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There are a lot of far-famed plant out there , but none are as famous ( or infamous ) as Audrey II . This man - eat plant captured the ticker of millions , star in a musical and syndicated cartoon .
But what made Audrey II tolerate out from other alien invaders was the fact that it was based on real - biography carnivorous plants .
To this 24-hour interval , there ’s a immense market for Venus flytraps ( Dionaea muscipula ) due in no low part to the joke of this alien man - feeder .
However , you might be disappointed ( or relieved ) to know that the actual Venus flytrap is quite little and will never achieve the size of Audrey II ( at least , not from any cultivars develop in our lifetimes ) .
The Carolina indigen are endangered due to a apace shrinking natural home ground , but plant enthusiast insure this monotypic ( stand for only one species in its genus ) thrives .
But how big do these plants get , and how do you secure they reach the best possible size ?
How Big Do Venus Fly Traps Get?
A Venus flytrap change size of it many times in its lifespan , especially when flower .
However , they generally have a spread of 5 to 6 ” inches and a superlative of up to 1 ’ foot .
How To Measure Your Venus Fly Trap?
When it comes to a venus flytrap , sizing really does weigh . The specially adapted leaves must be large enough to catch and all enclose their fair game .
As a result , most carnivorous industrial plant partisan do n’t mensurate the size of it of a Venus flytrap by its spread or peak .
Instead , the size of it of the traps is what sincerely matters .
To value a Venus flytrap , the gob is carefully quantify fit in to its width at the wide point . The unspoilt way to do this is from the outside of the trap .
WARNING : If you destine to measure your own flytrap , DO NOT put your rule or mensurate tape on the inside of the maw , or you may unexpectedly actuate the trap to close .
This is important because your flytrap must expend a fortune of energy to pin quarry , and a particular snare ( i.e. , the “ maw ” or “ jaw ” ) will only run a few times before pass , so unexpectedly actuate one actually hurts your plant .
Size by Age
A Venus flytrap can live for up to 20 years , so you may wish well to love the plant ’s age if you buy one .
Thankfully , you may judge the age of a juvenile works free-base on its trap size .
At 1 to 2 year honest-to-god , your Venus flytrap will require a mickle diameter of about 2″ in , and the largest yap will evaluate a mere ⅛ ” inch wide , with seedlings being anything smaller than this size .
Between 2 to 3 year , you ’ll call for to graduate to a 3″ inch pot , and the traps will have double in size of it to ¼ ” inches across-the-board .
When the plant reaches 3 to 4 years of age , the traps will again repeat in sizing to ½ ” inch , and the skunk will need to be anywhere from 4″ to 5″ inch wide .
Finally , the industrial plant reaches maturity after four years , with traps measuring 1″ to 1.5″ inches for the species and as prominent as 2″ inch for size cultivars , with a container quantify about 6″ inches wide .
Of course , cultivars multiply for size of it may not outfit the same measurement as the real mintage during their jejune years , but this is still a good road map for cultivars bred for colouration .
Sizes Of Some Popular Cultivars
There are currently 130 cross-file flytrap cultivars recognized by the International Carnivorous Plant Society ( ICPS ) .
Here are just a few of the pop ones and what their mature trap sizes are :
‘Akai Ryu’
With a name that translates to “ red dragon , ” this plant partake in the same size as its parent species .
However , the entire industrial plant is a deep burgundy , wee-wee it a pop addition to carnivorous plant collections .
‘B52’
With a dark red ambuscade interior , the ‘ B52 ’ is one of the most democratic flytrap cultivars out there .
ripe cakehole can measure slightly over 2 ” inches astray , allowing this plant life to watch much large prey .
‘Fused Tooth’
This peculiar cultivar is the same size of it as the parent plant but has fewer teeth get in touch by webbing .
‘Giant Clam’
Despite its name , this is n’t the gravid flytrap out there .
fledged trap value approximately 1.8 ” inches widely , making them more or less larger than the parent specie .
‘Ginormous’
This is a cultivar very interchangeable to ‘ B52 ’ , although the trap be given to be somewhat gravid , and the red is a little lighter .
However , the traps on this plant are prone to malfunctioning due to the lobes being much larger , often take into account fair game to escape .
Thus , it ’s possible this plant life could achieve a far larger trap size if this problem were to be clear .
The ‘Alien’ Invasion
We ca n’t talk about size without giving a very special citation toDionaea muscipula‘Alien . ’
While both ‘ B52 ’ and ‘ Ginormous ’ have vaunt ambush over 2 ” inch astray , ‘ Alien ’ has been the only cultivar actually to maintain ( and come apart ) the records .
In 2020 , famed carnivorous plant life breeder Jeremiah Harris earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the orotund confirm flytrap , with a hole assess 1.96 ” inches .
This record was prepare long after the aforementioned elephantine cultivar had already been on the market for several years and had yet to be able to leaven their true potential .
Then , in 2021 , Mr. Harris once again set a new Earth platter for thelargest Venus flytrap , this time with a trap measure 2.4 ” inches across .
Unfortunately , whatever Jeremiah Harris is doing to achieve these record - breaking size is a closely defend enigma , and it ’s expected he will proceed to try out and exhaust his own track record .
This ( formally , at least ) leaves cultivars such as ‘ Ginormous ’ in the dust until a agriculturalist can formally prove the large sizes these cultivars are claiming to be open of .
