FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey all. VFT's coming out of dormancy fast. Noticed they are shooting flower stalks up before the non dormant traps are fully grown. My questions is,Is there any proof that trimming flower stalks enhances trap size. The theory seems sound, but I have seen wild VFT's with huge traps and their flower stalks aren't being pruned. Is there any actual experimental data on this. VFT flowers are pretty cool, would love to keep them growing.

I usually let my flytraps flower every year. I'm not to picky about trap size I just like to grow them. I do notice the first spring traps are usually larger then the traps that follow as the plant is flowering. This is typical growth without flowering so this really isn't any help. I also feed a few of my traps as they flower just to give them a little extra energy while they flower. My flytraps never decline in health but they do substantially slow in growth as they flower.

I agree with you on that JW, It seems biologically counter productive that the traps would grow larger without flowering. Plants grow to reproduce. and that's their goal to flower and reproduce. Larger traps more food, more energy for flowering. I would think a plant would make larger traps to feed the flower growth to ensure the seeds have the best nutrition to develop. Otherwise, the evolutionary pressure would be for large flowers and small traps. If the plant cannot support flower growth the flower dies. So I think the plant will do all it can to support this growth and the best way would be larger taps for more food. Otherwise all VFT in the Wild would have small traps.

Sky924 wrote:I agree with you on that JW, It seems biologically counter productive that the traps would grow larger without flowering. Plants grow to reproduce. and that's their goal to flower and reproduce. Larger traps more food, more energy for flowering. I would think a plant would make larger traps to feed the flower growth to ensure the seeds have the best nutrition to develop. Otherwise, the evolutionary pressure would be for large flowers and small traps. If the plant cannot support flower growth the flower dies. So I think the plant will do all it can to support this growth and the best way would be larger taps for more food. Otherwise all VFT in the Wild would have small traps.

Thats some sound plant logic right there . Sometimes I would think the counter would be true, larger traps in the fall... as insects would have more pressure to find suitable areas to feed and therefor more food for dormancy and capitalizing on the lack of other flowering plants (and more larger adults from mid summer generation of insects). But hey who am I, they've had a LONG time to get it right!

Sky924 wrote:I agree with you on that JW, It seems biologically counter productive that the traps would grow larger without flowering. Plants grow to reproduce. and that's their goal to flower and reproduce. Larger traps more food, more energy for flowering. I would think a plant would make larger traps to feed the flower growth to ensure the seeds have the best nutrition to develop. Otherwise, the evolutionary pressure would be for large flowers and small traps. If the plant cannot support flower growth the flower dies. So I think the plant will do all it can to support this growth and the best way would be larger taps for more food. Otherwise all VFT in the Wild would have small traps.

It doesn't work that way. I don't know about the wild, but in captivity, if the plant can and will exhaust it's self and die. The flowering factor depends on how many bugs the plant caught in the previous year, how long it's dormancy was, etc. And in the wild, the traps aren't too big. And the plant will reproduce whether you like it or not once it gets that size. If you cut the flower stalk, it'll divide and send out off-shoots at a much higher rate.

that rad dude wrote:

Sky924 wrote:I agree with you on that JW, It seems biologically counter productive that the traps would grow larger without flowering. Plants grow to reproduce. and that's their goal to flower and reproduce. Larger traps more food, more energy for flowering. I would think a plant would make larger traps to feed the flower growth to ensure the seeds have the best nutrition to develop. Otherwise, the evolutionary pressure would be for large flowers and small traps. If the plant cannot support flower growth the flower dies. So I think the plant will do all it can to support this growth and the best way would be larger taps for more food. Otherwise all VFT in the Wild would have small traps.

It doesn't work that way. I don't know about the wild, but in captivity, if the plant can and will exhaust it's self and die. The flowering factor depends on how many bugs the plant caught in the previous year, how long it's dormancy was, etc. And in the wild, the traps aren't too big. And the plant will reproduce whether you like it or not once it gets that size. If you cut the flower stalk, it'll divide and send out off-shoots at a much higher rate.

Plants will always put the effort into spreading their genes first, even if it means the plant will exhaust its energy and die after. Sure it depends on how healthy and established the plant is prior to flowering but I think all he's saying is that it makes sense for the plant to put out its largest traps before flowering in an effort to gain nutrition during the exhausting event of flowering evolutionarily speaking

The last few guys are totally correct.

The goal from each plant is to grow that flower as large as possible, as quickly as possible, and reproduce. But, producing a flower stalk requires a ton of energy. I'd even venture to say that it requires around 20 average sized traps worth of energy. Plants just don't store enough energy to produce giant traps and a flower stalk..... This is also why it is hard to find plants in the wild that are really old. They are usually medium aged and growing in clumps of medium sized plants. They grow for 2-3 years, flower, die back, and then babies form from the left over energy in the rhizome via natural divisions.... We didn't learn about snipping the stalk to grow them larger until we started cultivating them.

Now, most bugs caught by a venus in the wild are small. There just aren't a lot of huge bugs in the wilds of NC (eastern Hercules beetle is the largest, but far too big for a VFT)... So, if 90% of your diet consists of bugs that fit perfectly in a 1 inch trap. Why would you grow a 2 inch trap? A bigger trap doesn't automatically mean more food. But, it does automatically mean more energy used. Bigger traps require more energy to grow, more energy to close, open, and more digestive juices to fill the entire trap for digestion (regardless of the bug size). Now, a venus flytrap doesn't want to die. So, they will make smaller traps and even halt all other growth all together in order to produce the stalk. But, they will die if they only have the energy to flower.

I'd say the biggest fault with that logic is automatically assuming that a bigger trap is always going to result in a bigger catch and a higher energy intake.




All plants you have seen with huge traps and stalks were either A) not really that large. B) the traps were there prior to the stalk growing.


Think of it as simple math (these numbers are random and not correct).

the value is equal to energy.

A healthy adult plant has energy equal to 35 parts of energy.

to grow stalks it costs a minimum of 20

to grow traps they costs 1-3 depending on the size of the trap.

Average plants grow 5-7 traps per Rosetta. So if you have already wasted 50-60% of your entire energy on the flower, are you going to waste all the rest of your energy on the off chance you might snag some extra large food, but if not you die? No, you're going to attempt to stay alive. So, flowering gets priority over traps.... But, luckily, we have found a cheat to this system by snipping the stalk.



TL;DR no, plants don't produce larger traps for flowering or during flowering. Producing huge traps almost always equals energy wasted... This is why most plants don't grow huge traps and why B52 and DC XL are considered rare and highly sought after.