Carnivorous Plants/Venus Flytraps

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Expert: - 5/27/2009


Question
Good Day Christopher,

I have several different species of VFT. Can they be grown all together in a small bog garden without any adverse affects other than cross pollinating when they are flowering? I do understand that cross pollination will produce a hi-bred of VFT.

Answer
Hello Dan,

Carnivorous plants are not adversarial nor do most of the North American species require such differing conditions that they can't be grown together, or near one another, most of the time. All of those Venus Flytraps are really one species, so they will all require the same conditions and will not harm one another at all. You will, as you surmised, get a mishmash of seedlings that will likely develop closer to the typical Flytrap parentage though. You will not get hybrids since they are all the same species. The differences you see between your Flytraps is mostly cosmetic and can be found emphasized in certain Flytraps more than others. Growers simply took those Flytraps with emphasized traits and pollinated them together to emphasize those traits even more until they came up with more of a breed or sub-species of Flytrap. Like all dogs are the same species, so too are all Flytraps.

Christopher

Carnivorous Plants

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Christopher Littrell

Expertise

I am capable of answering questions about the most common carnivorous plants found in cultivation. I have no personal experience with Byblis, Drosophyllum, Aldrovanda, and Heliamphora. I have not cultivated gemmae forming pygmy sundews nor tuberous sundews. For information regarding those aforementioned species, I would suggest contacting other experts. I can answer questions regarding most species of Nepenthes, tropical and temperate Drosera, Mexican Pinguicula, Sarracenias, and Dionaea. I have some limited experience with growing Utricularia, Cephalotus, and Darlingtonia.

Experience

I have grown carnivorous plants off and on for about 27 years. I have made the same mistakes and suffered the same mishaps that many growers make as they attempt to separate the myths from the realities of growing these plants. Currently, I am successfully growing a variety of tropical sundews, a Nepenthes, several Venus Flytraps of varying ages, and Sarracenias. I have been successful in stratifying Sarracenia seeds and providing artificial dormancy requirements for my temperate plants when needed.

Education/Credentials
I hold a Master's degree in Educational Psychology. Over my lifetime, I have constantly read books involving the growing conditions of carnivorous plants. I hope to incorporate the educational aspects involved in psychology with teaching other people how to cultivate carnivorous plants.

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