AboutSarracenia Northwest Expertise Got a carnivorous plant problem? The growers at Sarracenia Northwest can help! Carnivorous plant experts Jeff Dallas and Jacob Farin have helped thousands of growers around the world, and they can help you too. When you submit your question, they will diagnose your situation and offer a solution to help you get your carnivorous plant back on track.
Experience With over 40 years of combined experience, Jeff and Jacob has definitely taken a straight forward approach to growing carnivorous plants. Get the straight facts from the guys who grow and propagate thousands of these plants every year.
PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR QUESTION:
We no longer answer how-to questions (i.e. How do I propagate...?; How do I grow...?).
Instead, we help growers by diagnosing a specific plant problem and offering solutions (i.e. Why is my sundew not producing dew?; Is now a good time to divide my Sarracenia?; Why are the traps turning black?; What's a good substitute for perlite?; Why didn't my seeds germinate?; Can you identify this carnivorous plant for me?)
Question Hi,
I have a mature Dente flytrap bought from your nursery about 2 or 3 years ago which is growing great here in San Diego Ca. I was just looking at all of my flytraps and noticed on this particular one a juvenile flytrap growing in place of one of the flower buds on the flower stock! This is extremely weird to me. The rest of the flower stalk has about four more flowers that have already bloomed and are now turning black like normal but one of the flower buds is again actually a new flytrap rhizome with about 4 healthy small traps emerging. I have been growing many varieties of carnivorous plants now for about 5 years and have never encountered this. Is this normal or have you ever encountered this. Thanks again.
Answer Hi Justin,
What you're observing is called vegetative apomixis. It happens to Venus flytraps often when their dormancy is a bit shorter than normal. That is quite possible since you live in San Diego. It's kind of fun to watch them develop, since it will produce a viable plant that you can later detach and plant.
Now, here's the dark side. We've found that the mother plant often dies after this process, just like when Bromeliads bloom. So if you let the plantlet develop, be sure to plant it.
