Larger Traps

[Mondo]

I read somehwere on the net on a neps site that if u cut off the developing pitcher at the end of their leaves after the leaf has developed and the end bit is still small then the next pitcher will be quite large cause the plants previous pitcher was destroyed and it was denied a lot of nutrients. So i wonder if you were to cut the developing trap off the end of a flytraps leafs,lets say you do it to two leaves,i wonder if the next trap will be quite large because it was denied of nutrients cause it's previous two traps were destroyed and it needs this next one to work so it makes it spectacular? When i get more flytraps(years away)i'm gonna try this and see if it will work.

(Edited by Mondo at 8:40 pm on Dec. 15, 2001)

 

[Alvin Meister]

I'm not sure that would work

Wouldn't it just make it weaker? It needs all the leaf space it can to photosynthesise and besides which, it seems a bit cruel to hack at your flytraps

 

[Guest]

If you want large traps and vigorous plants try this. I did this one year after my dad had come back from fishing and now I do it every year.
Simply place a maggot in each trap. You may have to wait untill they slow right down before they pupate as they can wriggle out of the traps. Maggots are 98% digestable! all that is left is the skin! Most of the time my plants develop an active growth spurt producing traps sometimes 3"in length!
BUT occasionally the opposite happens. The plant must think that its recieved plenty of nutrients and instead of producing large traps, they produce trapless petioles! Vigorous but utterly useless! 'The venus flytrapless'
Growth returns to normal in about 2-3 weeks though!

 

[Mondo]

Interesting,Alvin i wasn't saying cut the whole leaf off just the trap!

 

[FlytrapGurl]

I did that once on my first VFT. The only thing that happened was a new trap grew in it's place. The new, full grown trap was as good as microscopic{literally}. So don't expect anything great.

 

[Oli G]

On my common VFT two new leaves with traps started to grow, the tiny developing traps went black though and started to rot, so I cut them off. I think it was because they has some soil stuck to them which made them too moist. There is now just two little leaves.

I have noticed a new trap and leaf is sprouting so I will be able to see if it will become the biggest trap on that plant to date... let the experiment begin!