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Leaf pulling accident.

Well, as the title sugests, I had an accident trying to get a leaf pulling off my 'Akai Ryu'. I was going to take a leaf that was beginning to die and use it since I've struck a dying leaf before. Well...I got a little more than I wanted. Two more pieces came with it from two dead leaves and...the whole root system...So now my 'Akai Ryu' doesn't really have any roots now, but still has the rhyzome. Will it live? I also noticed a thing popping out of it which seemed like it might be more roots? So hopefully, if the 'Akai Ryu' doesn't live, I might have a better chance of striking, right?

Edit: This happened yesterday and the main plant still seems fine.
 
the main plant will seem fine for now, I'd be suprised if you didnt lose most of the leaves currently there... the plant is going to freak out since it has no way of getting what it needs and it will focus entirely on rebuilding its root structure so the leaves are going to drop and blacken and as I said you'll probably lose them.... for a while it'll look like nothing is happening, no matter how bad the plant looks for the next 2 weeks dont remove it again. any more shock and it may not forgive you... just wait until you see new growth treat it like it was perfectly okay and in a couple weeks you may start seeing it rebound...

I'd say your odds are really really good of a perfectly fine recovering ... I've got an almost perfect strike rate with leaf pullings with no root system and a small piece of rhizome, you've got all the rhizome of the main plant to work with... your going to be fine

Chris
 
Ok, that's good to hear. I pulled out about less than a third of the rhyzome, though. I still find it odd that the whole root system just happened to be on that part of the rhyzome.
 
Only time will tell. After all what are the possible outcomes?

1 - The main plant dies.

2 - The main plant grows new roots.

3 - The main plant strikes off one or more plantlets.

What are your options?

a - do nothing and hope for 2 or settle for 3 above.

b - take a few more pullings to maximize your chances of a strike and still hope for 2 or 3 above.

What you do is up to you.
 
...I think I might take another leaf pulling. Thanks for the replies!
 
yeah you may cut the remaining main plant into smalle divisions and wind up with a bunch :)
 
Well, I just checked on it and it is now ill looking.
 
Maybe I've just been lucky, but it seems to me that even if there is just a small portion of the rhizome left (any white part at all), the plant seems to grow new roots.

My guess is if you just leave everything the way it is, you will end up with two healthy plants, but the leaves on the division without any roots may die before the plant grows new roots and puts out new leaves.
 
This happened to me but with my Royal Red. However three roots were still left in place on the main plant, so I guess i'm lucky. I planted the torn off bulb into the other side of the pot and it has yet to grow. :/ But my main plant is doing fine :)
 
  • #10
You know you can propagate vfts by using their flower stems....saves you from damaging your plant and uses something that otherwise would just be discarded.

Plus you get quite a few plants from this method,especially when lying the flower stem horizontally on the medium.

Good thing vfts produce long flower stems to stop any potential pollinator from being ensnared in their traps lol as it creates an abundance of new nodes when planted.

Just refer to cpuk forum for details as i have never attempted this so far as i've only recently discovered this method and so probably shouldn't be giving out advice on something i've never done lol

You can propagate vfts from pretty much any part of the plant:water:

Refering to your observation about why the plant had more roots on one side of the bulb as opposed to the other is explained in the article below where the plant grows more leaves on one side than the other as a way of trying to dig deeper into the ground, as a way to perhaps help the plant protect it'self from the harsh conditions it lives in.

Thus the plant is concentrating on growing new bulb tissue and so has simply created a growing point on that side of the bulb in order to do so and explains the absense of roots as these would interfere with the growing tip and supress it's downward movement.

http://www.strato.net/~crvny/sa03005.html

This behaviour isn't suprising considering vfts live in a place that recives regular fires,hurricanes,floods,extremely high temperatures and occasional frosts.
 
  • #11
Thanks for the information, Macca :). Sadly, it doesn't have a flower stalk. And for the other part, from what I understood, you're basically saying that the plant was trying to focus on one part of itself, right? Also, were you trying to say that the other side is a new growing point?
 
  • #12
Managed to track down those articles on propagation from flower stems on cpukforum-enjoy :rookwoot:

http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26328

http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=27604

What i was trying to explain is that the vft according to that article i posted earlier will use more nourishment on creating new tissue on one side of the bulb as opposed to the other as a way of trying to propel it'self downwards-by doing this on the opposite sides every other year the plant eventually begins to drill it'self into the ground.

No the other side is not a new growing point if you mean in the way a new plantlet is formed but simply a term i used to try and explain more easily the process i was refering to-seems i've caused some confusion.

Please remember this downward drilling movement is just an observation by one grower and i am unsure how much weight this process has in proven fact.

Some photographs i've found of vft in various growth behavious to try and demonstrate what i'm talking about

A photo showing how the plant grows more leaves on one side more than the other, and is what i was refering to by using the term growing point(which probably isn't the right term to use, but it's all i could think of, perhaps prolific leaf formation is more accurate?)- and shows how this causes more bulb tissue to form on that side leading to the plant being lopsided and you can imagine how it uses this action to sink into the ground by doing this on opposing sides every other year.

http://www.hungryplants.nl/images/flytrapbulb.gif

Photo i found of plant with small amount of root structure with no uneven leaf growth showing perhaps what i'm saying isn't correct and i can't really explain why one side of your plant has fewer roots that the other....i think the bulb below is on a plant exhibiting rosetted growth pattern?

h t t p : / / w w w . p i t c h e r p l a n t . c o m / i m a g e _ f o l d e r 1 / h o l d _ f l y t r a p . j p g

Personally i find my vft all look like the first bulb picture shown, with roots growing on two thirds of the bulb, as opposed to your observation of roots found on only one third of the bulb...

Did you notice you plant was noticeabley growing it's leaves in a way that it was migrating downwards?

I'm unsure exactly whats going on here lol and all i've tried to do is apply knowledge gained from reading about these plants and applying it rationally to your observations although i have to admit i am no expert and have no other suggestion as to why your plant only has roots growing on a small section of bulb other than they must impede downward movement by growing in the way of the plants downward path and so the plant doesn't deploy them on that side?

My thoughts are just that, my opinion, with no scientific basis whatsoever so please don't go talking about this as proven fact, more just someone's thoughts.

Hope this helps although i think i'm confused at the moment:confused: :blahblah9xm: :headwall:

I only have a pot of crested petioles, and i notice there bulbs look like drillbits, with the leaves growing in a spiral like pattern with one side more lopsided than the other.

Although remember there are a lot of factors that influence vft growth habit( i have no clue whatsoever what they are lol)which can explain rosetted or lopsided patterns like described here and i can't begin to understand all the intricacies of this plant and is why i am fascinated by it so much-i revel in it's almost mythical nature.

My advice would be to ask one of the heavyweights of the cp world why this occurs lol as i'm just a novice grower:scratch: lol sorry i know this doesn't help much and has probably done your head in lol sorry!
 
  • #13
I think I understand what you're trying to say now. Sadly, I didn't take a good look at the rhizome of the VFT. I'm not sure if I should check on the roots or not...then again, I'll have to wait for about a week since I'm leaving early tommorow.

Edit: Contacted.
 
  • #14
Yes, I know this is sort of an old thread, but I would like to say that I'm sure that it's fine seeing that it has two new leaves growing :) And it was today that I noticed that the pulling has struck. The whole leaf is dead, but the fraction of the rhizome I pulled is still white. Can't wait for this one to grow :3 (seeing I killed my first pulling :rolleyes:).
 
  • #15
So I accidently split my Royal Red awhile back. However a huge chunk of the rhizome with its roots were pulled off, so I buried that and the other measly chunk had three roots but had produced three traps. Ironically, the small and measly bulb survived and the other bulb decomposed in my pot :/
 
  • #16
Sorry to hear that :/, but at least you still have one.
 
  • #17
interesting observation macca. Having grown many vfts...I have also noticed its corkscrew lifestyle.

look at these rhizomes.

2458158951_59522080f2_o.jpg


not all plants show this though. It means that the plant has an optimum depth range given which it grows its rhizome like an onion rather than the singular straight down pattern. U can see both in my pic above.
 
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