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Any way to get seeds from these little guys?

Sig

Eats genetically engineered tomatoes
So my local Lowes has venus flytraps, and there are always a few that are dying and at a cheap price. Then I saw these two that looked like all the others, but they had flower stalks (they were pushing the tops of the containers open!) They were 1 USD each, so I bought them. I'm wondering whether these are about to flower or about to seed, and if it's the former, how do I get seed from them? The tip of one only has one bump, while the other has a few.

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Thanks!
 
not flowered yet. any case, unless if you're a well seasoned VFTer, i'd advocate for the cutting off of the flower stalks. they're stressed out enough as it is.
 
I advice you to cut the flower stalk off and try to propagate a new VFT from flower stalk. lowe's cube of death is pretty famous in this forum. It doesn't look very healthy, letting it flower could be risky for that VFT. its not worth killing it for chance of getting seeds
 
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.) And doesn't making the flower at the start take up most of the energy? I don't think I'm experienced enough to nurse these guys back to health, (sorry to say, I really just picked them up for the chance of seeds). Unless there is like a 60% + chance of them living after cutting off the stalks, I don't see the point with 99 cent plants. The way the other clearance ones were going, I really think they'd be dead by now (and they'd get a chance to reproduce!)
 
Well honestly if you dont let it flower you do have a 60+ chance of survival. Also acclimate your VFT to lower humity before you remove the lid like that. That may be the reason why your lowe's plant dies off. You acclimate humidity first and then after start that acclimation to more sunlight. As far as seeds go. It tidious work and if you don't think you are experienced enough to bring them to health the I am going to say you are not experience to grow VFT seedlings.

I think you are better off trying to recover that VFT that is mature and can gratify you with bigger traps than little ones who take years to become mature and give you big traps.
 
I'll cut off the one that has one bud. I really want to experience flowering even if that plant might die (the one that is much farther along and has less foliage). How do I plant the flower stalk? Do I just get the peat moss/perlite and stick it in the soil?

Should I put the lid back on the one I'm cutting off then, or no? My first though when I got them was take the top off because the stalks were pushing up against the lid.
 
It should be ok to repot it in a bigger pot, Bigger pot gives little bit more humidity to that single plant, and place it in a sunny windowsill. and put a dome cover it but make sure the dome put some holes to the dome to extinguish the heat from overheat the plant. ( you can use clear plastic cup and drill 3 or 4 holes size of a straw hole on the cup) wait until you start to see improvement of that plant, take off the humidity dome and wait for it pull out healthy leaf and trap, then move it out to outside let it have proper condition. You can make it adjust to outdoor condition by summer. Thats what I would do.

edit: To propagate the flower stalk just use LF sphagnum or half peat/half perlite. don't plant the flower stalk too deep in the soil. like just .2 inch (3cm) into the soil and cover it with something keep the humidity as high as possible.and then cross your finger hope for new growth. (a sunny windowsill would do the job, or under artifical lighting
 
While I am not familiar with the quality -- or lack thereof -- at Lowe's, I have never lost a Venus flytrap to flowering; 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.

Seed would be obtained by allowing the plant to bloom -- give it as much light as you are able -- and those self-pollinated seeds to mature. Agitating each flower or by gently rubbing separate blooms together is generally sufficient to ensure fertilization; and, about six or so weeks later, the seed is produced. Sow immediately . . .
 
correct me if im wrong, but dont some plants flower as a last resort before dying? ive witnessed this with dews frequently but havent dealt with many vfts.

~billy
 
  • #10
correct me if im wrong, but dont some plants flower as a last resort before dying? ive witnessed this with dews frequently but havent dealt with many vfts.

~billy

If the plants are in poor health, any number of things will kill them, including blooming; but I have had plants bloom, annually, for over a decade without incident (though rarely allow it nowadays, since I no longer desire seed). Dionaea doesn't typically die after flowering . . .

 
  • #11
If the plants in poor health, any number of things will kill them, including blooming; but I have had plants bloom, annually, for over a decade without incident. Dionaea doesn't die after flowering . . .


i didnt mean die after flowering, i meant before they die due to poor health they flower to set seed

~billy
 
  • #12
many organisms do this as a last ditch effort. i know polychaete worms expell gamates into the water column when they know they're about to die. i also know that certain plants, such as the aquarium plant, java fern--produce tiny plantlets on their leaves in times of high stress (i would imagine dying prematurely to be a high stress situation), and i can also testify to Drosera paradoxa place all their energy into flowering profusely before dying.

but like what BB said, Dionaea might not be the kind of organism to perform this life strategy, and most certainly, the plant is not meant to die after flowering (as opposed to Drosera cistiflora). VFTs that end up at Lowes, decline in health exponentially as they stay on the shelf. flowering for them especially in this state will contribute to their chances of mortality-- unless the VFT was recently put on the shelf or you know exactly what you are doing--ie feeding them very well, great lighting, etc...

while allowing a Lowe's VFT to flower shortly after receving it may result in a dying plant, allowing it to flower the next year should not.
 
  • #13
I've noticed that the ones at lowes that flower have less foliage than the other ones. Not sure if that's the cause or the effect though. I haven't cut off the one with the smaller stalk yet because it seems everyone has a different opinion. I still personally think it'll die either way.
 
  • #14
I've noticed that the ones at lowes that flower have less foliage than the other ones. Not sure if that's the cause or the effect though. I haven't cut off the one with the smaller stalk yet because it seems everyone has a different opinion. I still personally think it'll die either way.

Give it as much sun as you are possibly able. I have "rescued" my share of garden center Dionaea, Drosera, and Darlingtonia over the years; and, unless they are actually on the verge of death, they'll be OK. My losses have been very few.

I would remove the smaller stalk; removing the other is a moot point . . .

Dionaea muscipula (a garden center rescue which only had a single leaf and a small flower stalk).
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  • #15
Beautiful!
 
  • #17
wow BigBella, very nice vft. :)

Thanks . . .

It currently looks like crap, having just emerged from dormancy. The pics were from last season -- and it was a 5.00 impulse buy from Orchard Supply Hardware in California, along with a few tomato plants. The largest traps on that "typical" were 4.4 cm (1.75") within three months.

I have made poorer purchases . . .
 
  • #18
it was a 5.00 impulse buy

lol i just got my first vft today from home depot. waiting for d.capensis seeds to germinate and awaiting approval to go pick up an n.ventrosa from friend thats moving. needless to say im ecstatic. (all are first time plants) :]
 
  • #19
Yeah, nice vft's you've got there! *jealousy*
 
  • #20
I cut off the smaller stalk and planted it in some sphagnum. The larger stalk has about 6 flower buds now. I kind of... glows. Sounds weird, but the stalk in my mind just has some type of bright radiance.
 
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