Questionhi there. i am confused because some books say that when a venus fly trap produces a flower you should cut it off but other people don't cut the flower stem off.What shall i do?
AnswerHi Miguel,
This often does get very conflicted, but here's what we've found here in our nursery. For young plants which would be anything with just a single crown or smaller rosette, cut off the flower. It will slow the plant down as it puts energy into blooming instead of leaves. With older plants, multiple crowns or you've had it more than one season, you can let them bloom. They have the size to maintain the flower without it affecting growth too much.
On older plants you can still cut the flowers off if you don't care about seeds. Venus flytrap flowers are interesting, but not as pretty as plants like Sarracenia or Pinguicula. If you want seeds you'll need to have two genetically different plants, and cross-pollinate the flowers.
Good Growing!
Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com
