Fish and Chinese water chestnuts

Years ago it used to be common to read on permaculture sites how people would grow Chinese water chestnuts (Eleocharis dulcis) in those plastic clam shell pools.  People would usually also speak of having guppies in the water over the growing period.  Back then I was researching how to grow water chestnuts, and thought it was a great idea, but there were no tiny fish in the local rivers so I grew water chestnuts in buckets without any fish, and it worked well.  

Late 2023 I tried to read up on this again to see if people had noticed any difference in yield, and for some reason I couldn't find much mention of people growing Chinese water chestnuts with tiny fish.  Perhaps people no longer do this because it makes no noticeable difference to yield, or perhaps it was useful but has been mysteriously forgotten about?  

There are plenty of tiny fish in the local rivers where I now live, so thought I would give this a try and see what I can learn.  I have two identical buckets, put a pot of soil in each, and planted one water chestnut corm in each.  The buckets are next to each other.  I left them to grow for some time, then put some fish in one bucket, and no fish in the other bucket.  

From here I will see if there is any noticeable difference in the yield from each. 

Fish in bucket on the left, photo taken 02/02/2024 

After a month or so of growth there were not a lot of noticeable differences.  The plants looked much the same in terms of size and vigor.  Perhaps the one with fish had slightly thicker leaves, I am not really sure.  

It was obvious early on that there was significantly less azolla and duck weed on the bucket with the fish.  Perhaps the fish were eating some of it, or maybe the fish were eating something that helps the duckweed and azolla grow.  I'm not really sure.  

By the end of February the difference in duckweed and azolla coverage is pretty dramatic.  The bucket on the left with fish has less than 10% coverage, the bucket on the right with no fish has over 90% coverage.  Often it is fully covered by azolla and duckweed, this gets disturbed when I fill up the bucket with water.  

Still early, both plants look similar 

Fish in this bucket - hardly any azolla and duckweed

No fish in this bucket - plenty of azolla and duckweed

I probably should have done this with no azolla or duckweed, but it is too late for that this year.  

I tend to grow a mix of azolla and duckweed on top of the water as it prevents mosquitoes from emerging.  Duckweed seems to eliminate any algae growth.  The azolla also sequesters nitrogen from the atmosphere and releases this when it dies and breaks down.  

Perhaps the fish are eating the azolla and duck weed, maybe they would starve without it.  So perhaps it is for the best that I did include it.  All I know is the bucket with fish has considerably less azolla and duck weed.  

Perhaps fish are eating the azolla and duck weed 

Now that autumn is upon us the leaves have yellowed and mostly died back.  It won't be long before I can lift these pots, let them dry slightly, then harvest the corms.  

Both buckets were growing in my greenhouse, I think the amount of shade will reduce the number (and average size) of corms produced in both buckets.  They both have significantly less leaves than the ones grown in full sun.  

The bucket with fish still has limited duckweed and azolla, the bucket with no fish is covered in azolla and duckweed.  I am keen to compare the yield of these buckets, both in terms of number of corms as well as the size/weight of corms, and see if there is any noticeable difference between the two buckets.  I probably won't get around to digging them up until some time in winter.  

Most winters I sell water chestnut corms, and duck potatoes, through the for sale page on this blog.  Being dormant over winter means they handle postage really well.  If you are interested, they are normally ready mid to late winter.  At this stage I only sell within Australia.  

Maidenhair fern comparison of varieties

I grow a few different maidenhair ferns, they are lovely ferns and I really like them.  Each type that I grow are noticeably different.  

I sell a few maidenhair ferns each year, and hope they the buyer looks after them.  Sadly, most people think of maidenhair ferns (or any potted plants) like a bunch of flowers: they look great when they buy it and they expect to throw it away after a time.  I am happy to say that these ferns will live for decades if cared for.  

Maidenhair ferns are relatively simple to grow.  I don't mist them or have them under grow lights or make any attempt to control humidity or have a terrarium or anything like that.  I grow some outside under shelter, some in my unheated greenhouse, and some on the bookshelf in the house.  I wrote a previous blog post describing how I grow maidenhair ferns.  

I really like my maiden hair ferns so thought I would make a blog post showing a comparison of the different types I currently grow.  Please note I am not a fern collector, there are many more varieties (as many other species) of maidenhair that exist.  

Variegated maidenhair pinnules are each unique 

Office fern: Adiantum raddianum.  Originally from South America, these are commonly sold in garden shops.  I call it my office fern because it lived on the deak at my office for the first four years that I had it.  People often complain that they had one but killed it because they treated it like a cactus instead of a fern.  It grows long, arching, delicate looking fronds on surprisingly thin black stems.  This fern can get rather dense and vibrant if looked after.  I have had the fern below for almost eight years and it is thriving.  The largest fronds usually reach a little over 50cm long, which is about as big as this one will grow in a pot this size.  

Maidenhair fern - almost eight years old

Chunky maidenhair: probably Adiantum raddianum, but I am not certain.  I was told this is 'Lady Moxon', after growing it for a few years I am pretty sure that it is not Lady Moxon.  It is quite different to my office fern and produces chunky and compact fronds.  The fronds are slightly contorted and twisted, and the pinnules are clumped much closer together than they typical maidenhair ferns.  The stem of each frond is much thicker than normal maidenhair ferns.  I have not grown this as many years as my office fern so it is not as large, and I don't yet know how large it can become.  While it is staying comparatively compact, it seems to be getting longer and chunkier fronds each year.  When I first got this, due to its shape it almost looked similar to a bonsai tree.  

Chunky maidenhair fern

Chunky maidenhair fern

Chunky maidenhair frond

Variegated maidenhair vs chunky 

Variegated maidenhair fern: Adiantum raddianum 'Variegata'.  The elusive and rare variegated maidenhair fern.  Fronds are green splashed with white and produced on thin black stems.  I think there are a few versions of this, but on mine the fronds tend to divide towards the tips.  This is never as large as my office fern, the largest fronds reaching about 40cm long.  My photos never do justice to this incredible fern, it is a delightful and graceful and captivates with its delicate fronds and striking variegation.  

Variegated Maidenhair Fern

Variegated maidenhair frond 

Native maidenhair fern: this is one of Australia's 8 native species, most likely Adiantum aethiopicum but it could be Adiantum capillus-veneris, I really need a fern expert to positively identify it for me one day.  This species is native to Australia, and native to my location.  The pinnules are a different shape to my office fern, and the sporangium are also a different shape.  It is hardier, and survives light frosts and drying out much better than the South American A raddianum.  This sends out runners under the soil, and survives a far wider range of conditions.  This species never gets as dense and full looking as the South American species.  

Australian native maidenhair fern

This is by no means an exhaustive list of maidenhair fern varieties, it is just the varieties I am currently growing.  There are a few other varieties I would like to get some day, but that may or may not ever happen.

I do sell maidenhair ferns from time to time.  When I have a few for sale I list them on my for sale page.  That page has my contact details, so if you are after one of my ferns send me an email and I will let you know if I have any for sale.  If you have any interesting varieties of maidenhair fern let me know, I would love to learn more.  

Raspberries: yellow red and black

I do a bit of vegetable breeding, I also breed other plants with various different aims.  

A number of years ago I bred a new variety of red raspberry.  I acknowledge that I am biased - I like this raspberry (Rubus idaeus).  It is genetically thornless, very vigorous, incredibly productive, produces dozens of flowers per cluster, fruits multiple times per year, and tastes nicely sweet.  This red raspberry performs better in my garden than any other raspberry variety I have grown.  I am told it does not grow as well in subtropical gardens.  

I eventually tracked down a yellow raspberry (Rubus idaeus) and did a little breeding with this too.  This one has thorns (prickles).  It only crops once or twice per year and has flowers in clusters of about half a dozen.  The berries are pretty, they smell divine, and it tastes very sweet.  What it lacks of the typical raspberry flavour it makes up for in delicate floral notes.  I need to do more breeding with this to create a thornless primocane version.  

After some years I got a black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis).  This is a different species of raspberry to the red (or yellow) raspberry.  It is not a blackberry.  It is not a loganberry.  It is not a youngberry.  It is not a mulberry.  It is not any other kind of berry, this is a black raspberry.  

It drives me crazy how difficult people seem to find the concept of a black raspberry in Australia, but I digress.  

Yellow, red, and black raspberries

My black raspberries have a rich complex taste and aroma.  It is not as sweet as my other raspberries (neither are store bought raspberries), but it is not what I would consider to be sour.  They have a nice taste, it does not taste the same as a red or yellow raspberry, and it is not meant to be the same as them.  It does taste a bit like a raspberry, but also very different.  Black raspberry tastes nothing like a blackberry, and tastes nothing like a mulberry.  There really isn't anything I have eaten that they taste similar to.

I am bad at describing taste, my description above really doesn't describe it well.  The internet says black raspberries are "tangy, richly flavored, mildly sweet, cooling, and high in antioxidants".  I am not sure that description is all that much better than mine.  

Yellow raspberry, red raspberry, and black raspberry 

You will probably notice that the berries are a bit smaller than red or yellow raspberries.  My comparison photos are all typical sized berries.  Some berries from each plant are larger or smaller, but the ones in the photo give you a decent idea of what is normal.  While black raspberries are smaller, they are still a decent size.  While I would prefer them to be larger, I don't find them to be too small. 

These plants are not what I would consider to have low productivity, and they do not blow me away with the size of the crops.  They usually produce clusters of about half a dozen flowers.  This is comparable to most raspberry varieties including my yellow raspberries, but it feels like nothing compared to my red raspberry which produces dozens per cluster.  

In my garden my red raspberries have the longest picking season.  They start ripening first, finish last, and produce the most berries over the season.  My yellow raspberries start to ripen after the red raspberries have been cropping for a while.  My black raspberries start to crop once I have been picking both the red and yellow for a few weeks.  

Black raspberries grow well in my garden, but they need different management to red raspberries.  They have curved thorns, similar to a blackberry or a rose, and the thorns seems to grab at you when you walk past the plants.  This is worth noting if you want to grow one.

I grow mine in pots, they appear to do well in pots.  I have never had red or yellow raspberries perform well in pots for me.  

Black raspberries grow differently to red raspberries.  Red raspberries grow roots underground and send up canes from the tips of these roots, black raspberries do not do this.  Black raspberries will set down roots from the tips of the canes if they touch the soil.  

My black raspberries are a floricane variety, meaning that they flower and fruit on the previous season's growth.  This is good to know as it dictates the way you prune them.  

I don't prune mine at all and at this stage, but if I was pruning them I would need to ensure large canes from the previous year were intact so they could flower.  I imagine that tip pruning would encourage them to branch and be more fruitful.  I know that tip pruning my red or yellow raspberries increases the crop significantly as they produce 5 to 10 times as many flowers.

Much like my other raspberries, the black raspberries do not ripen all at once.  Each cluster will have some ripe berries and some unripe berries at the same time.  I pick them once ripe, and go back each day or so to pick more over the season.  A long picking season is great for home gardeners, but dreadful for commercial growers who have to employ pickers.  

It is simple to tell when the berries are ripe because they are black.  The berries start out green, turn red, and get darker until they ripen a black colour.  Ripe berries will pull away from the stem easily, if they resist pulling from the stem they usually aren't ripe enough.  Raspberries have a hollow core once picked, blackberries and youngberries etc do not have this hollow core.  

So far birds seem uninterested in my raspberries of any colour.  They also don't seem overly interested in my strawberries.  Perhaps I am just lucky, or perhaps the birds are too busy stealing all of my plums and apples to worry about berries.

My black raspberries seem to have more seeds than red raspberries.  Perhaps it isn't more seeds, perhaps they are larger seeds.  I am not sure, all I know is they are more noticeable.  I don't find the seeds very annoying, but they do get stuck between my teeth more often than the seeds from my red raspberries.

Black raspberries are simple to grow from seed, but it takes a long time before you get the first crop.  I am growing out some seed at the moment, and once berry season is over I plan to root some of the can tips.  

If I have a few extra plants I plan to offer them on my for sale page.  I don't have any spare plants at the moment but I am expecting to have a few to offer when they are dormant in winter or early spring.  

Raspberry comparison

Jekkas thyme variety comparison

I wrote a previous post comparing different varieties of thyme.  Some were clearly better than others, some were far more vigorous than others.  Out of all the varieties of thyme I have grown over the years, the real stand out has been Jekkas Thyme.  

In my climate, Jekka's thyme grows far more vigorously than any other thyme variety.  It grows more stems, each stem has more leaves, and each leaf is larger than regular thyme.  It has more flowers, and larger flowers than regular thyme.  In my climate Jekkas thyme quickly grows, it throws down roots wherever a node touches the soil, meaning it can form  dense and expanding clump quickly.  

Regular thyme on the left, jekkas thyme on the right

For me, I find both varieties taste and smell much the same, and they both change over the season.  I can't easily tell the difference in taste, perhaps Jekkas thyme is slightly stronger, but not significantly so.  I don't think the average gardener or home cook could tell the difference in taste.  Perhaps I'm wrong and some foodie will correct me on this point and smugly point out how one is ever so slightly more [something] than the other, or one has more subtle notes of [insert some term I have no idea what it means].  

Below are some photos of regular culinary thyme next to Jekka's thyme for comparison. You will get a good idea of what I mean about Jekkas thyme being a superior variety.  

Regular thyme comparison with Jekkas thyme

Take a look at the sprigs of thyme below.   Both plants were growing in my garden over the past few years and have been treated the same, so the difference is due to superior genetics.  

The two sprigs on the left are regular thyme, the two on the right are Jekkas thyme.  It is pretty easy to tell them apart even from a distance.  

Comparison of Thyme sprigs

What you can see clearly in these photos is that the leaves of Jekkas thyme are very large for a variety of thyme.  

Not only are the leaves far larger, but there are a lot more leaves per sprig.  Jekkas thyme tends to produce a lot more sprigs than regular thyme, and if allowed to will develop into a sprawling ground cover.  

I like to grow Jekkas thyme where it can trail over the side of things.  I really like how it looks when in bloom and cascading over the edge of a garden bed.  

Jekkas thyme blooming, good for bees

Raised garden bed draped in Jekka's thyme

Regular thyme vs Jekkas thyme

These varieties of thyme also flower differently.  I don't know the best way to describe this, but you can see that regular thyme flowers up the stalk.  The flowers are small, they are spaced out, and there are not many of them.  This means that bees or other pollinators need to do a lot of work to collect nectar and pollen from thyme flowers.   

Jekkas thyme mostly flowers in a dense clump at the end of a stalk.  There are more flowers, each flower is larger, and they are closer together.  I think this looks prettier.  

As there are more flowers, each flower with larger nectaries, bees collect nectar from them rather efficiently.  The bees spend less time searching for flowers (or less time and effort travelling between flowers) as the flowers are all there together.  This means they collect more honey, and they collect it faster.  This means more honey for the hive, and more time for the bees to be doing other things.  It is a win-win, the bees win twice.  

Thyme flower comparison

Rather than just mentioning how much more leaves you get from Jekkas thyme than regular thyme, I thought I would show photos of just how much more productive this variety is than regular thyme.  

I took two sprigs of thyme, and two sprigs of Jekkas thyme, stripped off the lower leaves, and put them in piles for comparison.  I don't tend to use the leaves at the very tips of the sprigs because the sprig tends to break if I try to pull them off.  

At this stage the remaining sprigs, with their few leaves, could be planted and grown into new plants.  

Yield comparison Jekkas thyme

The sprigs were all similar in length (the regular thyme sprigs may be ever so slightly longer), and the plants were grown under the same conditions in the same garden.  The difference in yield between the two varieties is quite remarkable.  

On the left are the small leaves of regular thyme.  On the right is a significantly larger pile of leaves from Jekka's thyme.  There is simply no comparison in terms of yield.  

If you are going to bother growing any edible herb, you may as well grow an improved variety that provides more food for the same amount of time and effort.  

While Jekkas thyme used to be rare and difficult to find in Australia, I am glad to say that it is now easy to find.  Most garden shops seem to sell it, as do a few online plant sellers.  I also sell Jekkas thyme plants through my for sale page and it easily survives postage with no issues if it is given some water to get it established.  

'DCXL' vft and 'Wally' vft growth rate comparison

I wrote a previous blog post comparing different Venus flytrap clones.  I did my best to provide the best comparison that I could by using similar age plants grown side by side under the same conditions for one year.  

In that post I compared several different Venus flytrap varieties to 'Wally' as this is my standard as it is a very vigorous clone that I had a number of plants at various ages and sizes. 

At that time I also had a new DCXL Venus fly trap, but it was a poor comparison because the plants were not grown under the same conditions as anything else I had.  

I have decided to do a better comparison of these two varieties as they are both vigorous an excellent choices for new carnivorous plant growers.  One is low growing, the other gets tall leaves, they both get decent colouration, and both are pretty forgiving of less than ideal conditions.  

I took flower stalk cuttings of 'DCXL' and 'Wally' late in the year 2021, and grew them over winter side by side in the same pot.  After winter I repotted them on the same day into the same sized pots, in the same growth media.  I grew them in separate pots, side by side, in the same tray of water.  This is a good comparison as everything other than their genetics was exactly the same.  

Similar sized flower stalk cuttings were taken from both plants late 2021.  The flower stalk cuttings were planted into live sphagnum moss on the same day and kept in the same pot to grow a little.  The plantlets survived a very mild winter, and were repotted into damp sphagnum peatmoss mixed with sand on 11 September 2022.  Being in Australia, September is the start of Spring.  

The photos below show comparison of growth between the two clones.  I tried to take photos in the first week of each month to demonstrate the speed at which they were growing. 

Early September 2022 (September is the start of spring in Australia)

It is a little difficult to see in the photo below, but the two sets of tiny Venus flytrap plants are already very different to each other.  Below is a comparison photo, and a closer photo of each.  

Comparison: Wally vft on left, DCXL vft on right

Wally produced a lot more plants from the flower stalk cutting than DCXL did.  Each Wally plant has less leaves than DCXL, and at this stage has slightly smaller traps.  At this small stage the Wally flytraps look quite delicate.  While I was tempted to divide the little Wally flytraps I decided that the comparison would be better if I left them to grow as they were.  

Wally clones from flower stalk cutting 

DCXL flower stalk cutting produced fewer plants, but each has more leaves per plant and slightly larger traps at this stage.  At this tiny stage the DCXL flytraps appear small but robust.  At this point in time DCXL has more colour in the traps than Wally.

DCXL clones from flower stalk cutting 

From here they grew in these separate identical pots, side by side, in the same tray of water, and I tried to take a photo of them in the first week of each month.  

Early October 2022 

The traps of DCXL vft are now noticeably larger than those of Wally vft.  Wally is gaining more colour on all parts of the plant.  The leaves of DCXL are not yet what I would consider to be upright growth, but it is less prostrate that Wally.

I only took one photo in October as they had not done anything too incredible since the previous month.

Venus Flytrap Wally and DCXL vft - October 2022 

Early November 2022

While plants in both pots are still very small, DCXL now has considerably larger traps than Wally.  DCXL is also starting to put out some upright growth, while Wally is staying close to the ground.  Wally has more colour on pretty much every part of the plant, but both plants are colouring up quite nicely.

You can't tell by the photos, but there are a lot more Wally plants than DCXL plants in these pots.  Each DCXL plant is larger so from a distance it looks like there are more of them.  The DCXL plants are big beefy plants with many leaves and large traps.

It's clear even at this small size that both of these flytrap clones are very impressive varieties!  If I were only to grow two varieties of Venus flytrap then these two would probably be it.

DCXL Venus flytrap - November 2022

Wally Venus flytrap - November 2022

Wally and DCXL growing side by side 

Wally Venus fly trap 

DCXL Venus fly trap 

Wally on left, DCXL on right

Now that these Venus flytraps are out of dormancy and actively growing they should really take off.  I can hardly wait to see what they do over the next month.

Early December 2022 (December is the start of Summer in Australia)

The weather has been strange, and most of my venus flytraps are either not coming out of dormancy, or are growing flower stalks and non carnivorous leaves.  Some of my other varieties of venus flytraps are declining and some of the weak varieties look like they may die this year.  

These two little ones are not going as well as I would have expected, and Wally appears to be struggling a little.  They are still growing side by side, in the same tray of water, and conditions as as close to identical as I could make them.

Wally is getting a lot more colour, and is staying low to the ground as always.  DCXL is growing into an impressive looking plant with some nice upright growth, decent colouration of trap interior, and some decent trap sizes for such a young plant.  

Wally and DCXL comparison

DCXL vft December 2022

Wally vft December 2022

DCXL Venus flytrap 

Wally Venus flytrap 

Early January 2023

The weather has been all over the place.  A lot of my little plants have been suffering and burning off.  Some of my typical venus flytraps have died.  

Wally continues to push through, and DCXL continues to grow larger.  Clearly these are both excellent varieties for new growers. 

Wally on the left, DCXL on the right

DCXL

Wally

DCXL Venus Flytrap

Wally and DCXL Venus Flytrap comparison

Wally Venus Flytrap

Early February 2023

After six months these have not grown as much as I would have expected.  That being said, they are both larger and healthier than many of my other Venus Flytrap cultivars.

DCXL has far larger traps, and longer leaves, than Wally.  Both plants have decent colouration.  

Some of the smaller Wally plants appear to have died off, while it appears all of the DCXL plants are still alive.

The weather has been all over the place here.  One day will be sunny, hot, and 35C, the next cold, windy, and 19C.  As well as the temperature fluctuating rather dramatically form day to day, it has been really dry here for the past few months.  This isn't a huge issue as I grow these in a tray of water.  I was watering using bore water for some time and there was some salt build up as we didn't have any rain to flush it away, I am back to using rain water and they are looking better.

I think my little plants are getting ready for dormancy as DCXL has stopped producing any upright growth.

DCXL flytrap

Wally flytrap

Wally on left, DCXL on right

DCXL VFT February

Wally VFT February

Early March 2023 (March is the start of Autumn in Australia)

No more upright growth.  Both of these pots would have grown better had I divided them instead of leaving them together.  

We had very strange weather this year so lots of plants are already entering dormancy.  Things will probably look run down from here until Spring.

Wally

DCXL

Wally plants from flower stalk cutting

DCXL plants from flower stalk cutting

Wally on left, DXCL on right

The difference between these clones is incredible

Early May 2023

Winter is just around the corner, so dormancy isn't too far off.  Neither clone looks great while dormant, but that is ok.  Moss is growing more than I would like, but I won't try to do anything about that until closer to Spring.

Wally VFT going into winter

DCXL VFT going into winter

Early June 2023 (June is the start of winter in Australia)

Venus Flytrap Comparison - Wally and DCXL

Wally VFT start of winter

DCXL VFT start of winter

Early July 2023

Being winter, all of my Venus flytraps look dreadful as they are mostly dormant.  Other than the moss, everything is as it should be.  I plan to repot these late winter/early spring and when I do I will remove as much moss as possible.

Early August 2023 

As you can see, the plants are dormant and look horrible.  This is normal and healthy for Venus Flytraps over winter here.  Spring is around the corner, once the weather warms and there is more sunlight I expect these plants to grow and look good once again.  

Dormant VFTs, Wally on left, DCXL on right

Wally VFT late winter

DCXL VFT late winter

Wally and DCXL flytraps over winter

12 month Comparison

Here they are repotted, and ready for spring growth.  Side by side, Wally VFT on the left and DCXL vft on the right.  Below is the initial phot, as well as photos of where they are now.  

Ideally I would have divided them a year ago, but I wanted to show what they would do if left as is.  

September 2022: Wally vft on left, DCXL vft on right

August 2023: Wally vft on left, some of the DCXL vft on right

August 2023

From the Wally flower stalk cutting I ended up with four healthy plants and a couple of tiny ones that could be divided once they start growing in warmer weather.  Four of them should be flowering size perhaps this year but probably next year.  This past year the growing conditions were not good, and the crowding only made things worse and many of the smallest plants died.  Had I divided these earlier I would have ended up with many more plants.  

From the DCXL flower stalk cutting I ended up with six healthy plants.  Each should reach flowering size this year or at the latest next year.  Even though the weather was not great the past year, they did not suffer as much from crowding as they started with less plantlets.  

This past year the weather was not ideal for flytraps.  Both of these varieties fared much better than any of the other varieties, named or unnamed, that I am growing.

Venus Flytraps: Wally on left, DCXL on the right

DCXL flyraps ready for spring

Wally flytraps ready for spring growth

DCXL Venus Flytraps largely dormant

While venus flytraps are all the same species, there are many different varieties, each of which grows differently, looks different, and performs best under slightly different conditions.  Wally stays low to the ground and divides well, and gets a lot more colouration with more light intensity.  DCXL has tall summer growth, large summer traps, and produce big beefy plants.  Both varieties produce decent sized traps.  Both varieties are great for beginners as they are forgiving of difficult growing conditions.  

From here these plants will break dormancy, and put on some active growth.  I will probably leave some as they are, and I may attempt to divide others.  

When they send up flower stalks I will probably try to take more cuttings.  I may allow them to flower and attempt to gather seed from them, but I tend to have low success having flytraps produce viable seed.  Growing Venus Flytraps from see is fun as every seed grown plant is unique, it also takes years to get a decent sized plant.  

Venus flytraps handle bare rooted postage well.  If you are in Australia and would like to swap some varieties with me, my contact detail can be found on my for sale page.

Hopefully this comparison is useful for someone wanting to grow Venus Flytraps.