Growing vfts as semi-aquatics

[Joseph Clemens]

<span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'>VFTs planted in undrained tray and kept under water (Dec03/Jan04):

The same tray Jul04 ready for dormant rest in refrigerator:

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Once I was transplanting several dozens of VFTs and I decided to put the trimmings and broken pieces into this tray and see if they would sprout and then to grow them as semi-aquatics. It has been more than 4 years now and they continue to thrive. I have only once cleaned out the tray, removing about 30 plants and refreshing the 100% peat moss media with new peat moss. The Sphagnum and other moss are strictly volunteers.

The earlier photo shows the plants in vigorous growth after recently being removed from their dormancy in the refrigerator where their tray was completely filled with water covering them and then the lid was snapped on.

The later, more recent photo shows them to be slowing down and I shall shortly return them to the refrigerator for another dormant period.

I grow many other VFTs in more normal ways, but I just wanted to prove to myself that they were even more flexible and durable than we generally give them credit for.</span>

 

[endparenthesis]

Great experiment... I value people's opinions 10 times more when they've actually experienced why something should or shouldn't be done rather than simply parroting back to me something they've read. Good post.

 

[wezx]

GREAT experiment! Those VFTs sure look happy under your care! How did they get that purple? Under fluorescent lights?

have you tried this method for other species of cps?

Quote[/b] ]I decided to put the trimmings and broken pieces into this tray

trimmings? as in black/dieing leaves? They can be grown from just the white bulb part right?

 

[Joseph Clemens]

<span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'>They color up nicely with 15 hours per day of cheapo cool white fluorescent lamps kept within about 4 inches of their tray.


Trimmings used were some old basal leaf segments and several back ends of rhizomes consisting of 3-4 basal leaf segments attached together and broken off the distal end of rhizomes.

I did drop a couple of old entire leaves in but they just rotted away without producing new plants.</span>

 

[wezx]

Oh right, next time when a VFT leaf is about to die, ill pluck out the bulb and throw it into 100% mix

Quote[/b] ]They color up nicely with 15 hours per day of cheapo cool white fluorescent lamps kept within about 4 inches of their tray.

Thats weird, Im comparing my set-up to yours, they seem the same but your plants seem to grow MUCH MUCH healthier than mine. For more info about my set-up, go there:


http://www.petflytrap.com/cgi-bin....t=13500

Do you provide them with alot of humidity?

thanks for all your help!

 

[Joseph Clemens]

<span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'>I haven't worried much about the humidity since they are nearly always flooded with water.</span>

 

[schloaty]

Hey Joe,
Guess I don't have to worry about drilling drainage holes in my window box! Mine have been growing like that after rainstorms. I just let evaporation dry them out. They don't seem to mind the swamp when it sets in.

 

[Jason Wong]

Wezx, your plants are in shock from being bare root for so long...

 

[PlantAKiss]

Some of my VFTs are in undrained bins and when we get a lot of rain, the bins fill up, the plants go under water and there they stay til the water evaporates down again. They do fine like that. So that should debunk the myth that "VFTs rot if kept too wet."

 

[BobZ]

The next experiment is to cross a Dionaea with an Aldrovanda! Both are closely related. see
Kenneth M. Cameron, Kenneth J. Wurdack, and Richard W. Jobson. 2002. Molecular evidence for the common origin of snap-traps among carnivorous plants. American Journal of Botany 89(9): 1503-1509.

 

[Kirkscoastalcarnivores]

looks kinda like a floating bog

 

[Grim]

The traps and everything are grown underwater?

 

[cool85k5]

The ones I have outside in full sun(8 hours),in trays with drainage holes,some in sand/peat some in perlite/peat and they still rot if kept to wet.It does'nt matter if it's a common,red dragon,greendragon,they still rot.

Jerry

 

[jimscott]

Quote[/b] (PlantAKiss @ July 26 2004,2:12)]Some of my VFTs are in undrained bins and when we get a lot of rain, the bins fill up, the plants go under water and there they stay til the water evaporates down again.  They do fine like that.  So that should debunk the myth that "VFTs rot if kept too wet."

That's what I have been doing. However, I have learned the hard way that when it comes to seedlings, never put multiple containers in a tray taller than the seedling containers, with opuy adequate drainage at a significantly lower level. Why, well I had 5 pots of differing pigmy dews in on e larger container. A torrential rain came and three of the pots overturned - instant pigmy dew sirprise. It also happened to my non- pigmy dew Drosera seedling. The pots didn't overturn, but the non-rooted seedlings floated and migrated. More Sundew surprise. My growlist is much smaller now.

I'm doing things differently, now!

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

Bob,

I have had the same thought in mind. I was going to try to foist the experiment off onto Phil Sheriden since he had a pond full of Aldrovanda that I assume flower for him, and a ton and a half of VFT's. I really feel Dionaea is not too far away from the Aldrovanda relationship in terms of its paraaquatic nature. Many growers have reported that their plants rot under too wet conditions, but I have never lost a strong plant this way UNLESS the rhizome was stressed from a period of being dry. I am going to grow some as true aquatics next season: underwater for the whole season and see where that goes.

 

[wolf9striker]

Its hard for me to tell, but is the whole plant completely underwater as in the trap and everything?

 

[Nflytrap]

I submerged my plant for 3 days in Early march to get rid of mites. Worked just fine.

 

[Alvin Meister]

Perhaps water temperature has an effect. Warm water in the sun is probably fine, but wouldn't cold water cause problems? I know that the peat of my VFTs becomes very warm during the growing season in the sun.

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

My plants all spent the winter in the unheated basement, usually totally submerged. The temps were just above freezing and occasionally below.

 

[ALLOSAURZ]

Well keeping the plants underwater over winter would be a good buffer against the cold as at minimum the plants would be no colder than 32*F unless all the water either froze or you had salt or some other mineral dissolved into the water to lower the freezing point. My VFTs spent a month submerged underwater while I was away at college and we had torrential down pours while my plants were outside and they seemed no worse for the wear. I wonder if VFT's that have been submerged in their natural habitats have ever caught fish?