I bought a nice big VFT a couple weeks ago... and i came to the realization that one of the leaves is twisted like a twist tie almost... its weird... and the leaf curls around another trap... should i leave this phenomenon there? has anyone else seen anything like this? i will try to get a picture of it up soon...
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Deformed Trap
- Thread starter wallyisawalrus
- Start date
I have just repotted my VFT (before hand the leaves were a bit twisty) and now they are really curled (making the repotting rather difficult). The traps and leaves are all sort of intertwined.
Also the stems aren't strong enough to support the traps and most of the traps are partially resting on the ground. (the plant only has 8 leaves/stems and the traps are all about 1" in length). Could this be due to a lack of something (humidity/light/water)?
Also the stems aren't strong enough to support the traps and most of the traps are partially resting on the ground. (the plant only has 8 leaves/stems and the traps are all about 1" in length). Could this be due to a lack of something (humidity/light/water)?
I know first hand that humidy determines whether the leaves are on the earth or are suspended in the air. When i got my Vft 1 year ago, it was a little tiny thing which had all its leaves on the soil. Now it is 3 times the size and all but one of the traps are virtually vertical. My Vft is in a aquarium on a windowsill with a piered lid for air.
Note also that there are 2 different types of leaves, spring and autumn. Spring leaves lend to me long ones which are vertical, and autumn ones are shorter and are thicker leaves.
Note also that there are 2 different types of leaves, spring and autumn. Spring leaves lend to me long ones which are vertical, and autumn ones are shorter and are thicker leaves.
Hi Wally, Is it the petiole (the leafy part below the trap)that is twisted or the base of the trap itself? I have had the trap spine base on some common VFTs come out twisted around in a 360 degree loop on occasion, they never quite unwound as they developed and came out sideways or even pointed down! If two of these developed side by side and tangled they could easly do a "twisty tie" thing, I would not worry too much about it.
Oli, some varieties do have leaves strongly curled down as normal growth, if the traps are well colored your light is ok, if they are pale, weak or mostly green then boost the light levels, but 1" traps sound healthy so yours may just like hugging the ground! My plants usualy have about 6 to 8 leaves at any one time under strong light conditions, I think that the "50 leaves per plant" situations develop under lower light conditions when the plant is trying to grab as much light as possible but still growing OK. If your color is OK give it some time and see if the summer growth does not straighten the leaves out for you. M2CW.
Oli, some varieties do have leaves strongly curled down as normal growth, if the traps are well colored your light is ok, if they are pale, weak or mostly green then boost the light levels, but 1" traps sound healthy so yours may just like hugging the ground! My plants usualy have about 6 to 8 leaves at any one time under strong light conditions, I think that the "50 leaves per plant" situations develop under lower light conditions when the plant is trying to grab as much light as possible but still growing OK. If your color is OK give it some time and see if the summer growth does not straighten the leaves out for you. M2CW.
I have had this happen on my Green Dragon VFT. Occasionally leaves come out with twisted petioles as you describe, but sometimes it's even weirder. One of the leaves on it has a notch in the petiole extension, and another has one side of the trap smaller than the other, which obviously would not be effective in digesting prey! =P
you can see a few of my collection as well as my twisted VTF petiole at http://www.angelfire.com/retro/carnivores/ .... i just threw the pictures up and i am going to bed now...
You let your plant grow flowers !!! This drains the plants energy, so this might be why the plant does not have enough strength to hold up the leaves. Unless you do actually want to get seeds from them, you should cut the flower stems off as soon as they start coming up. I would not cut them off now though, since the plant has already used lots of energy sending up a massive stem. Read the FAQ at http://www.sarracenia.com/faq.html to get info on how to do this if you are not sure.
i would say that flowering has caused your leaves to curve, i let my vft's flower all the time and i havnt not had a victim of death yet, it, flowering really makes vft's morph into weird shapes, or greatly decrease the trapping size, but i believe that it is greatly worth the end result of seeing the flower and getting seed
i also have some weird *** vft's they look alot like your one trap but there like that all over, but whatever it is i love it! oyu shoudl enjoy your special vft if it isnt the flower draining it energy...
i bought the vtf a couple weeks ago...the pictures with it flowering are from about a week and half ago... i cut it off after i got those pictures... but the funny thing is... the traps are bigger than i have ever seen any on any vtf before... and it still didn't seem like it stole much energy out of it... i would have liked to let it flower... but no one has actually recommended it... maybe i will next year... but i don't know...
Same old story, different thing i'm gonna talk about though....
Ok, I saw this VFT at a store where they cant take care of CPs, and there werent many left, and they were all dying. I chose the one that looked like grass, with small heads at the end. There was a small clump, and it looked like grass, thin thin thin thin petioles with a half cm trap at the end... none were open, juts a mall nub. Itook it home, un potted it, and there were SIX babies, light starved babies. That explaints why they look like grass. Anyhow, they were all twisted, and thin, like that one trap u have. Maybe it developed under the shade of the leaf that it is corkscrewing around
That is my idea, but wutever, if it doenst work, please disregard... hehehheehe...
Ok, I saw this VFT at a store where they cant take care of CPs, and there werent many left, and they were all dying. I chose the one that looked like grass, with small heads at the end. There was a small clump, and it looked like grass, thin thin thin thin petioles with a half cm trap at the end... none were open, juts a mall nub. Itook it home, un potted it, and there were SIX babies, light starved babies. That explaints why they look like grass. Anyhow, they were all twisted, and thin, like that one trap u have. Maybe it developed under the shade of the leaf that it is corkscrewing around
That is my idea, but wutever, if it doenst work, please disregard... hehehheehe...This is a couple of pics of the curly low lying leaves of my vft (bearing in mind it is recovering from re-potting! - but I am told it will be okay?!?)
http://www30.brinkster.com/og9840/vft1.jpg
http://www30.brinkster.com/og9840/vft2.jpg
Do you think think this is to do with humidity? I was thinking of getting a propagator with air holes etc. to put it in as it lies on a north facing window (receiving less light at the moment in England).
Good idea? Or not?
Replies greatly welcomed!
http://www30.brinkster.com/og9840/vft1.jpg
http://www30.brinkster.com/og9840/vft2.jpg
Do you think think this is to do with humidity? I was thinking of getting a propagator with air holes etc. to put it in as it lies on a north facing window (receiving less light at the moment in England).
Good idea? Or not?
Replies greatly welcomed!
I doubt it is actually to do with humidity personally. I grow many of my VFTs on a windowsill in NW England with no humidity problems. I suspect it is probably the flowering that caused it and it's not unknown for VFTs to do all sorts of weird things, such as double traps and traps being grown on flower stems.
so worth the wait and trouble....