FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Thanks Matt! I'll definitely keep that in mind.

My Nepenthes sanguinea decided to put out some more basal shoots if you are willing to trade.

The cold winds from the North seem to be stalling growth and causing some old growth to die back. Good, more room for new growth later on. No flower stalks yet. The big Wally pot was left out overnight and caught some frost. Wally is another flytrap that I notice does all right in the chilly weather.

Wishing that everyone, along with their loved ones are healthy and doing well right now.
I know I'm looking forward to having some beautiful Spring days to do some fly trapping.

I've decided to let the Wally pot go to flower for the first time instead of cutting the stalks. I'm genuinely excited to see what the offspring will be like. As usual, the leaf hopper nymphs showed up on cue and were quickly evicted within a week by giving them a daily spraying of Captain Jack's (Spinosad.)

Do you have other flytraps that might cross-pollinate? Or will this be pure Wally?

GreenOhio wrote:I've decided to let the Wally pot go to flower for the first time instead of cutting the stalks. I'm genuinely excited to see what the offspring will be like. As usual, the leaf hopper nymphs showed up on cue and were quickly evicted within a week by giving them a daily spraying of Captain Jack's (Spinosad.)

Hopefully they keep lots of those Wally genes!

That's a really good question... Yes, I do have some typicals beside them and some Low Giants as well. The buds are still closed so there is still time to separate them or put flower socks on them to prevent cross pollination. Just a side note, Wally (or any other cultivar) crossed with itself does not give you more Wally's. Every one of the offspring will be a seed grown individual that is unique. Most will fall in the typical category, some may be special enough to become a new named cultivar. It would be cool to create an inbred line of VFT's. As far as I know, there are no flytrap "strains" so it would be a milestone to create the first line, though it would be a long-term project. All of the Bug Biting Plants death cube typicals have very similar features and the same phenotypes consistently have popped up in the seeds from them I've sent to other people who have grown them. Another thing that would be an interesting project would be to back cross a Wally to a Bigmouth (Wally's mother) and then cube it. Flytrap breeding is in its infancy and will definitely be a more talked about topic in the future.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday!

Living their best life! Also, hats off to the flying ants that have been doing all the pollinating for me.

First off, I'm wishing everyone on the West coast well. I've seen too many photos and videos of the infernos out there, and the damage is horrendous on so many levels. Yet again, sorry for the late update I'm well overdue. On a personal note life has been chaotic, overwhelming, and laced with sorrow the past 6 months for me. I'm thankful for what I do have, as I feel blessed to be part of a great community and have met so many awesome people this year.As I looked at the northern Ohio sunset, I realized something was off. Even here the sun was eclipsed out by smog in the western sky. In all seriousness, this is a wake up call that we need to care for our world and people now more than ever. Wally is looking awsome as usual. I successfully flowered them out and as of late, the seeds are starting to sprout. Should be very exciting. I've recently begun to take up tissue culture and hope to create legions of many hungry mouths throughout late Fall and Winter.

I'm also considering splitting the whole pot up to do a foliar fertilizer experiment next year, we'll see. Many great things are in store for Wally. Stay safe everyone.

GreenOhio wrote:On a personal note life has been chaotic, overwhelming, and laced with sorrow the past 6 months for me.

I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope things calm down and are brighter in the future. I believe that many people feel similarly about their experience in the last 6 months. I'm not sure if that's comforting or concerning but know at least that you're not alone.

My dad called me this morning from Missouri to tell me that the smoke from our fires here in Oregon reached his house yesterday evening. Wow...just wow. It is super horrible here, but I never thought that the smoke would reach all the way into the midwest.

GreenOhio wrote:I'm also considering splitting the whole pot up to do a foliar fertilizer experiment next year, we'll see.

Oh, please do! I too am going to do a bit more experimenting with fertilizing flytraps and Sarracenia next year.

Thanks for the update and for sharing the photos of your amazing pot of Wally flytraps!

Very nice plant. I'm sorry to hear things aren't going well right now. I hope that turns around for you soon. Fires reaching the midwest is crazy, wow. This year has been terrible all around. Hoping you guys are staying safe.

As far as fertilizing goes, I'm also wanting to experiment with some flytraps. I'll be doing osmocote with my Sarracenia after dormancy. I've been curious about low dosages on VFTs but I won't have a comfortable amount of divisions for a while :/ I did however request some of Matt's seeds from the seedbank so maybe I'll do something over winter with that. I've been pretty abusive when it comes to feeding them maxsea though. So far I haven't had any real negative effects on them but they're also baking in the sun for hours. About time I ramp that down so they can go through their natural process.

@Matt: Thanks for the kind words. I certainly feel troubled by everything that's been effecting the world, but also feel a sense of solidarity with shared experiences. I feel the future will be more optimistic and better days are ahead. This too shall pass.

@Apollyon: Thank you. Hoping you, your family, and loved ones stay safe as well. I actually was thinking of trying that with Sarrs and Osmocote as it's worked well for the one Nepenthes I own (ventrata.) With flytraps they are quick catch, quick digest. So I'm not sure if it would be as effective to use a time and heat release fertilizer with them. Probably a diluted foliar spray would be best.

I've been debating on wether or not to go with Maxsea or do a VERY dilute mix of Jack's Classic, as It's my preferred fertilizer for garden plants. What's got me stumped is what NPK ratio is best for flytraps? Maxsea is 16:16:16. Has there been any research on what is released during the digestion, and in what quantities from house flies? I'd imagine VFT's like the balance to be more on the Nitrogen side. Also, micronutrients will be important but who even knows what VFT's like in terms of that. So much to be learned about these amazing plants.

GreenOhio wrote:What's got me stumped is what NPK ratio is best for flytraps? Maxsea is 16:16:16. Has there been any research on what is released during the digestion, and in what quantities from house flies? I'd imagine VFT's like the balance to be more on the Nitrogen side.

That's what I've always thought. I'm not sure how MaxSea became the go-to fertilizer for CPs, but I tend to prefer something higher in nitrogen for my plants. I've got two containers of Maxsea and I've not used all that much of it. I think I get better results with the high-nitrogen Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro 9-3-6, though that's just anecdotal at the moment. I've not done a side-by-side comparison of regular fertilization with Maxsea and Dyna-Gro. Something to think about for spring 2021!

GreenOhio wrote:Also, micronutrients will be important but who even knows what VFT's like in terms of that. So much to be learned about these amazing plants.

I've not experimented at all with micronutrients outside of tissue culture, but I'll be you're right that they could be important.