Venus flytrap flower uses their delicious nectar to entice prey. When you contact a trigger hair twice or two hairs immediately after one another, an electric charge closes the trap, forming a cage with teeth that interlock. Are you unsure whether to allow your Venus flytrap plant to flower in your home?
It is debatable if allowing this plant to reach its full flowering stage will be beneficial. This article contains the following: Should I allow my Venus flytrap to bloom? Does it benefit or hurt the plant?
Understanding Carnivorous Plants
To answer the question, we must first understand what carnivorous plants are and how they work. Despite their intimidating appearance, these plants are quite simple to identify.
Carnivorous plants: what are they?
These plants hunt their prey and kill it, just like other carnivores. To get the essential nutrients, the plant eats the captured prey, which could be an insect or another type of food. Many carnivorous plant species have unique strategies for capturing their prey, and some can catch and eat small rodents.
Carnivorous plants are the product of evolution. After several alterations to cope with harsh circumstances, they first emerged 70 million years ago. The original genomes for the roots and leaves were obsolete due to the enormous success of these changes, and they eventually vanished. These plants changed their surroundings and adapted, giving rise to many different species of carnivorous plants.
Some are much simpler, such as pitcher plants. These plants have mutant, tube-shaped leaves that are slick and hairless. Additionally, water tends to pool inside these leaves, drowning the victim. In their natural habitat, pitcher plants and related plants occasionally capture tiny animals.
How about the flytrap of Venus?
The evolution of the Venus flytrap was slightly different. They’re allowing people to look at their mouth-shaped traps. These are modified leaves with insect-attracting nectar laced inside. Trigger hairs are tiny projections along the margins that resemble teeth.
One of these hairs allows an inconspicuous insect to touch it, and the mouth closes, trapping the insect inside. After that, the plant releases digestive enzymes that attack the prey for around a week. Following its consumption, the plant opens its mouth again to lure in another unsuspecting prey.
Are Venus Flytraps Flowering Plants?
Venus flytraps are low-maintenance indoor plants that are easy to maintain. Sturdy, contented plants can stave off insects for several years. Yes, the Venus flytrap can flower after two years or so.
They produce flowers, just like other plants, but it’s not essential to their survival; blossoms help plants spread and proliferate. These plants have spawned, as was previously said, a variety of odd species that do well while growing against the grain.
The flowers are held high on six-inch stalks to prevent pollinators from being entangled and eaten. One plant may yield a vast number of blossoms in the spring. These blooms don’t draw prey to the Venus flytrap.
When entomologists took multiple samples of prey from Venus flytraps, they discovered that very few of the samples had pollen, and even fewer had pollinators. In essence, this plant uses its nectar and vividly coloured mouth to entice its prey. Its blossom is simply a flower.
Is It Time for My Venus flytrap Flower?
We now know that the Venus flytrap is capable of producing flowers. However, should you allow this plant to produce flowers? Generally speaking, no, don’t let this plant flower. Now that you’ve reached that point, let’s examine what to do.
Cut Them or Leave Them?
In the horticultural community, these flowers have created quite a stir. A lot of people contend that your indoor Venus flytrap will die during the full flowering phase, and they want the stalks removed.
Some people just advise leaving the plant alone to complete its natural tasks, which include attracting insects and blossoming each spring. Even during the flowering process, some may suggest giving plants a little additional care.
Venus flytraps do not die throughout the flowering season. Since flower formation requires a lot of energy, other vital processes, like general growth, must be sacrificed. An inexperienced or sick plant may experience stress from insufficient energy and develop more slowly and stuntedly. A Venus flytrap may die from it, although that is quite uncommon.
It’s advisable to remove the blooms as soon as possible if you must, for any reason. Simply eliminate them at their roots. It could be essential to go through this procedure more than once in the spring.
Propagating
You can add to your collection in unique ways when you let your Venus flytrap flower. It takes work to propagate by either means—using seeds or stalks.
Propagating the flower stalk
This approach requires relatively lengthy stalks, but it does not require them to blossom. Sand soil that drains well is the first requirement, as is a pot or container with lots of drainage holes. Next, cut the plant’s stem into portions that are roughly three inches long by pruning it.
Next, insert the little stalks vertically into the container and cover them with a small amount of earth. An alternative would be to place the cuttings in the pot horizontally and press them lightly into the ground.
Place a thin coating of soil on top of them. Even if you keep the container in a very humid place, the cuttings will begin to grow roots in a few weeks.
Propagating from seeds
Venus flytraps require external aid to self-pollinate. Once fully opened, you can gently tap the stalks or press an electric toothbrush up against the plant.
In doing so, pollen falls on the stigma, simulating the disruptions caused by pollinators. When the blossom gradually begins to wither back, seed capsules will remain. Gather the seeds, and then put them in a tray with carnivorous plant soil that drains well.
After the tray has been well hydrated, place it in a bright spot. Throughout the next few weeks, keep the soil damp and at room temperature. Ideally, the seeds will sprout and be ready to plant after around two months.
No Flower, No Problem
You’re in luck if you prefer the idea of an eye-catching and unique Venus Flytrap but don’t like simple flowers. With various colours and sizes of traps, there are countless exquisite varieties to select from. Their vibrant colours make up for their diminutive size. The D. “Jaws” or “Ginormous,” on the other hand, have much larger traps that extend over two inches in length.
For those who enjoy vivid bursts of colour, there are also plenty of options. For those who prefer the colours red and maroon, the “Red Dragon” is ideal. This cultivar is all red and remains so throughout its entire life.
The “Red Piranha,” a red cultivar, occasionally has teeth-like trigger hairs that create a dramatic contrast. If you’re more of a green person, go for cultivar D. ‘Justina Davis’. No matter how old the plant becomes, its entire exterior remains green.
Conclusion
When they blossom into towering stalks and white flowers, Venus flytraps might startle their owners. Although robust, well-grown plants bloom all spring, this plant is truly remarkable for its modified leaf traps.
In the end, it comes down to personal preference when deciding what to do with the blossoms, though the age and health of the plant play a significant role. There are several varieties to choose from, each with unique coloured, scaled, and shaped traps.