experience, I would have to say that yes, it is normal. My most vigorous and healthiest flytrap developed two offshoots (simultaneously) a while after I chopped off its flower stalk back in June, leaving me with three plants in the pot. The offshoots are now growing traps that are almost as big as the mother plant’s traps, which to me is surprising because every offshoot I’ve seen contained traps that were seedling sized. I guess you could call it more of a natural division rather than an offshoot… either way it’s a sure indication of a healthy plant.

BTW, were the deformed traps grown consecutively, one right after the other, or did the plant grow normal traps in between?
 
I think it's fine too.
they look so health. so don't worry.
the weird trap look like a cup! cute~:love:
 
yeah.....your plants look very very nice and healthy. I recently just noticed all of my adult flytraps show shock traps on THE SAME NEW trap. Its true...red dragon showed a shock trap on the newest leaf, same with my 2 typicals and then even the B52. However, newer traps from B52 seem to be coming up normal though. Just a bit strange.
 
Lol, thanks for the comments. I don't really have any experience with growing VFTs, so I have no idea what to expect.

BTW, were the deformed traps grown consecutively, one right after the other, or did the plant grow normal traps in between?

Uhh, I think they popped up at the same time. But I forget if they are on different off shoots.

-Ben
 
You just happen to have a plant that has the genetics which means growth habit is mostly vertical.

They look very happy to me :-D
 
do you handle your plant much? I mean, do you position it differently? (rotating it around to gaze at instead of moving around it to look), and if you do, do you set it back in the same exact place and direction towards the sun?


I'm conducting a scientific experiment right now - my hypothesis is that if you move a plant's direction from the pot (rotating it, but leaving it in the same spot), then the traps will move in order to collect the light most efficiently. But in doing this, the traps will come out distorted and mis-shapen, since the new bending and repositioning has destroyed its previous 'plans' and it needs to recover as best as possible.

So far i can say that yes, the plants do move to catch more sunlight. I'm still waiting for some traps to grow though, before i try to prove that this bending also causes the traps to come out weird.
 
  • #10
I sorta do. Like whenever it needs water (which is pretty often), it usually gets moved, or if I'm looking at it to check for any strange things on it. But these weird traps formed a long while ago; I only posted now because I actually remembered to. I don't think those traps have anything to do with how it's been positioned. They were the only ones that formed.

If the positioning had anything to do with the weird traps, there would be several more, or all of the traps would be like that, and that's not the case.

Also, plants only tend to bend when they are in uncomfortable situations, like a windowsill or a very shady area outside. The plant doesn't get enough light, and tries to bend toward the light source. Because the sun is always above my plants, they won't bend towards it, regardless of how little or much they get.

-Ben
 
  • #11
That plant is just a plant which is naturally going to grow upwards. It's nothing to do with the light source - it just has a vertical growth habit.

Some people are short, some people are tall. Some VFTs are tall and thin, some are short and rosetted.

The weird trap is nothing unusual. Every so often you will get deformed or double traps with any VFT.
 
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