FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

What would you recommend be the best vft cultivar? Nothing special, thanks

There is no "Best" cultivar. And it's all subjective anyway. What I might find as the best others may not. Now if you said "What's your FAVORITE cultivar?" then we could answer more easily. I prefer the large growing varieties most.

Like tommyr says, this is a matter of opinion. If you want to know people's favorite Venus flytraps, then you might want to clarify the question.

I think the most popular Venus flytraps are the giant varieties. But I think the "best" Venus flytrap is one that I can take a look at and identify immediately, like Wacky Traps, Korean Melody Shark, BCP Kim Jung-Il, etc.

B52. Its got it all. Inexpensive, extremely vigorous, divides readily and colors up very generously outdoors. Also gigantic traps and the typical upright summer traps followed by the nice rosette during dormancy

VFTNoob wrote:B52. Its got it all.

Well...B52 doesn't grow well at all where I live. It is prone to disease and stays fairly average-looking both in terms of trap size and coloration in southern Oregon -- at least without regular feeding.

Matt wrote:

VFTNoob wrote:B52. Its got it all.

Well...B52 doesn't grow well at all where I live. It is prone to disease and stays fairly average-looking both in terms of trap size and coloration in southern Oregon -- at least without regular feeding.

What's the most vigorous/bulletproof cultivar that you've seen?

Wow thats definitely a testament to how differently these plants grow based on your location. I got mine in the middle of summer and it was fairly small. By the end of the year the traps had almost tripled in size. Also colored up first and fast. Had the bands on the outside that I love so much. I had a division that struggled until I threw it in moss.

As far as bullet proof cultivar, I gotta give it to the G16. Crazy growth and I'm convinced it could grow through a spider mite attack. My G16 never flinched in the hottest of weather and kept trekking along through every pesticide and fungicide that I used on it

elaineo wrote: ↑Sun Jan 10, 2021 4:23 pmWhat's the most vigorous/bulletproof cultivar that you've seen?

Grün: big traps, multiplies like crazy, very forgiving of stupid mistakes (like leaving it in the same pot for too long until the soil goes "sour"). It's a real beast of a flytrap.

elaineo wrote:What's the most vigorous/bulletproof cultivar that you've seen?

I think DC XL is the most hardy flytrap we've ever grown. Out of the thousands and thousands of over 100 different cultivars we've grown here in southern Oregon over the last 10+ years, DC XL is the one that has the fewest health issues and consistently performs well in terms of trap size (spring time only). There are several others that are on par in terms of robustness against disease including, Jaws, FTS Maroon Monster, G16, Grün, Fine Tooth x Red, Wally, Big Mouth, Phalanx, Trev's Dracula, and perhaps a few others. But in terms of size, the spring traps of DC XL are still the largest I've ever seen in person.

SD Kronos consistently produces very large traps, larger than the average DC XL trap but not as large as the largest DC XL trap. It also has a very nice prostrate growth habit and gorgeous coloration. However, it is a little more susceptible to disease than those flytraps I listed above.

VFTNoob wrote:Wow thats definitely a testament to how differently these plants grow based on your location.

Yes, it makes a huge difference if you have very good growing conditions. Our southern Oregon climate is what I'd consider far-less-than-ideal for growing flytraps. Thus, we get a chance to observe how all varieties will perform under stressed conditions at pretty much all times. Our spring weather is about the only time of year that flytraps are very happy here. The days are sunny and mild, though sometimes we have very cold springs, which does cause them to stall. But once they put out their great spring traps and realize that they won't be catching any bugs (we have very, very few insects here in southern Oregon), they don't grow very quickly. Then the summer arrives with temperatures routinely over 100F, with humidity levels down near 20% relative humidity and hot, drying winds. By the end of summer, most of our flytraps don't look very good at all when compared to most of those grown in the rest of the US and EU.

VFTNoob wrote:As far as bullet proof cultivar, I gotta give it to the G16.

Agreed, G16 is one of the very good ones!!

Excellent info, thanks! I'll have to pick up some new cultivars when they are back in stock at FTC. I always thought B52 was about as good as it gets (they do well here in California's desert climate), but we have lots of flies

This makes me appreciate what you guys do even more. Didn't know it got that hot in Oregon! In Louisiana this year, the highest temp was 98. There are some trade offs. In my zone, they may grow well, but they dont color up nearly as well. I'm still waiting on my Purple Ambush to look even remotely close to your stock photos. G16 also has been stingy with the color. I read that coloration can actually vary year to year. This true?

VFTNoob wrote:This makes me appreciate what you guys do even more. Didn't know it got that hot in Oregon! In Louisiana this year, the highest temp was 98.

Thanks! Yes, it is much harder work to grow plants well up here in southern Oregon. The high temperature at our house this summer was 113°F!!!!!!!!! OUCH!!

In addition to that very hot and dry air (<20% relative humidity at times and very rarely over 50% RH), the winds can often gust 20mph in recent years. These conditions are obviously far from ideal for growing most carnivores. It would be so much easier for us to grow nicer plants if we moved to the southeastern US. Leah and I are considering a move back to the farm where I grew up in eastern Missouri, just a bit south of St. Louis. My father would like me to take over the property and it is likely we will do so in the next 5 years, as his health is failing him now that he's nearly 80 years old. Moving to the old Miller farmstead would solve all of our space problems and would provide much, much better growing conditions than we have here in Oregon.

I sent my dad a bunch of flytraps over the years and, while he's a decent grower, he really doesn't take optimal care of them. Nevertheless, his plants look far superior to ours most of the time!

VFTNoob wrote:In my zone, they may grow well, but they dont color up nearly as well.

That's true. The lack of insects and slow overall growth allows for the traps to get very colorful here.

VFTNoob wrote:I read that coloration can actually vary year to year. This true?

Yes, absolutely. Even within the same year for multiple plants of the same exact clone growing side by side, sometimes the color varies drastically between the individual plants. But yes, in our climate the plants do tend to color up very nicely which is nice!

Sorry to hear about your father. Would you still use a greenhouse down there or just let them do their thing 100% outside. Bet there's a lot of full unobstructed sun just waiting to be used on the farm! Your plants would definitely take off. Would be interesting to see how differently all the cultivars grow in your new environment.

113?! Thats insane. Guess its because I live so close to a body of water that it never gets that high. All the flytraps I've gotten from you guys have absolutely taken off within the few months that I've had them. Hadn't thought about all the bugs they catch being part of the reason why mine color up less.

VFTNoob wrote:Sorry to hear about your father.

Thank you. I'm grateful he's mostly OK, but his health problems seem to get more and more frequent. Right now he's in AFib and says he can hardly walk at all without getting winded. He's been very fit and very active his whole life, so that's a big change for him.

VFTNoob wrote:Would you still use a greenhouse down there or just let them do their thing 100% outside.

I would definitely put up a very big greenhouse. They'd do great outside from May through October, but the winters can be very cold there and flytraps in pots wouldn't likely survive most winters.

VFTNoob wrote:Bet there's a lot of full unobstructed sun just waiting to be used on the farm! Your plants would definitely take off. Would be interesting to see how differently all the cultivars grow in your new environment.

For sure! There's a ton of flat land and sunshine to use. I am interested in seeing how differently the cultivars grow in that environment. The ones I've sent him (DC XL, Jaws, FTS Maroon Monster, FTS Crimson Sawtooth and some typicals) all get HUGE in his climate.

VFTNoob wrote:113?! Thats insane.

Agreed. That's part of the reason I'm amenable to leaving southern Oregon. The summers are just so darned hot and dry that it is uncomfortable both for our plants and for us. However, the majority of the year is absolutely gorgeous and the low humidity and lack of bugs is great.

VFTNoob wrote:All the flytraps I've gotten from you guys have absolutely taken off within the few months that I've had them. Hadn't thought about all the bugs they catch being part of the reason why mine color up less.

Yep. When flytraps are well-fed, they produce very little anthocyanin (red pigmentation).