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Any way to get seeds from these little guys?

  • #21
And it flowered today! Two out of six buds have opened, so it was a very cool experience even if I don't get seeds. I'm keeping the one with the cut off stalk outside in the day and in at night now. The flower stalk is over a foot long... a compact bulb'll do that!

vwrj8z.jpg
 
  • #22
very very cool, and only a 1 dollar investment lol.
 
  • #23
Two out of six buds have opened, so it was a very cool experience even if I don't get seeds.

Hey happy to hear your plants are still alive! Best wishes!!
 
  • #24
I checked on the cut flower stalk that's in soaking peat. It has very small roots in all directions, but they're definitely there. Two of the buds fell off a day after they flowered, but the other four are still attached... When can I expect seed if pollination was successful? The one I cut the flower stalk off of has made two new small traps now that it has been outside in full sun. If the flowering plant sets seed, can I cut that stalk off too and try and grow it, or would it be absorbed by the plant? The stalk is probably 16 inches long but has stopped growing since it and the plant is now under a t8 light in addition to the windowsill.
 
  • #25
can someone answer this please? i really want to know the answer to silenceisgod's questions in his last post seeing as my vft 'typical' is also flowering.
 
  • #27
One out of four turned black, no seeds inside. Am I supposed to check for seeds right when they turn black, or wait a while?
 
  • #28
can someone answer this please? i really want to know the answer to silenceisgod's questions in his last post seeing as my vft 'typical' is also flowering.

Typical is not a Registered cultivar, so you should refer it to "Typical" or Typical.
 
  • #31
Just thought I'd update... I ended up not getting any seed. Twas disappointing, but I guess a death cube doesn't have enough energy for that. But what was interesting is that this plant has almost twice as big traps as the one whose flower stalk I cut off... and it shows no sign of declining.
 
  • #32
hmmm..lots of interesting misconceptions in this thread..

Thing is, I can't imagine they would live even if they weren't flowering, (I've had a few from lowes before and all of them die quickly even with good care.)

why not?, the plants looks perfectly fine to me, and very healthy actually..

90qbdg.jpg


its just a bit overly-green from not getting enough light..and it clearly needs to repotted into a larger pot..but otherwise its about the best "death cube" plant you could hope for..
quite healthy looking really..cut off the flower stalk, pot it up, lose the cover, put it outside, and I would say it has a very high chance of survival..

And doesn't making the flower at the start take up most of the energy?

No..producing the seeds also takes up a lot of energy..cutting off the stalk before the flowers open will still "save" a lot of energy for the plant..

Well honestly if you dont let it flower you do have a 60+ chance of survival.

60%? where does that number come from? ;)
im going say letting it flower gives a 52.73% chance of survival,
but if you cut off the stalk, you have a 82.1% chance of survival.. ;)

I advice you to cut the flower stalk off and try to propagate a new VFT from flower stalk.

you cant root a VFT flower stalk..it wont happen.
(or if it does, there is only a 1.35% chance of it happening)

How do I plant the flower stalk? Do I just get the peat moss/perlite and stick it in the soil?

you can root a VFT flower stalk..it wont happen.
(or if it does, there is only a 1.35% chance of it happening)

Should I put the lid back on the one I'm cutting off then, or no?

leave the lid off..

also, that bloom is already too advanced and removal would not pose any benefit whatsoever. Were the stalk an inch or two long, that would be a different issue; but that plant has already blown its metabolic wad.]

"too advanced?" "blown its metabolic wad?" says who? and why?
IMO, it seems logical that actually producing seeds would use a LOT more energy than just the early stages of pushing up a flower stalk a few inches..
the stage the flower stalk is in, in the photos, has probably used only 15.2% of the total energy the plant would use if you let it fully flower and produce seed..cutting off the stalk at that early stage will save a LOT of energy for the plant..

why would the flowering process use ALL the energy at this early stage?
flowering and producing seeds uses NO energy at all?
that just makes no sense..
of course cutting off ther stalk, at ANY stage, unless the seeds are already fully ripe and the seed head is dead and brown) will still save lots of energy for the plant..

there is no such thing as "too advanced to cut off" if the flowers havent opened yet..
even if the flowers have opened, I would still cut it off..even then it would still benefit the plant..

Scot
 
  • #33
hmmm..lots of interesting misconceptions in this thread..



Scot

Um, all of these questions were answered. And I found out that removing the flower stalk for the other plant made it worse, while the one I didn't remove, and kept indoors under lower light did better. I was under the impression that the plant uses the flower stalk's stored energy to make the seed... Not make a flower stalk and then use separate energy for the seed. But no seed was ever made, anyway.

But you're saying there's no way you can root a flower stalk? So I shouldn't bother trying?
 
  • #34
Stored energy *in* the flower stalk alone?
no..I doubt that..
the stored enegry for producing the stalk, flowers, and seeds is stored energy in the plant as a whole..
(or enegry the plant produces during the course of its normal daily life)

I googled it, to see if any plants do actually have enegry in *just* the flower stalk..
found this:

http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/ethnobot/images/lechuguilla.html

The agave plant often (nearly always) dies *after* it flowers and sets seed:

Although lechuguilla can be harvested and baked any time of the year, the maximum amount of sugars are present during wet periods just prior to the time a mature plant sends up its flower stalk. The sugars are, in effect, stored energy that the plant draws on to flower. During droughts the plant is stressed and contains little sugar relative to toxic compounds and fiber. After sending up its flower stalk, the plant’s energy is spent and it usually dies.

that makes sense..because the plants puts ALL its enegry into flowering and making seeds..
energy from the plant as a whole..not just energy that somehow remains only in the flower stalk..
if there was some seperate enegry storage device, like a seperate rhizome used only for flowering, a "flower stalks energy" theory might make sense..but I dont think the VFT has any mechanism for seperating "flower energy" from "total plant energy"...it only has one energy system for the entire plant..which is why cutting off the flower stalk at *any* stage will still "save" some energy and benefit the plant..

I have never heard of a VFT flower stalk rooting..(has anyone?)
plantlets from false vivipary can perhaps root, but those are already "real" plants..
to do sucessful leaf cuttings, you generally need a small sliver of rhizome attached..
but you wont have that with the flower stalk..
I wont say its 100% impossible, but I think its pretty unlikely..

Scot
 
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  • #35
Like I said in another thread why bother with seeds?

Plantlets on flower stalk cuttings, test from 2008:
01300012.jpg

01300011.jpg


Plants from flower stalk cuttings - typical (on the right) vs 'B52' plants are about the same age 8-9 months old, photo taken about 5 weeks ago. You'd be doing very well indeed if seedlings at this age were anywhere near 1/2 inch across.:
P6070155.jpg


'Justina Davis' stalk about 3 months ago, there are at least a dozen plantlets on it today. Sorry too lazy to find the camera.
P4030048.jpg


'Cupped Trap', typicals and 'B52' plants after being removed from the live Sphagnum bed and repotted into 95/5% peat/sand, photo taken same time as the above. Repotted about 1 week prior to photo. All from flower stalk cuttings.
P4030049.jpg


Yeah, they're grown indoors under lights. Sue me.
 
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  • #36
... I guess I'm trying flower stalk propagation with the one that hasn't given me seed. Thanks!
 
  • #37
I have never heard of a VFT flower stalk rooting..(has anyone?)

Scot

NaN has obviously and nicely demonstrated what I was going to say but Dave (BigBella) has done the same with Ceph flower stalks. Not a flytrap I know but same concept. I even recall a grower asking for VFT flower stalks around May of this year or last year saying he propagated his VFTs via 1-2 inch cuttings from the stalks (mmlr38 maybe?).



Subpoena is on the way:lol:
 
  • #38
Of course a good basal leaf cutting will also produce new plants.
 
  • #39
Here's a recent picture of the 'Justina Davis' plantlets:
P7160005-1.jpg


You get a much bigger yield with flower stalk cuttings.
 
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