Updates: First Pot for Baby Venus and Binata
I have consolidated the three trays in which new plants come into existence. I am using a much larger trey now and the babies have all moved to the new location, all in one tray, and am going to try to section it as I propagate more species of plants.
But before we look at the new tray, let's talk about why I moved everything in the first place. With several active traps, I wanted to get the new Venus Flytrap into its own pot and that process requires much caution when compared to the Drosera. If I lose a Drosera, I have many many more. The Venus is my first successful try at leaf propagations.
Repotting Baby Venus
Step one: move every other plant to another tray and slowly reduce the amount of moss that is around it, looking for where its roots are. In this picture, you see our Venus, and that is my pinky for size comparison.
You also have the new pot close to it so there is no chance of dropping the plant in transit. There is also an important part in this picture in the upper-right part of the photo. That is the leaf I had laid in the tray hoping for a successful propagation.
It looks like a stick, but the new baby Venus is attached to it and it is using the energy of its 'parent' like a root. It has no roots of its own as of yet. If I were to separate the baby plant from its parent leaf at this stage, it would die.
There is also a smaller Drosera growing under the Venus. I do not want to separate the two until both are bigger and have their roots developed.
Next, I want to mark the pot with a letter, N for north or S for south, so that it will be facing the same way it was when it started growing. This is not a must, but since I started doing this, I have lost very few plants.
I fill the pot with moist moss and rotate the pot with the letter facing toward 'north' then scoop the plant up and lay it, and all the moss under it, on top of the moss in the pot.
Here is the pot up on the top shelf with the other Flytraps. The Venus with the dark red traps is in need of a new bigger pot. It pains me to think of removing one of its leaves in order to make a new plant, but that is the cost one pays to propagate these beautiful plants.
I will get back to the Venus plants in a bit. But now, let's look at the babies in their tray.
The New Tray
This kind of soup starts with clippings from any carnivorous plant. It takes 6 to 12 weeks for plants to start growing via propagation. I have added seeds to trays in the past and I have not seen any sprout into a plant. Many of these in the tray could be potted but it is a matter of time and space for hundreds of little round pots. So I pot a few after I sell a few.
The new tray makes more room so they are not all on top of each other.
Here is the shot of this tray during the above repotting.
This one has some plants sitting in the same water for now. I put the pitcher plant down lower due to high winds. It will stay there until I rearrange things again.
The Last Pitcher's Meal
In this post, the Sarracenia (the biggest plant you see above) had just eaten a very large, teaspoon-size, cockroach. Here is an update on that situation.
two weeks ago
today
The one on the right is just a shadow of its former self
And while I was at it, looking at this pitcher plant I mean, it has a new pitcher rising up to replace some of the older ones as they die off.
These are filled with air as they grow into shape. Then they open and form their lid, fill up with the liquid that attracts their prey, and continue to grow and gain their color.
The above shot was taken this morning when I was repotting. I just went out to the patio and looked again. What a rare moment, It is beginning to open. Let me take a picture of that for you.
Taken with a flash light on it.
I really love the abilities that these plants have. There is always something to see with them.
Binata Potting
This is my fourth Binata Multifida plant this year and it was discovered shortly after the Venus. I repotted this one because it was close to the Venus and too small to put in the soup of babies. It may not have survived.
I took it out of the soup and gave it a nice bright green pot. Still so tiny.
These are the smallest pots I have, only two and a half inches wide (6 cm). That gives you some context related to size. Bitata plants are one of the best in gnat or mosquito season.
I could add updates on another 10 plants but I won't. It is dark out and I want to post before everyone goes to sleep.
Thanks for following and commenting on my posts. Your support is appreciated!
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STOPDamn, the pictures look great.
Just planting the leaf would develop a new plant?
For bug-eating plants, yes. Remember the one the ate a cockroach? Here is a picture of a new, tender, little leaf that I plucked from one of those plants.
Other plants that use normal dirt, can be done too but you need to cut the stem and apply "rooting hormone" to the freshly cut stem. This has worked for me with celery, lettuce, cabbage, this vine, bamboo, and my pot plants. It doesn't hurt to try it with any plant. FYI - tomato plants - cut the top 3-4 leaves off with an inch of stem below them, stick it in the ground. It always works (no direct sunlight for a couple weeks).
Define "everyone" we're everywhere XD
Can they self propagate? I would feel pretty awful about chopping one of their bits too x_x
Hi "everywhere" it is good to see you again. Yes, some carnivorous plants form a new plant when the older branches touch the moss. The Sundews (the ones with the sticky technicals) do it all the time. Here is a Drosera Spatulata - the new plants are free because the old ones touched the moss around it.
... and another expample where an old leaf clearly wilted into the moss, and a plant just came up weeks later.
For the above type of plants, you can chop off the leaves and they will propagate. The Pitchers and Venus plants must be pulled from the core of the bulb underground, and when you do it right, the bottom of the stem looks like the white end of a stick of celery. That is the only way to propagate them.
After reading this I of course had to go and look up how these things reproduce naturally and then ended up with mental images of setting fire to the pots to help Venus flytraps seed/germinate x_x
I have never looked up how to germinate them. I have jars and jars of seeds but I have never seen them grow. I would be happy to ship you some so you can try your hand at it.
I may have to try to remember to take you up on that down the line ^_^ currently trying to do some soil work but it's a glacial process (mostly in the finding time to do it).