FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I thought I would share my first successes with asexual reproduction. Both of my VFTs sent out multiple flower stalks during the late Winter/early Spring period. I chopped them off and popped them in some spare soil I had lying around. I'll admit I forgot about them after six months and wasn't anticipating any success. But several weeks ago I noticed a few tiny growths around one of the stalks.

A few more weeks later and these are the results.

At least I know what to give friends and family for their birthdays.

Incredible that it takes so long -- and it still works! Congratulations for not tossing this long ago. Are these from fancy flytraps?

Sadly not, just typical flytraps as far as I can tell. I rescued one last year from Homebase, which has since split into multiple plants. I've considered whether I want to try my luck with a B52, Sawtooth, or All-Green but haven't worked up the courage yet.

I might have to invest in a greenhouse soon as my windowsills are getting overrun.

Did all of the flower stalk cuttings strike? From the pictures, it looks like 4 out of 5 striked.

Yeah it looks as though 4 out of the 5 have. Not sure about those strange little spots on the one in the foreground though.

Wow. What conditions did you keep them in? I've had a flower stalk cutting in dead long fiber sphagnum moss for around a month now and I haven't seen any growth. I'm not giving up though, it hasn't molded up yet so I believe there's still hope.

I just stuck them in a small plastic pot with some carnivorous plant potting mix I had lying around. (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Carnivorous-Fo ... nt+compost (Other brands are available)).

Put the pot in a ziplock food bag with some deionised water in the bottom and left it on my windowsill.

It took some time and I'd almost given up hope, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it worked. As long as the entire thing doesn't rot I'd recommend just leaving it for as long as it takes, a year if you have to.

Some websites recommend sticking the flower stalk in the soil as I did but The Savage Garden by Peter D'Amato suggests cutting the flower bud off the stalk and covering the end with some peat. I might try that next time to see if I can avoid the plantlets clumping like they have here.

LostAshford wrote: The Savage Garden by Peter D'Amato suggests cutting the flower bud off the stalk and covering the end with some peat. I might try that next time to see if I can avoid the plantlets clumping like they have here.

I agree with the value of cutting the flower bud off of the stalk because it prevents the flower stalk from rotting at the top. It is best to cut the flower bud off the stalk when the stalk is around 0.25 inches tall and leave the stalk connected to the mother plant. Then let the stalk continue to grow connected to the mother plant until it is 1 inch tall. This way when you cut the flower stalk off of the mother plant, the wound from cutting the flower bud at the top tip of the stalk has healed. This two cut approach creates a flower stalk cutting that lacks a flower bud and only has one unhealed wound. There is zero top rot with this approach.

Sticking the cutting in dense live sphagnum prevents bottom rot due to the anti-fungal juices that live sphagnum emits.

Finally, using a humidty dome helps prevent things from drying out.

Is only the lower end of the flower stalk able to sprout plantlets? Or could a stalk be positioned horizontally for growth at both ends?

schmeg wrote:Is only the lower end of the flower stalk able to sprout plantlets? Or could a stalk be positioned horizontally for growth at both ends?

Some members here have had success with the method you are describing with strikes popping up randomly all along the stalk. The key is using live sphagnum moss to thwart decay.

you guys inspired me. I had several clones blooming and being unable to prevent cross pollination I thought this was the way to go!
Anton