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VFTs pulling out of dormancy, already?

this seems very early to me, but i checked my VFTs today and two of them have flower stalks growing out. what should i do? is it too early?
 
It is pretty early for VFT's to be flowering, and if it were me, I'd cut them off. Flowering takes an awful lot of a VFT's energy for reproduction, and does weaken it a lot. If you had a sudden cold snap (outdoor growing) it could very well mean the life of your plant. Since May and June are considered normal flowering times, think about why the plant is popping out early. Indoor growing? Photo period too long? Too warm and too much light? Many variables to consider there, so chose the one you think fits your scenario. Since mine grow outside, they are at the mercy of Mom Nature, and give me flowers yearly and on schedule. Indoor growing can be a bit challenging to maintain the proper temp to keep them in dormancy or a semi-dormant state. You ahve a whole lot of VFT growers here with you, and they can help anytime as well. This is a very good forum, and I am glad I joined it. Aand, Saladshooter, the best of your plant is yet to come!! Enjoy, and good growing!!
 
I don't know if I would say it is early, they like to flower right when they wake up so it's not weird or anything, but it does drain the plant and if your new to growing them it's best to remove them regardless of time of year. Once you are confident in your ablities to bring back plants from the brink, then you can let them flower without much of a problem.
 
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Heck, mine have been in full growth for months. I am already harvesting seed. When I have finished harvesting seed I plan to repot and divide the lot of them. Moving them to undrained plastic containers. Will plan to divide each individual plant into at least 12 or more each. Create some community groups of varieties.</span>
 
saladshooter,

How long has your VFTs been in dormancy before you seen the flower stalk? I would let it continue to grow and have a happy spring and summer regardless. It it not too early to take them out of dormancy, I took re-introduced my VFTs to my indoor terrarium today
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BUT, they had at least 3 months of dormancy. And as for the flower stalks, cut them off would be the safest bet, of course.

-Homer
 
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Why does everyone always want to cut off their VFT flowers?
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Heck if you think you will lose the plant from flower stress, all you need to do to make more of the same clone is to break off an old leaf base or two and poke it into the media next to the parent plant, wait a couple of weeks for the plantlet to poke through the surface, then a few months later you have another plant (or more) ready to make their own flowers.
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Mr. D'Amato says, "Now that you've seen them, cut them off!" I guess most of us, including me, havn't reproduced ideal enough conditions for the plant to survive beyond flowering. It happened to me once. Would a nice 3 month dormancy, followed by gradually increased light & temp, followed by placing them outside, be a good approach toward survival beyond flowering?
 
I don't really want to risk having smaller traps during the summer. The flowers are pretty weedy anyway.

VFTs can start to wake up and flower if it's warm and they've satisfied their innate dormancy requirements.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (PinguiculaMan @ Feb. 08 2004,03:05)]<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Why does everyone always want to cut off their VFT flowers?  
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Heck if you think you will lose the plant from flower stress, all you need to do to make more of the same clone is to break off an old leaf base or two and poke it into the media next to the parent plant, wait a couple of weeks for the plantlet to poke through the surface, then a few months later you have another plant (or more) ready to make their own flowers.
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</span>
Your kidding right? You haven't actually had a leaf cutting mature in a year. If you did I'm going to go into shock, they are only about twice as fast growing as seedling for me....

I think we say cut the flower off because newer growers don't always have ideal conditions of the eperience to deal with a shocked plant if that should occur. It can be very dishartening to a new grower to loose their plant from this. I for one will probubly let mine flower if they feel like it, but I've had mine for almost 5 years so it's not like I'm risking too much ;) It's just better safer then sorry when people start off.
 
  • #10
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>I don't know if the cuttings will get to blooming size in 12 months or less, but I have, on occasion had seedlings that did it in one season. </span>
 
  • #11
Healthy VFTs do amzing things!
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I remember how i fed my baby Bigmouth spiders/flies weekly and it divided within a the season WOW!
 
  • #12
Nothing VFT's do suprise me anymore. They never follow the rules, and what happens to one grower may not happen for another. A leaf cutting will mature in one or two years depending on the overall health of your plant, and if it likes its growing conditions. A leaf cutting is cloning the parent, and very unlike seedlings, will mature quicker. As in drosera, it will be mature and flowering before you know it from leaf cuttings. The cuts I made on my 28 year old plant were as big as the parent in one year. VFT's will in fact live a lot longer than what is stated in Peter's book. UNC has had a pot full for 46 years. And Bob Ziemer has had some of his since 1955. Don't always believe what you read, as reading is only a guideline, and the plants may not have read the books. Enjoy them, and just be prepared for things you didn't count on. I am sure Bob can back me on this.
 
  • #13
The two flytraps I put into dormancy have melted....the fride method didn't work to well for me it seems...4 days after I put them into their new pot the were nothing more than mush....next time I'll just leave them outside....
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  • #14
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Slyfi @ Feb. 08 2004,19:15)]The two flytraps I put into dormancy have melted....the fride method didn't work to well for me it seems...4 days after I put them into their new pot the were nothing more than mush....next time I'll just leave them outside....
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The refrig works fine but maybe next time transplant the vfts at the end of dormancy. What most likely happend is the shock of transplanting and dormancy was to much to handle. If you transplant at the end of dormancy the vft is basically asleep and will not suffer as much shock.

Travis
 
  • #15
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>And be careful that it is the refrigerator and not the freezer compartment. VFTs do not need to have anything near freezing temperatures in order to have complete dormancy.</span>
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  • #16
36 years of growing CP's? I think it is quite possible, with THAT much experience, to know just a few tricks / howto cut a couple corners. Which grower was it that breaks all the rules and grows several of their plants in water, without soil media? Gotta love the creativity!
 
  • #17
I was quite sure my plants had gone dormant when I placed them in the fridge 4 months ago.......ah well....my purple pictherplant went dormant just fine outside so I'll do that next round.......seems even mild Texas winters are enough to do the trick...on a better note my green dragon has made a clone of itself and is a lovely shade of red.......and my bareroot green dragon that I potted in lime filled playsand has recovered....its now in a 50:50 peat to perlite mix...less chance of evil things there.......always test you sand with Sanivac!
 
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