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By Nikson
Posts:  422
Joined:  Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:47 am
#384287
I was at my local Sprouts and found that they were selling the famous Rocket Farms Venus Flytraps that I always see posted online everywhere, the ones that come in the cylinder deathcube. However, I noticed a few of them were growing little "bushes" of flytrap heads.

Is that normal behavior? What does it mean? I wasn't sure if I should buy this one with a LOT of tiny little heads everywhere, so I ended up getting a more normal looking one, but was wondering if I missed out on something, or if these bushy looking ones will just all end up dying off anyways.

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By michijake
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Joined:  Mon May 17, 2021 1:36 am
#384291
Hopefully someone with more technical knowledge will jump in here, but basically, the little bushes are good! It means there’s either a new growth point that has formed on the rhizome of the main plant (which you can carefully break off and replant as long as it has at least one root attached to it) or it’s a completely separate, smaller plant that they stuffed in there to make the whole thing look healthier. In either case, you’re basically getting an extra VFT.
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By Nikson
Posts:  422
Joined:  Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:47 am
#384297
Oh wow, that's really cool! Darn, I should have gotten that one instead and gotten a free plant out of it instead!

Ended up getting this one instead, since it looked pretty healthy and more normal at the time:

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The Rocket Farm ones are so strange, they're so bright green+red and they look almost unnaturally colored. I think I read in another thread here that they blast them with lights or something right before shipping? So scared of putting it outside, I feel like if I did that immediately all the leaves will burn off.
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By Sundew grower
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Joined:  Sun Apr 18, 2021 7:26 pm
#384300
I think the bush is because It's coming off of a high of whatever chemicals they use in a tissue culture. I would give it a little bit of outdoors sunlight and see how it reacts. If it starts to burn acclimate it slowly. If it doesn't, you can just leave it outside the whole time.
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By michijake
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Joined:  Mon May 17, 2021 1:36 am
#384318
Nikson wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:13 am Oh wow, that's really cool! Darn, I should have gotten that one instead and gotten a free plant out of it instead!
Don’t feel bad, the one you got looks great!
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By MikeB
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Joined:  Sat Apr 25, 2020 4:13 pm
#384322
Nikson wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 2:04 am I was at my local Sprouts and found that they were selling the famous Rocket Farms Venus Flytraps that I always see posted online everywhere, the ones that come in the cylinder deathcube. However, I noticed a few of them were growing little "bushes" of flytrap heads.

Is that normal behavior? What does it mean? I wasn't sure if I should buy this one with a LOT of tiny little heads everywhere, so I ended up getting a more normal looking one, but was wondering if I missed out on something, or if these bushy looking ones will just all end up dying off anyways.
The Venus flytraps from Rocket Farms are produced by tissue culture. The chemicals used in this process can linger in the plant's tissue, causing it to sprout a bunch of offshoots. After a few months, the chemicals will break down, and the production of offshoots will drop to a normal level. Most of the offshoots will survive, so you get a bunch of flytraps from just one pot.
Nikson wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:13 am The Rocket Farm ones are so strange, they're so bright green+red and they look almost unnaturally colored. I think I read in another thread here that they blast them with lights or something right before shipping?
They definitely do something strange to produce this coloration. I bought 3 of their plants from Walmart this spring. After I acclimated them to direct sun and put them with my other flytraps, the crazy-red color has disappeared.
Nikson wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:13 am So scared of putting it outside, I feel like if I did that immediately all the leaves will burn off.
Do the direct-sun acclimation routine: 1 hour of morning sun per day for the 1st week, 2 hours per day for the 2nd week, and so on until they're getting at least 5 hours of sunshine every day.
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By Nikson
Posts:  422
Joined:  Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:47 am
#384359
I had a feeling it had something to do with the tissue culture, after reading about it! The colors are so interesting, I think I read in another thread they blast them with a lot of light before they ship them out to get them that way? It's so weird how they're like neon green and the outside and insides of the traps are red!

I'll definitely follow your advice on the sun acclimation! Do I always do morning sun until I hit 5 hours of morning sunshine, or just for the first week? After I hit 5 hours of sunshine, am I free to start leaving it completely outside for full sunlight? Also, if I can't get morning sun on some days, is it alright to use indirect sunlight in the shade instead?
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By MikeB
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Joined:  Sat Apr 25, 2020 4:13 pm
#384387
Nikson wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:38 am I had a feeling it had something to do with the tissue culture, after reading about it! The colors are so interesting, I think I read in another thread they blast them with a lot of light before they ship them out to get them that way? It's so weird how they're like neon green and the outside and insides of the traps are red!
I think the color spectrum of the light has a lot to do with bringing out the bright-red trap color.
I'll definitely follow your advice on the sun acclimation! Do I always do morning sun until I hit 5 hours of morning sunshine, or just for the first week?
Morning sunshine for the entire acclimation process. The sunlight is less intense during this part of the day, so that makes it easy for the the plants to adapt to it.
After I hit 5 hours of sunshine, am I free to start leaving it completely outside for full sunlight?
My flytraps get sun from dawn until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and they're happy with that. If your plants are getting late-afternoon sun, keep an eye on them. This sunlight can be very intense, and it might start burning the leaves.
Also, if I can't get morning sun on some days, is it alright to use indirect sunlight in the shade instead?
It isn't sunny on every morning, so don't worry about it. The idea is to ease the plant into more and more sun. The process is akin to getting a suntan. No one in the right mind plops their butt down in the sun for 6 hours on the first day; that would literally peel the hide right off you. You want to increase your sun exposure day by day to let your skin adjust to the amount of sun.
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By ChefDean
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Posts:  9236
Joined:  Tue Sep 18, 2018 12:44 am
#384393
Nikson wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 2:04 amHowever, I noticed a few of them were growing little "bushes" of flytrap heads.

Is that normal behavior? What does it mean? I wasn't sure if I should buy this one with a LOT of tiny little heads everywhere, so I ended up getting a more normal looking one, but was wondering if I missed out on something...
The bushy heads are simply multiple growth points. As the Rocket Farms VFT's have a lot of small points, it's best to just repot the whole thing after purchase. Then, acclimate it to full sun as quickly as possible and let it do its thing.
When it's close to coming out of dormancy the next Spring, divide it, and you'll likely end up with 8 to 12 plants.
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