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Can they come back from a rhizome and some roots?

Posted: Thu May 02, 2024 10:44 am
by Spunro
divided a flytrap a few days ago and the wee guy had little roots but i potted it up anyways and just kept it moist like the others and it turns out the leaves have burned off :oops: the rhizome is fine and the tiny roots are still there so im hoping itll take this as a sign to expand those roots, will it come back? if so, in how long?

Re: Can they come back from a rhizome and some roots?

Posted: Thu May 02, 2024 2:18 pm
by Panman
It is a definite maybe. I've had some rhizomes that have lost all of the leaves and roots sprout again whereas I've had others that just wasted away. It is worth trying to save, though. First clean off any dead material. Them put it in a pot with a layer of sphagnum moss nestled around the rhizome. Put it in a plastic bag in indirect light and keep your fingers crossed..

Re: Can they come back from a rhizome and some roots?

Posted: Thu May 02, 2024 8:41 pm
by Spunro
i dont have any sphagnum moss, is it essential for this? if not should i just bag them up (while in the pots?) and put them on a windowsill inside?

Re: Can they come back from a rhizome and some roots?

Posted: Fri May 03, 2024 12:37 pm
by Panman
You can try it. You don't want it in the window sill if the sun shines directly through it.

Re: Can they come back from a rhizome and some roots?

Posted: Sun May 12, 2024 2:28 am
by bebnas
I'd def keep it. Sometimes plants (in general, not just vft) shed leaves when stressed and can come back. Might as well keep it around for a bit

Re: Can they come back from a rhizome and some roots?

Posted: Sun May 12, 2024 2:58 pm
by MikeB
Spunro wrote: Thu May 02, 2024 10:44 am the rhizome is fine and the tiny roots are still there so im hoping itll take this as a sign to expand those roots, will it come back? if so, in how long?
Let me tell you a story about my sister's flytrap pot. Last August, she tells me that she has filed for divorce and wants me to pick up her plants. She has too many things to deal with right now and doesn't have time to take care of them. I stopped by a couple days later and found 14-inch / 35-centimeter bowl pot that looked devastated: there were a few small, green nubs poking out of the dry soil, and that was all.

I brought the pot home, sifted through the soil, and found 30 flytrap rhizomes. None of them had any leaves. I potted them in fresh soil, set the pot in a saucer full of water, put it in a shaded location, and kept it very damp. I gradually moved the pot to a location where the plants got 3 hours of early morning sunshine. 6 weeks later, this is what they looked like:
September 2023.jpg
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A tremendous improvement in a relatively short amount of time. All they needed was some decent care.

I left them outside for the winter (I live in eastern North Carolina, about 40 miles / 65 kilometers west of the Venus flytrap's native range). My temperatures seesawed back and forth, and I got a few cold snaps down around 20°F / -6°C. The plants handled this just fine. Here is that pot now:
May 2024.jpg
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Don't give up on your little rhizome. With some good care, it should bounce back.

Re: Can they come back from a rhizome and some roots?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2024 11:13 am
by Spunro
i kept it moist and put it in a more shaded location but unfortunately its turned brown and died, another flytrap down the drain because of some deceptive amazon soil weakening my plants :cry: thinking of giving up as ive lost 3 sarracenia purpurea, 3 drosera rotundifolia, and only 2 of my flytraps look like theyll survive

Re: Can they come back from a rhizome and some roots?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2024 3:25 pm
by Wolfcub258
It absolutely can grow back but it’s hit and miss. Depends on if there’s enough energy in the rhizome or not. Keep it moist