FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Do you get a “fresh” plant or would that leaf pulling that became a new Venus flytrap have the same age as the plant you got it from?

That is an interesting question. When you propagate fruit trees, for example, if you graft the wood from a fruit producing tree (mango) onto new root stock, your tree is able to make fruit. When you air layer a fruiting tree (like a lychee), you are continuing to get fruit on the new plant. Even with Nepenthes, when you vegetatively propagate the plant from a cutting, it is the same.
Since leaf pullings are vegetative propagation, I am gonna say it is the same age as the plant you got it from in the sense of the maturity. Of course, the cells are newly generated, so in that sense it is a “fresh” plant.

Thank you for the response I can see in theory how this works. I’m curious as to what resets the age of the plant besides starting from seed. Would a rhizome essentially be a new life cycle or just a continuation. Hopefully worded my question well, I just want to have a lot of plants by time my boys are older.

With leaf-pull propagation, you get a new sprout from the leaf, so that is a baby plant (a new life cycle). It's the same thing as a division that sprouts next to the parent plant.

MikeB wrote: ↑Fri May 28, 2021 2:22 am With leaf-pull propagation, you get a new sprout from the leaf, so that is a baby plant (a new life cycle). It's the same thing as a division that sprouts next to the parent plant.

**sorry if a dislike appears in your notifocations,I accidentally touched it when I was scrolling on my phone.
Anyways,
This seems kind of off.The guys at carnivorousplants.org put some leaf pullings in peat,and according to the photos,6 months after they put the propagations into the soil,they got what appears to be an adult plant.
I'm not sure if they are wrong,you are wrong or if that is just a very vigorous vft.

Hmm, it could be an adult plant, because it is from a small part of an adult plant’s rhizome. But it forms a new rhizome, so it could be a new plant, once the original leaf dies. Just my 2 cents.

MaxVft wrote: ↑Fri May 28, 2021 3:41 am This seems kind of off.The guys at carnivorousplants.org put some leaf pullings in peat,and according to the photos,6 months after they put the propagations into the soil,they got what appears to be an adult plant.

Are you talking about this article?

Dionaea Leaf Pullings Step-by-Step
https://www.carnivorousplants.org/grow/ ... afPullings

Those flytraps reached a good size in 5 months, but they aren't adults. Keep in mind that they're planted in rose pots, 2.5 inches x 2.5 inches. Also, I have no doubt that the author (John Brittnacher) grew them under optimal conditions: lots of light and plenty of food.

Any idea why the author of the article linked above cuts off the traps when repotting?

I think for either to help give the plant more energy into making roots instead of keeping a trap alive, or to further simulate that the plant needs to push out new roots because the old plant is dying. The last part is essentially what you’re tricking the plant into by taking a leaf pulling.

schmeg wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 2:30 pm Any idea why the author of the article linked above cuts off the traps when repotting?

I find that to be very odd. Even if the trap doesn't close, it's still green and capable of photosynthesis. I never cut off perfectly good traps when repotting.