FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Ok so every time i look for information on this all i get is "If your a beginner cut it if your more experienced let it grow"
well what exactly makes the difference in the plant dying or living through flowering stage, does it need more food, light, or water, soil change
what is it.
if im providing 10 or so (maybe more) hours of direct sun light, with wild bugs being caught everyday or every few days ( i can also hand feed if needed) , would that be considered good conditions for flowering, does it need more light then this?

It seems to me there isnt much information about what to do to ease the plant along, just alot of scare tactics telling people not to try it .. and i can see the reason why, no one wants to lose a plant, but I just want to know what it is people do to keep there plant from dying during flowering, ive never tried, because of all the things online saying OMG CUT IT HURRY ITS GONNA DIE BLAH BLAH
i just wanna try it, and do it the best possible job i can, does anyone have any tips?

The only time i can think of a plant actually dying from flowering is if the plant was very weak to start off with. Flowering isn't really a risk, people choose to cut it off usually because they don't want the seeds, or they would rather have the plant focus energy on the plant itself, which will yield bigger traps along with more traps on the plant. If you do not cut off the flower stalk, then the plant will use most of its energy on growing the flower stalk. The plant wont die, but it will create smaller traps and create traps less frequently. If you don't mind that happening to the plant and you want some seeds, then by all means, let it flower I personally am going to allow my plants to flower, and although the traps wont be as big as they would normally be, i will still get seeds to get more plants in my collection, and each one of those plants will be unique And a tip for you is just let the plant be. It needs no extra care while flowering. Flowering takes little, if any experience to do so. And also, if you decide to cut off the flower, at least wait for it to grow 2 inches high, this way if you stick it into the soil and keep it moist enough, it will create an entire new plant! But there is one thing to be careful of. You should only let your plant flower if it is in the condition to do so! If the plant is weak, then it can possibly die during the flowering process, because the flower will eat up the little energy it has to maintain itself.

pieguy452 wrote:The only time i can think of a plant actually dying from flowering is if the plant was very weak to start off with. Flowering isn't really a risk, people choose to cut it off usually because they don't want the seeds, or they would rather have the plant focus energy on the plant itself, which will yield bigger traps along with more traps on the plant. If you do not cut off the flower stalk, then the plant will use most of its energy on growing the flower stalk. The plant wont die, but it will create smaller traps and create traps less frequently. If you don't mind that happening to the plant and you want some seeds, then by all means, let it flower I personally am going to allow my plants to flower, and although the traps wont be as big as they would normally be, i will still get seeds to get more plants in my collection, and each one of those plants will be unique And a tip for you is just let the plant be. It needs no extra care while flowering. Flowering takes little, if any experience to do so. And also, if you decide to cut off the flower, at least wait for it to grow 2 inches high, this way if you stick it into the soil and keep it moist enough, it will create an entire new plant! But there is one thing to be careful of. You should only let your plant flower if it is in the condition to do so! If the plant is weak, then it can possibly die during the flowering process, because the flower will eat up the little energy it has to maintain itself.

The first advice on the subject that hasn't completely freaked me out, ty sir! That makes alot more sense, Flowering isnt killing healthy plants, but causing problems for "malnourished" or less then happy plants

Well hopefully this spring brings a flower, def not cutting it this time
and another question
say by late april or begining of may i have a flower, from the point the flowere blooms how long would you say it takes for the seeds to be done, few weeks after the flowers are all done blooming? or longer
and on that note how long do your seeds usually take to sprout and show themselves in the media

im just wondering if i could have seeds ready to sow by the end of spring, that way i can grow them indoors till the next spring

Well, the time it takes to complete the flowering cycle varies on the conditions it is given. If it is nice and warm and the plant is getting alot of sunlight, then it can take as little as three weeks. And seeds, if planted shortly after they are produced, can take just 1 week before you start to see some sprouts


So yes, it is very possible you can have seedlings by the end of spring, given that the plant is receiving good care.


If you want to learn how to take good care of seeds, check out this link at flytrapcare http://www.flytrapcare.com/growing-venu ... seeds.html It helped me out alot, and you should have some happy seedlings if you follow what it says

they get direct light from sun up to sun down
i have nthing blocking light , as you can see
http://i54.tinypic.com/2dkhime.jpg
^sunrise
http://i51.tinypic.com/awqnih.jpg
sunsets off back there somewhere

no tall buildings or nothin


and i live in the valley , northern cali
so its hot and humid in summer and spring tends to warm up pretty early in the season
it dosnt snow here, in 19 yrs weve had 2 freak storms that dropped some slush but it was to warm for it to stay, it melted b4 hitting the ground or within few mins of hitting
basically temps never drops to far (i live in "hardiness" zone 8)
i think my conditions are ok, but then again what do i know
every other cp i have does fine, and my vft is very healthy
just hope i get a stlak this spring
if not, hopefully the ftstore will have more red vft seed mixs for me to play with till next year

It looks like your questions were answered, but the last section of this post explains why flytrap flower stalks can set a plant back; the information is from several science papers.

http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/usage ... 14580.html