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Will it be possible to adapt a Venus Fly trap to live year round?
elgecko
I've got a magic window!
I gave my neighbor a VFT and told her how to care for it. Growing outside in full sun, dormancy, etc.
She failed to listen.
She grows it on a south facing window inside. It has been there 4 years now. Looks great. In fact, she gave it to me this summer to thin it out it was so full in the pot.
I'm guessing that the short photo period in winter and cooler temps make it go semi dormant?
Will it continue to grow well, or will it start to weaken without dormancy in the up coming years? Only time can tell.
She failed to listen.
She grows it on a south facing window inside. It has been there 4 years now. Looks great. In fact, she gave it to me this summer to thin it out it was so full in the pot.
I'm guessing that the short photo period in winter and cooler temps make it go semi dormant?
Will it continue to grow well, or will it start to weaken without dormancy in the up coming years? Only time can tell.
For something to 'adapt' it would need a reason to such as environmental change that was so drastic that it threatened vft dormancy and life, etc. But it wouldn't happen so soon probably generations and generations until it would acquire no need for dormancy. That's what my bio teacher said. But as of now, no. You should give it dormancy if I was a vft I would want to sleep after 3 seasons of growth.
Yes, it would probably take many decades with selective breeding.
Consider it would take at least 3 years growing without dormancy to select plants that seem the strongest and around 5 years to get a mature seed bearing generation from those. Even with tissue culture probably the most you can shave off is two years from that process. So 10 years per generation would probably not be an unreasonable time frame.
And who knows what other characteristics may be selected or lost during the process.
Why bother when you can pump them out in the thousands from tissue culture?
Consider it would take at least 3 years growing without dormancy to select plants that seem the strongest and around 5 years to get a mature seed bearing generation from those. Even with tissue culture probably the most you can shave off is two years from that process. So 10 years per generation would probably not be an unreasonable time frame.
And who knows what other characteristics may be selected or lost during the process.
Why bother when you can pump them out in the thousands from tissue culture?
I totally agree.
Wolfn
Agent of Chaos
Well, it would be nice to have a "tropical" venus fly trap that grows year round with no dormancy.
Im glad my plants go dormant!
I appreciate the break during the winter months..
If I had to maintain my VFTs and Sarrs all year, I probably wouldn't bother to grow them.
not that they are super high maintance..
its just that I have "summer hobbies" (CP's, Bonsai, other gardening and landscaping projects)
and "winter hobbies"..(model railroading and catching up on reading!
that I dont have time to do all summer..
So im very grateful for winter dormancy!..I dont have to think about my CPs at all for four months every year..its nice.
Scot
tommyr
Gardening freak!
So very true.
Well..in theory there is one simple way to adapt a VFT to growing year-round and not require a dormancy..it happens all the time in nature..millions of species of plants have adapted to no dormancy!
All you do is build an artificial bog in South Carolina..stock it with VFTs..
then, very gradually, over the course of a few million years, slowly move it south toward the equator..
an inch a year should do it..
that would probably work! (seriously..not being sarcastic)
but other than that..no, it wont work..
Scot
p.s.
I worked out the actual distance!
South Carolina to the equator is about 3,500 miles..
thats 22,176,000 inches. (22 billion)
lets say you would need 2 million years to actually adapt a plant to a new climate..
(I doubt one million would be long enough)
doing the math..thats 9 inches a year..(assuming my math is right!)
you would need to move the plants 9 inches a year southward to reach the equator in 2 million years.
thats only a little faster than Continental drift, and Continental drift alone is responsible for creating all kinds of new species,
and adapting existing species to new climates..so yeah, it would totally work.
you might have a new species of VFT by the time you get there!
but that could be interesting..
Scot
All you do is build an artificial bog in South Carolina..stock it with VFTs..
then, very gradually, over the course of a few million years, slowly move it south toward the equator..
an inch a year should do it..
that would probably work! (seriously..not being sarcastic)
but other than that..no, it wont work..
Scot
p.s.
I worked out the actual distance!
South Carolina to the equator is about 3,500 miles..
thats 22,176,000 inches. (22 billion)
lets say you would need 2 million years to actually adapt a plant to a new climate..
(I doubt one million would be long enough)
doing the math..thats 9 inches a year..(assuming my math is right!)
you would need to move the plants 9 inches a year southward to reach the equator in 2 million years.
thats only a little faster than Continental drift, and Continental drift alone is responsible for creating all kinds of new species,
and adapting existing species to new climates..so yeah, it would totally work.
you might have a new species of VFT by the time you get there!
but that could be interesting..
Scot
I'd most definitely say it's possible through evolution/selective breeding.
Just remember that through selective breeding you can do remarkable things.
Consider that the following plants all come from an original type of cabbage and have been manipulated over many years through selective breeding: broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, collard greens, and probably some others that I'm forgetting.
Ahmad, depends on what you mean by "year round". VFTs can grow continuously here in SE Asia for years without dormancy. Because the weather is hot and bright year round except for a couple of months of warm rainy weather, VFTs grown outdoors react by propagating via offshoots. Over time, even as the main original shoot dies from the lack of dormancy, there are large clumps of offshoots to replace it. The longest the same plant has survived so far is 5 years.
