Can't believe I haven't found out!

[Jason Wong]

Offshoots?

 

[Jason Wong]

Do I just :

i) rip them out of the ground and transplant them,
ii) put them in water, wait for all the soil to wash off and then separate the plants at the bulb using a knife/scapel, or
iii) use a knife to separate the offshoot from the mother plant while both plants are still sitting in the soil?

Reason being that I only have one VFT (typical) and with all that stuff going around that VFT's roots are super sensitive and all, I don't want to damage the roots (I know removing leaves, offshoots/bulbs, or even transplanting into a bigger pot can't be easily damaging to a VFT's roots, and I don't want to lose my only VFT.

I'm sure all of you have encountered forest growth, and done this before? My own experience is limited (besides reading from the internet, which does not give much detail on the subject. Neither do I have reliable books to get info from.
(What with exams coming up, I still have to hurry to remove the offshoot cuz the huge leaves of the mother plant is squashing the baby offshoot (How the offshoot is getting so much larger so quickly I have no idea), and I'm afraid the offshoot might not have enough strength to push past the overwhelming mother plant, and that the mother plant will block it from the light and cause it to stay small or even die.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[uglypho]

Your getting to worried.

I would let the offshoot grow some bit before removing it. Make sure it has a seperate root system before breaking them apart. If allowed to be grown out, their won't be any "breaking apart" necessary. The connections between the bulbs would decay, allowing 2 seperate bulbs to be in the soil.

 

[vistary]

Jason: Just let the shoots grow naturally. If you really need to provide light to them, just shift the petiole of the parent plant to one side and use some LSF to hold it in place. You should try to avoid separating them too early, because most of the time, it will end up being stunted, as it is deprived from the stores from the parent's bulb.

 

[Bignaturalbrock]

Quote[/b] (uglypho @ Mar. 31 2004,7:33)]Your getting to worried.

I would let the offshoot grow some bit before removing it. Make sure it has a seperate root system before breaking them apart. If allowed to be grown out, their won't be any "breaking apart" necessary. The connections between the bulbs would decay, allowing 2 seperate bulbs to be in the soil.

i do believe its getting bigger so fast because the mother plant is letting it use its energy, hence why they are connected at the bulb.

 

[Amateur_Expert]

I think uglypho is right, there isn't someone that goes around to all the venus flytraps of the world and separates them, they can handle it on their own. You can cut in and offer some help if the mother plant starts to lose its traps, meanwhile the new plant is still growing.