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Leaf Cutting Care

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Plant Planter

Plant Planter

The Most Uncreative Name in the History of Ever
In an attempt to clone my now vigorous flytrap, I took a leaf cutting, since it's just the beginning of spring, it's still cold here in northern Ohio, and I don't want to risk my plant, especially since I just discovered that it's beginning to divide. How am I supposed to take care of a leaf cutting, if they work at all? Right now I take care of it just like I do my other plants, but the leaf has started to wilt. Also, how long should it take for the leaf to take root, if at all? This is yet another thing that my mad scientist brain has decided to do. At least all that's at stake is a leaf. I would appreciate any advice or experience on the topic of leaf cuttings! :D
 
As goldtrap mentions in the sticky for taking care of vfts, "You can pull a leaf off with its white base intact and place it on top of peat moss or long-fibered sphagnum moss. It will make plantlets in a few weeks if done carefully."
 
But I took a leaf CUTTING, i.e., I cut off a leaf with no white base and buried it in my other plants' mix.
 
I might as well just sit on my hands for a month, since Green1 had a "Dracula" leaf pulling produce growth from both ends and the middle, which could show that they don't necessarily NEED some base to grow. It's not like I had anything to lose, after all.
 
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Koalie's right. If you took a leaf with no white base, it will not grow. It's simple as that. The white base will allow the leaf to produce a plantlet. It may have been referred to as a pulling, but it's the same thing. To make a VFT leaf pulling/cutting, you pull the leaf gently away from the base so you take some of the whitish base of the leaf with it. Then place it on top of the soil and sprinkle a small amount of soil on top of the leaf base. Just lopping a leaf off partway down the stem and burying it won't produce a VFT. Maybe that guy cut a leaf off and took some of the base with it. My advice would be to buy yourself a copy of Peter D'Amato's The Savage Garden. All of these questions you have been asking are answered in that book.
 
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I do agree that it is valuable to have a bit of the white rhizomal tissue on a cutting / pulling; though, the last time I did that, plantlets began forming on the opposite end of the leaf -- along its margins -- when it was placed on some live sphagnum . . .
 
But I didn't put it in some Sphagnum, I just buried the end of it in this weird seed starting mix (no fertilizer! :)) that's supposedly a synthetic substitute for peat moss, placed a clear glass over it, and put it under my lights with my other plants. I've been taking care of it like all my other plants, and I also did the same with my Drosera spatulata and my Pinguicula primuliflora, i.e., I took a cutting of each and did the same thing as I described above.
 
The kind of cutting you described will work with many species of Drosera, but not with Dionaea; those require a piece of the whitish root section to work.
 
Whimgrinder: Yes, I did in fact do the same with my Drosera spatulata.
Sundew: Yes, thank you very much, I have read Barry Rice's FAQ on carnivorous plants.
 
I've wanted to try this on of a few of my vfts but so far the leaves don't seem to want to let go without me taking up the whole plant. :( That's been an issue with every cp I try to do a "pulling" from. Do I snip and then pull?
 
To take a leaf PULLING, unpot the plant, wash the dirt away from the roots, choose a healthy outside leaf, grab the top, and pull it DOWN AND AWAY FROM THE PLANT. Then, lay it in moist long-fiber Sphagnum. Putting it in a plastic bag would help with humidity, and baby it like a normal plant. Within a month, if you did everything right, you should see little nubs of growth.
 
Ah, that would explain why It seemed like I would need to uproot the plant in order to do it safely. Thanks. :)

Not sure I want to do it afterall though... It's taken me several attempts to get a media mix they really like and I hate to bother it... Maybe next time I go to repot them, like this fall time.
 
Do it in spring, after they come out of dormancy. It's not good to disturb them when they're trying to go to sleep. :sleep:
 
Contrary to what a couple of people have stated here, it is possible to successfully propagate Dionaea from leaves without any part of the white rhizome (as BigBella has already correctly stated). However, it is much more challenging to do and requires a fairly "clean" environment so that the leaf doesn't rot before plantlets start forming. For this reason, live sphagnum or long fiber sphagnum is a better choice than peat.
 
Something really weird is happening with my leaf cutting. Most of the leaf is a disgusting yellow-brown hue, :puke2: but the base of the leaf (near the soil) is now turning red down the center vein (or whatever the thing in the center of the leaf is called). I have no idea why or how this is happening, or if it's good or bad. I hope it's good.
 
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The rest of the leaf has long since turned yellow and black, but the part nearest to the soil is still green and is red down the center. WHY???
 
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