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By Eventerminator
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Joined:  Sat Nov 26, 2016 3:10 pm
#392424
I just cut my B52s flower stalk and planted it into soil. Anything special I need to do? Will it just be all on Lady Luck?
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By ChefDean
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Joined:  Tue Sep 18, 2018 12:44 am
#392429
With mine, I've found that the earlier it's done in the year, the better. Last year I planted all my stalks mid summer because they all sent up a stalk late. No success.
This year they all put up stalks as normal and I had about a 90% success. I just cut as close to the base as possible and plant the cut end about one inch deep.
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By Rammplins
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Joined:  Fri Apr 21, 2017 6:28 pm
#392431
I swear by live sphag. I like to gently half burry the flower stalk on its side and keep it under a growlight and humidity dome. Doing that gives me a strike 80% of the time.
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By Eventerminator
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Posts:  156
Joined:  Sat Nov 26, 2016 3:10 pm
#392434
ChefDean wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 12:02 pm With mine, I've found that the earlier it's done in the year, the better. Last year I planted all my stalks mid summer because they all sent up a stalk late. No success.
This year they all put up stalks as normal and I had about a 90% success. I just cut as close to the base as possible and plant the cut end about one inch deep.
It’s late spring when I planted the flower stalk. Not sure if that would be considered early in the season. This is my first time doing this and my only shot. I’m leaving the rest to flower and seed.
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By Panman
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Joined:  Wed Mar 04, 2020 8:41 pm
#392435
I have a bad habit of pinching off the flower stalks, sticking them in the moss, and forgetting about them. Two months later I have a baby flytrap and I'm like, "Where the heck did you come from?"
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By MaxVft
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Joined:  Sat May 08, 2021 4:17 am
#392501
elaineo wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 8:58 pm I recently got a 100% strike rate on some leaves that were sent to me by MaxVft.
I'm glad they survived!
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By Panman
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Joined:  Wed Mar 04, 2020 8:41 pm
#392503
elaineo wrote:I recently got a 100% strike rate on some leaves that were sent to me by MaxVft.
Ditto on that. Same set up as well. Live sphag, good light, warm and wet. I keep them in a humidity dome but open it daily to refresh the air. No problem with mold so far.
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By Apollyon
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Joined:  Tue May 05, 2020 2:49 am
#392511
Second the half buried high humidity in LFS. I got some that were half dessicated that I'm working with but the rhizome portion is still alive so we'll see how that goes. Never tried that before but so far so good
By davinstewart
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Posts:  343
Joined:  Sat Jul 13, 2013 2:29 pm
#393287
I was able to propagate about 80 flytraps this year at a strike rating of about 70%.

Here's what I did.
  • Wait until the flower stalk was fairly tall (~12") and then cut it off at the base. I usually wait almost until the flower stalks were going to open.
  • Cut the flower stalk up into 1-2 inch pieces.
  • Fill a seed tray with 1:1 peat:perlite soil mix and insert one end of the flower stalk vertically about ~1/2" into the soil.
  • Melt a bunch of holes in a propagation cover and place over the seed tray. This should provide at least 90% relative humidity consistently. High humidity is a critical aspect for successfully striking cuttings.
  • Water with good water (<50 ppm) and place under cool bright lights. You're shooting for about 15 DLI without raising the heat inside the propagation tray beyond 85F. Keep the flytraps wetter than you normally would but not soaking wet.
  • Now the hardest step ... waiting. They should strike in about 2-3 months time.
  • Once the plants have formed leaves you should be able to transplant them out of the propagation chamber and into to their own pots. They should also be placed under stronger light (~15-30 DLI) at this time. Once under stronger light they'll grow even faster. Because of that I try to transplant them as soon as possible. I've found the baby flytraps are amazingly resilient and even clumps without root systems have grown very well for me after transplanting.
Btw, I recommend inserting the flower stalks vertically in the soil because I noticed the strike points are almost always on sections of the plant that didn't receive strong light. I also found that when I lay the cuttings horizontally they had a strong tendency to curl up and lose contact with the soil. At that point, even if the cutting struck then it was frequently on sections that were not in contact with the soil and the baby plants would eventually die off.

By inserting the cuttings vertically, you'll get strike points below the soil surface and the plants will be able to form good root systems. I try not to insert the cuttings more that ~1/2", though, because I noticed the strike points at the bottom of the stalk had to reach up too far to the soil surface and became elongated, fragile, and stunted.

Hope that helps!
By davinstewart
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Posts:  343
Joined:  Sat Jul 13, 2013 2:29 pm
#393288
elaineo wrote:I recently got a 100% strike rate on some leaves that were sent to me by MaxVft. Live spag + good lighting + warmth. As long as you can keep them from drying out, more light makes them strike faster.
100% agree with this. I think it can even affect the success of your cuttings.

I used about 10 DLI for my cuttings this past spring and was propagating 3 cultivars ... maroon monster, b-52, and king henry. The maroon monster cuttings were almost a complete loss while the b-52 and king henry were much more successful. I think this was because the red cultivar needed stronger light to strike.

Imo, keep relative humidity above 90% with temps below 85 and give them as much light as you can under those conditions.
By Dan V
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Joined:  Tue Oct 26, 2021 4:32 am
#401358
Place a 2" piece of flower stalk in a seed germination tray, cover both ends.
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