FlyTrapCare Forums

I decided to try and experiment with some cuttings I had taken a few months ago and put them in test tubes. Just wondering if what is in the pics is what I am supposed to be looking for and what I should do next. The VFT is a Big Tomato purchased from @MikeB. There is also a D. Dreamsicle from a trade I did with @Panman and a couple of D. Cape Sundews that I believe are also from @MikeB. They have been in the test tubes for close to 2 months. They all started out brown so I am thinking since there is now green that I did something right, just not sure what the next step is.

Congratulations.
You have baby plants.
When you can see roots appear, it is time to pot up the plantlets in media.
I put a bag or dome or plastic cup over them for the first month to keep the humidity very high and let the new plants get used to being out of water and in the air.
After a month, remove the cover but keep an eye on them.

I thank you. That is the help I was seeking.

On another note, where about in WI are you located. I ask because I was born in Kenosha. Mom and Dad left there shortly after and the only time I returned was the day after John Lennon was killed as I was in the Military, on my way back to MT via Greyhound. What a long, strange trip it was!!!!

andynorth wrote: ↑Tue Jan 09, 2024 8:24 pm I thank you. That is the help I was seeking.

On another note, where about in WI are you located. I ask because I was born in Kenosha. Mom and Dad left there shortly after and the only time I returned was the day after John Lennon was killed as I was in the Military, on my way back to MT via Greyhound. What a long, strange trip it was!!!!

I'm in the Milwaukee metro area, very close to the airport, maybe a mile and a half away from Lake Michigan.

Would it be advisable to use a rooting compound for any of them or just let them grow out?

I never bothered with rooting compound.
In my experience, they grew roots on their own just fine.

I've got a few of my own to pot up. I generally use the same medium as for seed starting; 50/50 peat/perlite topped with a 1/4 inch layer of chopped sphagnum. I separate the sprouts by cutting the leaf they are attached to while trying to leave as much leaf still attached. I then bury the original leaf and base of the sprout in the chopped sphagnum.

andynorth wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 11:04 am Would it be advisable to use a rooting compound for any of them or just let them grow out?

I wouldn’t bother with rooting compound. I’ve never found it necessary.

Andy, I've had a hard time deciding what was roots and what was tentacles...things get a little blurry over time that the leaves are in the water, at least for me it dose. I've moved plantlets smaller than yours to a peat/perlite mix with little problem (if any)...I really don't know whether they had roots at that point or not. As others have mentioned I try to retain a part of the leaf with the plantlets. I make a small, shallow trench with a small plastic "stick" I keep around for poking/moving/plowing/whatever. Then I take the plantlet and trimmed leaf section and lay it in the trench and with the plastic stick gently press the plantlet down into the trench...sometimes I even use a finger to press them into the trench. Once I've got the plantlet mostly in place I'll nudge some of the peat moss or sphagnum moss up against the leaf part and plantlet to insure it is in contact with moisture. Then I mist it heavily to settle the grow mix around the baby plant. I cover the pots (actually 8oz styrofoam cups) with some of those milkshake lids with the large twenty-five-cent-piece sized hole in the top. This creates a nice moist environment but yet gives good air exchange. When I stop and get a malted milk or a shake I've asked for a couple of extra lids and explain I use them to grow carnivorous plants...I think it befuddles the workers and they hand me a half-dozen or so! For the 8oz cups I'll keep an inch of water in the tray...keeping it really soggy works for me. I place the cups beneath good lighting...something like 3-4 inches from my white Yescoms. As they settle in and I can tell they're starting to grow I move them closer to the Yescoms. Don't cook them, though. The white Yescoms are only 22-watts, so they work pretty good close to the plantlets. I've got some 1" tall plantlets growing now that I moved beneath my Viperspectra XS1000 (100-watt) and I have them probably 15-16 inches from the light and they're growing well. Having said all of this, the are all filiformis plants so I don't know how it would go with other species. I've only done this maybe a half-dozen times but I've never had a fungus or mildew issue doing it like this. This is just how I do it...

I will say that it seems that sticking sections of filiformis upright and down into live sphagnum moss creates some nice big plantlets. I'm still undecided on the water props, though many of the good growers do really well with water propagation. I'll still be trying water propagation, but I'm not quitting the sphagnum propagation quiet yet, either.

Update: Just a couple pics of the end (beginning) result of my first ever leaf pulls. Quite excited even though they are still quite small.

andynorth wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 3:56 pm Update: Just a couple pics of the end (beginning) result of my first ever leaf pulls. Quite excited even though they are still quite small.

Congrats!
That's a significant step.

Thank you. So as long as I know where the names came from I am allowed to label all plants, including my VFT's as the same leaf cuttings they came from, correct?

Correct.

I have decided since my first attempt worked out so well that I am going to give the same a try with all my named cultivars. I should have done this back in November/December when I first bought them. A number of them are not doing so well after coming out of dormancy. I am hoping they will pull through but it is not looking so good ATM.