bannister wrote:dmagnan wrote:Regular potting soil for veggies and houseplants are full of utilizable nitrogen, vitamins, and salts in excess, so plants grown in those media have plenty of everything to spare and can grow as fast as they want/are able. That includes things like growing leaves and flower stalks at the same time. Peat moss has very low concentrations of nutrients and they are released slowly over time as it breaks down, so flytraps grown in it can't grow very fast. If they want to grow a flower stalk, they have to use the limited resources on that INSTEAD of growing new leaves. The idea is, that's why plants first developed carnivory, to supplement their nitrogen supply from the soil.
That is a good point. But carnivorous get their nutrients from bugs, so if they are catching enough bugs wouldn't regular plants and carnivorous plants be equal in terms of getting nutrients? That still doesn't explain this rule of cutting of flowers just for Venus Fly Traps, and not all plants in general. I'm trying to understand the logic and science behind it all.
Like I said, most plants grow much faster than VFT's so while cutting the flowers may make them grow quicker it's not noticeable so why do it. Plant a VFT seed and a tomato seed at the same time and you'll see what I mean. VFT's grow so slow that milestones are measured in years, so any growth boost you can give it is significant.
But more importantly most people aren't growing their VFT's for seed so there is no reason to let it flower. The flowers aren't all that pretty and they only stay open a day of two.
Plus, how many non carnivorous flowering plants can you think of that people don't grow for the flowers yet still have a significant flower? No one is cutting the flowers off a rose bush because that's the reason it's grown. I really can't think of more than a couple plants I grow that flowers and I don't need it to. Other than herbs which I mentioned in my previous post.
And finally, since most CP's flower via stalks the work input from you to cut them is negligible and typically worth it for the results. You make one cut per plant, maybe two if it sends an other stalk. My rosemary flowers and cutting them may be beneficial but there are hundreds all over the branches so the effort required on my part is not worth the benefit of cutting them.