FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

@Matt I wanted to comment on your video, but I can't comment on that thread. I had a question for you. What are the specs on the lights on your grow rack?

@Panman, after I posted the video in the "News & Announcement" section, I realized I should have done it here! Thanks for starting this thread. For those who haven't seen the video, here it is:


Those lights on the TC grow rack are just cheap T8 fixtures from Wal-Mart with 6500K bulbs in them. I've also put a filter of either textured plastic or white paper over the lights to damp down the strength of it. Plants in tissue culture need far less light than plants in soil.

I was wondering about that. I thought, "Dang, those are far from the light."

Panman wrote:I was wondering about that. I thought, "Dang, those are far from the light."

Yeah, with too much light in tissue culture, the plants just don't grow very well. In some cases, cultures are started in complete darkness!

Man I'm looking forward to the Archangel and Tichterfalle lol. I've been wanting the first one for a while now. Great video!

@Matt Thanks for the tips on lighting. I wasn't aware that they prefer much lower light levels in vitro or are even grown in the dark. Mine are currently under Barrina LED strips (2-foot, 24 watts.) I'm assuming because sucrose is so available to them in the agar mix that photosynthesis does not need to occur at a normal rate, also why they can thrive in a jar with little carbon dioxide available.

I'm also using those same CultivarJars G9 and Phytocaps. I have been having contamination issues which I believe may have to do with the jars not being completely sealed. Is that why you have them in Ziplock baggies?

I'd be very interested if you made a video on taking explants and encouraging callus induction in VFT's.

GreenOhio wrote:Thanks for the tips on lighting. I wasn't aware that they prefer much lower light levels in vitro or are even grown in the dark.

@GreenOhio, yep, some cultures have far more success initializing in the dark. I think I read that in "Plants from Test Tubes" or learned it in another book over 10 years ago now. I've not picked up a TC book recently, but I probably should refresh my skill and knowledge set and learn about any new techniques people are writing about.

GreenOhio wrote:I'm assuming because sucrose is so available to them in the agar mix that photosynthesis does not need to occur at a normal rate, also why they can thrive in a jar with little carbon dioxide available.

That sounds like a pretty good guess to me, though I don't know for sure!

GreenOhio wrote:I'm also using those same CultivarJars G9 and Phytocaps.

I'm actually using baby food jars. There weren't any pre-made jars that size when I started. Good to know they exist now!

GreenOhio wrote:I have been having contamination issues which I believe may have to do with the jars not being completely sealed. Is that why you have them in Ziplock baggies?

One day while sitting in my office looking at the cultures I had going, I watched an ant snake its way through the sealant wrap and crawl under the lid and right into one of the cultures! It was right after that when I started bagging all my cultures. I really didn't have much in the way of problems with latent contamination, though it did happen from time to time. And if ants were crawling in the culture, then external contamination was certainly possible! But the PPM in the media will keep almost everything at bay quite well without using the baggies.

GreenOhio wrote:I'd be very interested if you made a video on taking explants and encouraging callus induction in VFT's.

I'm sure you and many other people would! The learning curve for TC work is steep but once you're over the hump it is quite easy to TC plants you're familiar working with. I'll likely not do a video like that unless there were significant interest in it and it was a pay-per-view type of thing. I've toyed with the idea of offering a class to learn tissue culture of most carnivorous plants, much like Carol Stiff of Kitchen Culture Kits does with her in-person workshops. But it's just too proprietary to give that sort of information away for free. I've spent 10 years and countless hours learning how to do this stuff and have gotten quite proficient at it, but it would be easy to show someone how to do it in about 10 minutes. And it really is the foundation of propagating enough plants to be able to operate FlytrapStore, at least in its current form.

One day while sitting in my office looking at the cultures I had going, I watched an ant snake its way through the sealant wrap and crawl under the lid and right into one of the cultures!

@Matt: Great observation! These new G9 jars are easy to cap and work with. Obviously they can't be completely air tight else they'll explode during autoclaving, but from what I can tell there isn't a large enough gap for something the size of an ant to slip through. I'd imagine if one could do it with sealant film/tape it would be possible though. The caps lift up a little to release the pressure and are easily pressed back to closure.

it's just too proprietary to give that sort of information away for free.

I had a feeling your answer would be along those lines but figured I would try asking. Honestly, I was quite suprised to see you had shown as much as you have already. I can certainly understand wanting to protect the trade secret.

I have a background in biological science which has certainly helped with getting around the learning curve for me, but everthing is still very much trial and error. If you should ever decide to teach a pay-per-view class that would be something I'd consider doing, even if I had the technique mastered. I think there are so many advancements waiting to be made in the horticultural science of Dionaea and other carnivorous plants. This may eventually prove to be a key factor for their conservation in the wild.

GreenOhio wrote:@Matt: Great observation! These new G9 jars are easy to cap and work with. Obviously they can't be completely air tight else they'll explode during autoclaving, but from what I can tell there isn't a large enough gap for something the size of an ant to slip through. I'd imagine if one could do it with sealant film/tape it would be possible though. The caps lift up a little to release the pressure and are easily pressed back to closure.

I've never seen a G9 jar, but I was absolutely stunned to see a little sugar and be able to weave its way through sealing tape and under the lid of the jar. The baby food jars with the PhytoCaps don't have any sort of visible gap in them either.

GreenOhio wrote:I had a feeling your answer would be along those lines but figured I would try asking. Honestly, I was quite surprised to see you had shown as much as you have already. I can certainly understand wanting to protect the trade secret.

@GreenOhio, Never hurts to ask! Yeah, there's a reason that it's incredibly difficult to find much information online about how to tissue culture particular species of plants. In fact, I think the FlytrapCare tissue culture page might be one of the best online to give people somewhere to start.

GreenOhio wrote:I have a background in biological science which has certainly helped with getting around the learning curve for me

I'll bet! I didn't have any background in the field other than a few biology and chemistry lab classes I took as an undergrad, but we never did any TC work in those labs.

GreenOhio wrote:everthing is still very much trial and error.

Yep. That's why most people don't want to give away their protocols. What takes years, in some cases, to figure out can be easily communicated in just a few minutes. That's a lot of value in intellectual property to just simply give away for free.

GreenOhio wrote:If you should ever decide to teach a pay-per-view class that would be something I'd consider doing, even if I had the technique mastered.

That's good to know! Maybe someday!!

GreenOhio wrote:I think there are so many advancements waiting to be made in the horticultural science of Dionaea and other carnivorous plants. This may eventually prove to be a key factor for their conservation in the wild.

Possibly, but I think the main challenge most carnivorous plant species face -- and pretty much all endangered species for that matter -- is the loss of habitat. Poaching does impact some populations but the vast majority of wild plants are far more threatened by draining wetlands to put in strip malls, housing, business, etc. I think far more emphasis should be put on the conservation of natural wild spaces. If that were to happen, then I think the vast majority of threatened species would be far better off. And for those that are endangered or near extinction, then perhaps tissue culture could be used to propagate thousands of plants to repopulate nature with.

Matt wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 5:10 pmPossibly, but I think the main challenge most carnivorous plant species face -- and pretty much all endangered species for that matter -- is the loss of habitat. Poaching does impact some populations but the vast majority of wild plants are far more threatened by draining wetlands to put in strip malls, housing, business, etc. I think far more emphasis should be put on the conservation of natural wild spaces. If that were to happen, then I think the vast majority of threatened species would be far better off.

And it's not just draining the land, plowing it under, or paving it over. One big issue is overgrowth of vegetation due to lack of forest fire. I know this is a sore topic for ya'll out west, but around here, fire suppression causes a lot of harm to carnivorous plant habitat. Small brush fires every 3-5 years help keep the habitat open. When people stop this from happening, the bushes and trees will shade out the carnivorous plants (and suck up a lot of water). And when there actually is a fire, it's a roaring monster due to the huge buildup of debris instead of low, fast-moving burn.

Matt wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 5:10 pmAnd for those that are endangered or near extinction, then perhaps tissue culture could be used to propagate thousands of plants to repopulate nature with.

FYI - After some low-life poachers raided the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden back in 2013, the horticultural science department at a local community college launched a tissue-culture project to grow replacement flytraps.

MikeB wrote:I know this is a sore topic for ya'll out west, but around here, fire suppression causes a lot of harm to carnivorous plant habitat.

Well, to be honest, our current predicament out here in the west is also due, in large part, to fire suppression. I sat on the Ashland Forest Lands Commission for 4 years and learned a lot about why we are having such extreme fires these days. Basically what has happened is that all fires have been suppressed out west for the better part of 100 years. This has left 100 years worth of fuel lying around on the forest floor! Studies of fire scars on many older trees show that for the majority of areas out west, low-intensity fires were a regular occurrence that happened between every 3 and 7 years. Native Americans would often set fires to flush out animals to hunt and, obviously, fires would start naturally too from lightning. But there was an attempt to put out all fires that ever started for many years and they were quite successful at doing so. That means when a fire starts, the fire has way more fuel than it would have historically and burns far hotter, resulting in very high-intensity and very hot fires that cause much more damage and truly wreck the forest and habitat killing even the oldest trees that historically would have survived the low-intensity fires.

MikeB wrote:FYI - After some low-life poachers raided the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden back in 2013, the horticultural science department at a local community college launched a tissue-culture project to grow replacement flytraps.

That's awesome! When I visited the Garden back in 2014, I got to see FTS Crimson Sawtooth growing in a native setting. That was pretty awesome to see an easily identifiable plant that I started from seed growing in nature!

Matt wrote:Well, to be honest, our current predicament out here in the west is also due, in large part, to fire suppression.

We have the same problem on the east coast, but the rain and humidity usually discourage forest fires. A few years ago, a big forest fire broke out in the mountains of North Carolina during a drought. I live 300 miles east of it, and I could smell the smoke here.

Don't some of the conifers out west rely on fire to open their seed cones? No small brush fires means no new tree seedlings. And big forest fires also means no new tree seedlings because the cones are turned to ash.

MikeB wrote:FYI - After some low-life poachers raided the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden back in 2013, the horticultural science department at a local community college launched a tissue-culture project to grow replacement flytraps.

Matt wrote:That's awesome! When I visited the Garden back in 2014, I got to see FTS Crimson Sawtooth growing in a native setting. That was pretty awesome to see an easily identifiable plant that I started from seed growing in nature!

In 2017, I donated 30 Drosera filiformis var. filiformis plants to the garden. I drove down there on a Saturday morning, met up with Jesica from the Coastal Land Trust, and planted the sundews in the flytrap area. I'm planning to go there again in May 2021 to see how the plants are doing.

MikeB wrote:Don't some of the conifers out west rely on fire to open their seed cones? No small brush fires means no new tree seedlings. And big forest fires also means no new tree seedlings because the cones are turned to ash.

That's correct. Some closed-cone conifers rely on fire to open their cones and disperse their seeds. But if the intensity of the fires very high, the seeds will be burned as the cones open.

MikeB wrote:In 2017, I donated 30 Drosera filiformis var. filiformis plants to the garden. I drove down there on a Saturday morning, met up with Jesica from the Coastal Land Trust, and planted the sundews in the flytrap area. I'm planning to go there again in May 2021 to see how the plants are doing.

Nice! Be sure to post some photos here!!

Matt wrote: ↑Tue Nov 10, 2020 7:08 pmWhen I visited the Garden back in 2014, I got to see FTS Crimson Sawtooth growing in a native setting. That was pretty awesome to see an easily identifiable plant that I started from seed growing in nature!

Do you remember roughly in what area it was planted? I'll try to find it (and its descendents) and post a picture.

MikeB wrote:Do you remember roughly in what area it was planted? I'll try to find it (and its descendents) and post a picture.

That would be great! Yeah, I could probably walk to the spot where I saw it but, having not been there in many years now, am not sure I could describe it. It was near the middle back of the garden off the left side of the path as one walked from the parking lot entrance area to the far backside of the garden. I will have to see if I can find an aerial map and mark where I think I recall seeing it...