QuestionI have a Long Red Finger Flytrap and I believe it is starting to flower. I have heard that this may not be good for some flytraps. Is this true? If not, what should I do?
Sincerely,
Jeff
AnswerHi Jeff,
This is a loaded question because it has two assumptions. The first is the more obvious - flowers are inherently bad for flytraps. The second assumption is not as obvious - the current growing condition is optimal for the plant.
If your plant is flowering, I'm assuming that you're growing your plant indoors. We grow our flytraps exclusively outdoors. Right now they're just waking up from winter dormancy and will likely produce flowers in June.
In order to answer your question properly, we first have to address the current growing condition. Since you didn't specifically provide that information, I can't really comment on it. For now, I'm including an article that I wrote for our newsletter. It addresses the issue of flytrap flowers.
After reading the article, visit our website and read our care sheet for flytraps:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets
Also watch our video podcasts for monthly updates about carnivorous plant care:
http://www.cobraplant.com/podcasts
Good growing!
Jacob Farin
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ONE MYTH BREEDS ANOTHER
If you have been subscribing to the Growers?Secrets for a while, you probably know by now that needing to grow Venus Flytraps in a terrarium is a myth. Well,there is another myth about flytraps: your Venus flytraps will die if you let it flower.
It is true that when a plant produces flowers, it does so at the expense of producing new leaves. However, it is not true with healthy Flytraps grown in their optimal growing conditions. In fact, we have seen very little difference in growth between flowering plants and non-flowering plants.
The only time you want to cut off the flowers is when you grow them in the shade or in a terrarium. In other words, with unhealthy plants grown in poor growing conditions, you will need to cut off their flowers. (Of course, you wouldn't grow your Flytraps in the shade or in a terrarium, now would you?)
Producing a flower takes a lot of energy, and with an unhealthy plant, what little energy it has will go into the flower as a last ditch effort for survival. After that, the plant goes to the Big Garden in the sky.
This is why this myth is around. It's the result of another myth that Venus flytraps need to be grown in those goofy mini-terrariums.
Because our flytraps are well acclimated to outdoor growing, we haven't lost a single one because of flowers. We have lost them to squirrels, Jays, and our dog Hank wagging his tail and knocking over the pots, but never to flowers.
So take some time this summer to enjoy the flowers of your Venus flytraps. Later this fall, you will have lots of seeds to start your own colony of these delightful plants.
