FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

i went to a website and it said to cut thr flower off cos the plant has a high chance of dieing because it doesnt have ideal conditions that it would have in the wild.But what of you want to have flowers for seeds?Have any of your venus fly traps died becaus of flowering?what where the weather conditions like when it died?

kaepora gaebora wrote:i went to a website and it said to cut thr flower off cos the plant has a high chance of dieing because it doesnt have ideal conditions that it would have in the wild.But what of you want to have flowers for seeds?Have any of your venus fly traps died becaus of flowering?what where the weather conditions like when it died?

If you grow a venus flytrap in full sun and give it its dormancy every year, it will flower and continue growing without any problems. The only time a flytrap will die from flowering is if it doesnt get enough sun, because it wont have enough energy to flower and continue growing, or it hasnt had its dormancy which will wear it out and will try producing a flower and seeds as a last attempt to keep its species going.

Novice growers are generally told to cut off the flower stalks because the experts assume novices are providing relatively poor growing conditions; this is often not the case, but it's simpler to just tell them to cut off the flower stalk.
1. You get bigger traps if you cut off the flower stalk.
2. Also, sometimes a flytrap's growth rate never fully recovers for the remainder of the growing season after flowering.

Those are at least part of the reason the "CUT IT OFF" mentality with flytrap flower stalks is so prevalent.


Flytraps that are well-cared for and are actively growing usually show no signs of problems during or after flowering - especially those grown outdoors year-round. If you're sure you're caring for your flytrap properly and you want to let it flower, then let it flower.

Flowering isn't an issue for most CP's, but with flytraps you just need to be a little more aware, if not cautious. So you have the two reasons to cut off the stalk above; now here are the cautions -

Flowering will almost certainly kill a flytrap if:

• It has poor lighting (less than ~4 hours of sun per day, or equivalent indoor lighting such as 12 hours per day under adequate fluorescent lighting).
• It's not watered properly (salt build-up from using the wrong kind of water, root rot from over-watering, or dry soil).
• It's sick (fungus, aphids, etc. etc.).
• It's in shock (e.g. it's not yet recovered (not actively growing) due to transplanting/repotting).
• It's going dormant (flowering in late fall while going dormant is dangerous, but sometimes they do it anyway - they need to be using this time to store up energy, not expend it).

in my case
i get 6-8 hours outdoor sunlight

I use rain water

i havent seen any abnormal growth

i see about 2 new traps coming up every week

and its summer here in the southern hemisphere (the nursery i bought from has cut of the stalk)

So it will have even more energy next year? Would my Venus flytrap die in these conditions?
THANKS you guys explained it much better than the website

i grow outsde. none of my plants have ever died or even became ill from flowering. however, if your growing indoors or in a terra, DONT LET FLOWER!