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Ask questions about how to grow and care for Venus Flytraps

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By tracieh
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Posts:  422
Joined:  Wed Oct 30, 2019 2:30 pm
#351394
I was an idiot who listened to someone else say it's ok to let your vfts flower as long as they are healthy. Well I had a big beautfiful B52. My favorite plant. I figured it would be great to get some seeds and get more. It started out good. The traps were large and a nice reddish pink inside and it had quick reflexes when I fed it still. It started growing a second flower which I cut off. Within the past 4-5 days it all started turning black. I think it may have been root rot? I bumped it tonight and it literally fell apart. This large piece (see pics) is all that I have left. I realize it is way too late to cut the flower. There is a white tip at the end of what I assume is a root? I'm not sure what it is exactly to be honest because its a lot thicker than the roots. Maybe it's just the rhysome? In any case is this savable? Or will I hopefully just get some seeds and something that amounts to a leaf pulling? I added a pic of it after I replanted too. There are some marks on some of the traps that are left that look odd too.
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By Fly Trap Hunter
Posts:  746
Joined:  Fri Jun 30, 2017 3:56 am
#351397
this is better answered by Matt and he will likely pop in. but i would definitely say the flower stem zapped most of the energy out of the rhizome, and you have some rot. you can salvage the leaves by trimming off the brown and planting what is left of the white rhizome in some moss.
and i dont know if you will get seed because i cant see the seed pod, assuming it got that far.
i learned the same lesson last year with a carolina red traps, flowering definitely can and will kill them. i did what i just told you and i got a couple divisions out of it. If it was a plant i really want around, i would buy another one. it will be a long time before the divisions get bigger from whats left.
You know. you win and you lose but you learn and grow. i have killed hundreds of fly traps and sarracenia while learning. i had 50 fly traps growing and turned the seed tray upside down and lost all but 8. lol i couldnt find them.
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By tracieh
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Posts:  422
Joined:  Wed Oct 30, 2019 2:30 pm
#351400
Flower pod. Best pic I could get.
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By Benny
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Posts:  530
Joined:  Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:46 pm
#351401
It may not be developed enough for the plant to survive the rest of the process. IMO you should cut it now. It may be worth the risk to you, but to me it is not.
By Copper2
#351402
You could try to get strikes on the flower stalk after cutting it
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By tracieh
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Posts:  422
Joined:  Wed Oct 30, 2019 2:30 pm
#351403
If I cut the flower do I bury the whole stem or plant just the bottom in the lfs?
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By Coco
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Posts:  268
Joined:  Mon Jul 08, 2019 3:07 am
#351407
For the flower stem, you can either plant it vertically (about half an inch to an inch in your choice of media) or you can plant it horizontally (maybe a few cm in the soil where you're not completely covering the flower stem).

There's different results from vertical vs horizontal. With vertical, you can get one flytrap that'll grow quite fast. With horizontal, you can get multiple flytraps but they'll be on the smaller side.

To ensure that you can propagate via flower stem, keep the media damp and never let it dry out, high humidity, and a sunny spot like a windowsill. It'll take a few months for you to see anything. Wish you the best of luck!
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By steve booth
Posts:  1221
Joined:  Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:15 am
#351414
Flowering will not harm a healthy plant, but does draw energy from the rhizome and traps to achieve its purpose, yours I'm afraid, by the look of whats left, was not healthy and its possible that the plant tried flowering as a chance of reproducing before its demise.
There is no chance of that plant sustaining the flower and subsequent seed production, it is simply more energy than the plant can produce even by sacrificing whats left of the leaves and rhizome.
Cut the flower stalk off and try reproducing from that, put what left of the plant in some media and keep wet for a while, it may start to recover.
Good luck
Steve
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By evenwind
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Posts:  2160
Joined:  Sun Jul 07, 2013 4:16 pm
#351419
One bright-ish note: If you do get plantlets from the flower stalk, they will actually be B52s, unlike any seeds you might have produced.
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By Matt
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Joined:  Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:28 pm
#351421
tracieh wrote: I think it may have been root rot?
Looks like crown rot.

tracieh wrote:There is a white tip at the end of what I assume is a root?
Yep, that's a root!

tracieh wrote:In any case is this savable?
Yes, definitely. The new root growth is a good sign, but it appears that you will likely end up with several very small plants once it starts growing again.

It would appear that you are growing indoors? We always recommend against growing flytraps indoors. And I would extremely strongly recommend ever letting an indoor flytrap flower. It weakens the plant so much that all of the disease lurking indoors will almost certainly be able to take hold of the plant in that weakened state.
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