FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Matt wrote:

ThomasL wrote:Like the skin of a dragon. Just a idea.

Yeah, I like the idea of having "dragon" in the name

Red Dragon
Green Dragon
Petite Dragon

meh

xr280xr wrote:Very cool! Thanks for the pics.

Matt wrote: Trichterfalle x Coquillage (Thinking of naming this one FTS Fuzzy Arms )

FTS Chewbacca?

i would love to get "fuzzy chewbacca"

Dragon's breath !

fuzzy arms looks very cool i want to see how they are in huge

Wahter wrote:FTS Fuzzy Arms definitely looks like something I'd like to get eventually.

Thanks for the "this is what we're up to at FTS" post.

Dionae wrote:Wow, I want a Fuzzy Arms.

Keep eating your greens, it'll happen.

With all due respect to Matt, Steve, and the other American Trailblazers in the CP field, and also taking into account my limited knowledge of reality, it seems that the Europeans are at least a few years ahead in the bizarre cultivar realm. My traps off to them.....

sbrooks wrote:With all due respect to Matt, Steve, and the other American Trailblazers in the CP field, and also taking into account my limited knowledge of reality, it seems that the Europeans are at least a few years ahead in the bizarre cultivar realm. My traps off to them.....

Yes, they're probably a decade ahead of us, perhaps more. For some reason, there weren't very many people here in the US actively breeding flytraps until very recently. There still aren't very many people making interesting crosses, most likely because the majority of the genetics in the US is "giant" flytraps and we're only just now getting these weird, interesting and genetically diverse plants distributed here in the US.

It seems to me most people in the US seem to fixate on getting the "biggest" flytrap possible. The majority of previous breeding attempts that I know about here in the US (with the exception of Bob Ziemer's work) were mostly done in an attempt to generate larger traps. This may be a cultural phenomenon. I think the average American believes that bigger = better. In Europe, they seem to appreciate the diversity and unusual clones much more. Most of my orders from Europe don't include a DC XL, which I find interesting. That's the plant that is in highest demand here in the US.

To be honest, I'm completely bored with "giant" flytraps. Once you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I love B52 and DC XL a lot. And sure, big traps are awesome and I love them as much as the next person, but I'd prefer a lot of genetic diversity in my collection and the ability to cross those genetically diverse plants to create something more interesting and unusual than another plant with big traps.

I like big flytraps but i'd rather have flytraps that look weird. I like the ones with the wicked teeth the most.

Interesting topic! The question of size is the go to question when it comes to introducing venus fly-traps. I'm interested in color and general growth habits .

I think the average American believes that bigger = better.

Definitely. And once something's as big as it can get, we need more of it in unlimited amounts! I wonder also if there's a common misconception about the size of flytraps in the US. When I showed my dad my collection, he was surprised how small they were, despite there being lots of traps over an inch in size. For some reason he thought they were like 6" or something in that range. Made me wonder what kind of flies he's used to seeing... But also if something back in his day gave them a reputation for being larger, swamp-dwelling monsters.

I mostly just like larger flytraps because I can see those diverse traits more easily without squinting!

xr280xr wrote:When I showed my dad my collection, he was surprised how small they were, despite there being lots of traps over an inch in size.

Yes, that's a general misconception as well. In my experience selling plants at the farmer's markets and showing them to friends and customers, many people's first reactions when seeing a full-grown plant is something along the lines: "Oh, look at the baby flytrap!" or "Do you have any that are full-grown?"

I wonder why. Before I started growing them, I thought the giant size traps were typical because they're shown more frequently on tv specials and stuff like that. But I never thought they were like the size of my hand or larger. That's cool that you've sold them at farmers markets. That would be a fun table to come across.

Matt wrote: Yes, that's a general misconception as well. In my experience selling plants at the farmer's markets and showing them to friends and customers, many people's first reactions when seeing a full-grown plant is something along the lines: "Oh, look at the baby flytrap!" or "Do you have any that are full-grown?"

Whenever I resell plants, people are only concerned with size ONLY. They don't care unless they are in the hobby. Europeans are into plants that are exotic and temperate since that is their collective climate I would imagine. High population density and lack of weird ignorance due to advertising/go big or go home attitude have affected our variety.

However, I'm most curious as to which European clones and varieties are more desirable or interesting?