Cut the flower
or leave it?
Why it's almost always smart to remove the flower on a Venus flytrap — and why you can just let Sarracenia and Drosera bloom
In spring, many carnivorous plants shoot up flower stalks. Beautiful, but it also raises a question: do you leave them or cut them off? The answer varies greatly by species. The reason has everything to do with how a plant allocates its energy and how vulnerable it is at that moment.
It's all about energy
To produce flowers, a plant uses carbohydrates that it has built up through photosynthesis. It also needs these same carbohydrates for new traps, roots, and general growth. Flowers and traps therefore compete for the same energy reserves.
Whether this is a problem depends on how much energy the flower costs and how strong the plant is at that moment. This varies by species, and sometimes even by individual.
Viewed by species
For the Venus flytrap, flowering is particularly energy-intensive, while the flowers themselves are quite small and inconspicuous. The plant normally flowers in spring if it is healthy and follows a natural rhythm. But flowers also appear if the plant is in poor condition, as an emergency mechanism to survive through seeds. In that case, the energy is even more urgently needed for recovery.
By cutting off the flowers, all energy goes to new traps. And the flower is not lost: insert the stalk about 2 cm into the substrate next to the mother plant. With some luck, new plantlets will grow from the base.
- You have just received the plant and it still needs to establish itself
- The plant is entirely green or looks a bit limp
- It's your first Venus flytrap
- The plant is growing nicely
- It has a healthy green-red color
- You consciously want to harvest seeds
Are you cutting off the flower stalk? Don't throw it away. Poke the stalk about 2 cm into the moist substrate next to the mother plant. With some luck, new plantlets will develop from the base of the stalk, a free and easy propagation method.
For sundews, flowering costs little energy, so just leave the flowers. For many common species like the Cape sundew (Drosera capensis), the flowers are also self-pollinating: you can harvest seeds without doing anything.
With Sarracenia, you can certainly leave the flowers. They are also very beautiful, a shame to cut off. However, some growers remove part of the flowers with the idea of getting larger pitchers, because here too carbohydrates go to the flowers.
I personally let all mature plants flower. For newly divided plantlets with only one growth point, I do cut off the flower stalk when it is about 8 cm tall (cutting lower = risk of the stalk rotting), as those plantlets still desperately need all their energy to settle. But as I said: every grower has their own preference here.
Summary
| Species | Cut off flower? | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Dionaea muscipula | Mostly yes | Costs a lot of energy; always cut for young or weak plants |
| Drosera | No | Costs little energy; flowers are self-pollinating in many species |
| Sarracenia | Grower's choice | Leave for mature plants; cut for young newly divided specimens |
Need more care tips?
On our website, you'll find extensive care pages per species, and an assortment of homegrown plants for beginners and advanced growers.
Questions about your plant?
Unsure whether to leave the flower or cut it off? Send a photo to killian@dupontflora.com and we'll take a look.
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