FlyTrapCare Forums

Hi all,

I've had my Venus Fly Trap for a few months now and it's been growing well. I have a few questions though (below the picture)



1) Should I be repotting this VFT to a bigger pot?

2) I've seen pictures of VFTs where the leaves seem rigid and are strong enough to hold themselves up. However the leaves on mine are being held up by the edge of the pot - is that normal?

3) I've let the stalk grow a bit - I wanted to do that so I could get some seeds. I was aware that allowing the stalk to grow takes energy away from helping the traps to grow but now I've read that allowing the stalk to grow when the plant is small can cause irrepairable damage. If that's the case should I cut the stalk or do you think it would be ok to let it bloom?

Thanks

I read somewhere that the only reason to keep the flower is to gather seeds. If you don't want to do that then there really isn't any reason to let it bloom. It uses up energy that from the sound of which your plant doesn't seem to have. (but the image wont load for me... so I cant see it.) I don't know about the repotting though.

Also I'm relatively new, so listen to other peoples ideas before acting on it.

yer_man wrote:1) Should I be repotting this VFT to a bigger pot?

I would. That pot isn't very deep and that plant is fairly large, so repotting to a deeper pot (it doesn't need to be any bigger around though) would benefit the plant.

yer_man wrote:2) I've seen pictures of VFTs where the leaves seem rigid and are strong enough to hold themselves up. However the leaves on mine are being held up by the edge of the pot - is that normal?

Sometimes plants grow upright and sometimes they lay down. The leaves on your plant do look a bit thin and wispy, so perhaps you just recently got it and it had been growing in one of those plastic cubes or tubes where the humidity was very high and the light levels very low. That would cause the growth to look like it does.

yer_man wrote:I was aware that allowing the stalk to grow takes energy away from helping the traps to grow but now I've read that allowing the stalk to grow when the plant is small can cause irrepairable damage. If that's the case should I cut the stalk or do you think it would be ok to let it bloom?

I don't know of any irreversible damage that is caused by flowering unless the plant is small and/or weak in which case flowering can exhaust and kill it. If you want the seed and know how to pollinate the flowers, you can let it finish flowering. That plant looks reasonably healthy. But don't try to repot it while it's flowering.

Good luck!

Thanks Matt - I appreciate you taking the time to answer