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Post by nicole on Oct 28, 2013 15:48:38 GMT -5
Hello, Nicole here. I am new to the forum (forums in general actually) so I apologize in advance if I do something stupid lol! I have been successfully keeping vfts for a little over a year now. One thing I have never seen before or read about is a new plant starting on the end of a leaf on another live plant, but this is happening to one of mine right now. . I know some plants like java fern will do this when they are dying as a last ditch effort to reproduce, but since my vft seems fine I cant see this being the case. I have attached a photo (i think!) of this. I'm not looking for advice or anything, just curious if anyone else has seen this before?  Attachments:
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Oct 28, 2013 16:18:18 GMT -5
If you allow it to flower and cut the entire flower and stalk off ,
I never seen or done this with mine(this is the first dormancy for it)
I have a cultivator Called Big Jaws that is already making 1 inch traps
this spring if it sends up a flower stalk I will wait til its long then cut it close to the soil as I can and I have never seen or done this but I will try it and plant a piece of the stalk in the soil and its supposed to create new plants(slowly) as it can take 5 years for a VFT to mature and be a adult plant.
My plant took almost 4 months to grow and open the traps to eat. !
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Post by nicole on Oct 28, 2013 16:31:37 GMT -5
I tried this once before with one of my other vfts, but it didn't work, the stock just died. I know it can work, but it didnt for me the one time i tried it. Another one of my vfts is just starting to grow a flower stock now, so i will try again soon. As for the one that is growing a new plant on the end of its leaf, the photo above was taken.a few days ago and i can see today that it has already grown. I beleive that only vfts started from seed take 4 years to mature, and that ones propagated in different fashions (leaf,flowerstalk etc) dont take as long. I may be wrong though.
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Oct 28, 2013 17:14:18 GMT -5
Mine decided when Dormancy was it was in moist peat,lots of light and the leaves still turned yellow and died,it is in the shed now where its cool only misted 2 times a month to keep the media
moist and might stay there until March or sooner if it wakes up and starts growing.,unless something happens beyond my control and the plant gets killed off,I inspect it for mold(too cold for insects)everytime I mist it...I have been lucky so far lol!
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Post by shoggoths on Oct 28, 2013 17:25:19 GMT -5
Nicole, VFT can easily be propagated by leaf or stalk pulling. The leaf on which the plantlet grow seems to have been damaged so the new plantlet grow from there. I usually see this pattern directly on the ground and not in the air but I don't have much VFT so that's perhaps why. Your VFT seems healthy and I don't think it is doing this because it is dying. If you wish, you could lower the leaf so that the plantlet can shot is roots in the ground.
As for propagation itself, just let some leave or flower stalk piece float in pure water and you should have small plantlet after a few weeks. Also, you're right, plantlet from leaf or stalk usually grow much faster if well feed ... but, if Maiden come by he could perhaps explain hoi technic, he has a magic hand with VFT seedlings and he can bring them to maturity really fast but it takes a lot of effort to do so.
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Post by nicole on Oct 29, 2013 7:34:00 GMT -5
Thanks for the tips. yes i was surprised by the way the little plant was growing up in the air, but u think soon it will be heavy enough to pull the leaf down to the dirt.
I have heard this mention of "pure water" before. What exactly is that? Or more to the point, where do i get it or how do i make it? Lol
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Oct 29, 2013 8:47:32 GMT -5
Pure water is rainwater,Ro, or Distilled
If you have a TDS test the tap water it might be ok to use but pure water generally means untreated with any chemicals or dissolved solids like the stuff in tap water(chlorine,magnesium etc.)stores sell distilled water by the gallons or you can buy Aqua-fina water its has a ppm of zero
you want the water to have less than 10 ppm
distilled and RO have a ppm of zero.
Just incase your wondering what RO means it means reverse osmosis
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Post by nicole on Oct 29, 2013 17:52:37 GMT -5
Ah ok gotcha, so the stuff i use to water them with. So, if i just put a leaf into a cup of rain water it should grow a new plant?
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Oct 29, 2013 18:28:08 GMT -5
I have never seen it but you can try it might surprise us
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Post by hal on Oct 29, 2013 18:45:18 GMT -5
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Post by shoggoths on Oct 29, 2013 18:48:00 GMT -5
What I usually do is I put a bit of LFS in a clear plastic pot, add water so that the LFS is damp and there's free water around it, place the leave on this stuff and close the lid. Only pure water should works too, I would say near 1/2 to 1 cm deep. Best to close the pot. That way, if you forget it, the water will not be all evaporated.
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Oct 29, 2013 18:51:19 GMT -5
How long does this method normally take??
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Post by nicole on Oct 29, 2013 19:54:48 GMT -5
Nice, i will have to try that. Whats lfs stand for?
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Oct 29, 2013 19:58:59 GMT -5
L...Long
F...fibre
S...Sphagnum
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Post by nicole on Oct 30, 2013 7:04:20 GMT -5
Ah, thanks.
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