What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

How many trigger hairs..

  • Thread starter dewy
  • Start date
  • Tags
    vft
How many trigger hairs are normal for a typical VFT? The reason I ask is because I was looking at my typicals the other day, and some of the traps (.50 to .75" long) have like 8 trigger hairs on each lobe, giving 12-16 on the trap. I've never noticed this before, so this could be normal. I can get some pictures of them tomorrow if needed.
 
Three per lobe is usual, although if one is missing or doubled up it is usually (but not always) the center trigger. The maximum I've seen so far on any of my plants is 10 total.
 
Three per lobe is usual, although if one is missing or doubled up it is usually (but not always) the center trigger. The maximum I've seen so far on any of my plants is 10 total.

Alright so one of my plants I counted 16 trigger hairs, I assume this is a little unusual? It's not just some of the traps, but all the traps on this plant have excessive amounts of trigger hairs (6-8 per lobe).
 
That sounds pretty unusual to me. Do you have photos of it? I'd love to see it. I think that there is a named clone in circulation that has an excessive number of trigger hairs. It might be "Alien" or "Freak", but I can't recall for sure.
 
Yep here are some pictures of it, I had a hard time getting it in focus so you can see all the trigger hairs, but it's clear enough that I think you can count them all. I counted 17 or 18 I think on this particular trap.

P1080803.jpg


P1080806.jpg


P1080808.jpg
 
Wow, I've never seen so many! Are they consistent, on every leaf?
 
Wow, I've never seen so many! Are they consistent, on every leaf?

Well right now only 2 traps on this plant are open (the other are new or have bugs in them) but the two on this plant but have 16 and 18 trigger hairs respectively.
 
Very cool! Great photos too.
 
Wow, guess this plant doesn't miss a meal :-))

The pattern seems a little erratic though, maybe some outside influence is causing them to grow like that.

EDIT: on second thought, it actually looks pretty symmetrical except two hairs missing on one of the sides... Maybe you got yourself a new more efficient breed.
 
  • #10
Yeah what's odd is except for the two missing hairs on the left side, they match up almost identically. And it's not just one plant doing this, I have around 7 plants that are producing extra trigger hairs, all of them came from the same plant via divisions, so it would seem it might be a stable trait? I sent one off to another grower so we will see what happens, if it continues doing this next year what should I do? Is it a possible cultivar or are their already ones out there like this?
 
  • #11
I sent one off to another grower so we will see what happens...

I'm that other grower :-O. Yeah, thanks Dewy for picking me to experiment on your plant :).

if it continues doing this next year what should I do?

Crazy numbers of trigger hairs aren't going to do very much good. Debris, water drops, small bugs...all these will trigger the traps more readily than a normal flytrap. I have a few 6 trigger hair guys that always have every trap closed with a fly. VFTs are good at what they do already. If more trigger hairs were better, vfts in the wild would have more!

However, assuming that it's in the genes, I don't think that this plant is particularly pretty. Personally, I like the symmetry of 3 trigger hairs per side of trap; but that's just my opinion :-))

So, I'll grow one plant and see if growing conditions affect the amount of trigger hairs produced.

By next summer we'll know for sure!
 
  • #12
You'd probably need to send it out to more than one other grower and you'd probably have to see if clones of their clones are stable too so you're probably looking at two or three years at the bare minimum. The more variation on growing conditions the better.

Bob Ziemer could probably give you a better idea since he has registered at least one Dionaea cultivar. Tamlin could also provide some insight as he has registered several Drosera cultivars.
 
  • #13
You'd probably need to send it out to more than one other grower and you'd probably have to see if clones of their clones are stable too so you're probably looking at two or three years at the bare minimum. The more variation on growing conditions the better.

Bob Ziemer could probably give you a better idea since he has registered at least one Dionaea cultivar. Tamlin could also provide some insight as he has registered several Drosera cultivars.

The question is, IF it's stable and continually produces multiple trigger hairs, would it even be worth it to try and register as a cultivar? Other than that it doesn't have a whole lot of difference from a typical VFT that I can tell. It does stay more greenish and only turns a light pink color even though it's in full sun, sort of like the green vft almost.
 
  • #14
That's probably up to you to decide, Dewy. Ask yourself: Is this really worth cultivar status? Would other growers desire plants like this?

If you decide to pursue it, those that control the registration of cultivars will probably have the final say.


NAN: Dewy is sending it to one grower just to see if it still keeps the trait. Meanwhile, he'll probably be propagating them and experimenting himself. If it does, then he'll probably send it to more growers. But I can't speak for him (sorry Dewy!) In my collection, almost every vft consistently produces 6 trigger hairs, with the odd extra here and there. So, I believe that I'll be able to give it a "fair trial" at least. Also, Do remember that it costs money to ship plants to several growers...and it costs plants too!

I don't know much on the subject, so good luck Dewy, and feel free to disregard my advice and opinions :)
 
  • #15
Doing pretty much as SDCP's mentioned, I'm growing/propagating the one's that exhibit this characteristic so that I can send them out to other growers in the future, if this trait is consistent. As of now I have around 7 or so plants showing this, but I'm in the process of repotting them and seperating them from my other vft so I'll be able to observe them next spring and see if this process is repeated and is stable or not. Come spring time I'll most likely send a few more out if it's still producing multiple extra trigger hairs. I have noticed now that even the small vft of this type exhibit this trait. I have one with about a quarter inch trap, and another that's got a 1/8 inch trap, and they both have 10+ trigger hairs as well. It's harder to see them on these plants as they are so tiny lol, but I can see they have 10+ as well.

As far as cultivar status, I have no clue if other growers would be interested in this form? I will say it forms a very nice trap when fully grown, very wide and large compared to my other vft. The size of the one I sent you SDCP's, rivals my biggest bigmouth vft traps.. While my other typical vft with the normal amount of trigger hairs are much smaller. So it would seem that these vft produce bigger traps than my other typicals as well as more trigger hairs.
 
Back
Top