Venus Fly Traps

Artchic528 · Apr 02, 2017, 08:30 PM

I recently bought some Venus Fly Traps to keep outside. I decided it would be fun to see them catch all sorts of prey as the summer goes by. I ordered a pot of 3 small Venus Flytraps and some Long Fiber Sphagnum Moss as a top layer of substrate for them. I already have a bag of Peat Moss to plant them in and a plans for a planter I'm going to fashion once they've arrived.

Anyone else keep carnivorous plants?

*Laurie* · Apr 03, 2017, 11:31 AM

When I was a child I had Venus Fly Traps. They were fun! I never did see one catch a fly or other live prey, but still, the plants were interesting.

bluekoi · Apr 03, 2017, 08:53 PM

I keep three varieties of Pitcher Plants in my koi pond that are hardy in zone 7.

Apr 03, 2017, 09:01 PM

I want some carnivorous plants because I have been having a lot of issues with insects lately. Roaches, ants, flies, and until the other day, bedbugs have been making my life a living hell.

Hell, I'm almost at the point to where I want a pet spider because at least spiders don't annoy me unlike these lowly forms of life that we call insects.

Where do you get carnivorous plants at anyways? Are they safe to keep indoors?

eskielover · Apr 03, 2017, 09:40 PM

Living on my farm there are way too many flies, & fruit flies drive me nuts even worse. Would love something to attract & kill the ants. They take over from early spring till first frost. I need something to trap the huge red wasps. Swear one of these days they are all going to get together & fly away with my house.

A venus fly trap would be well fed in my house.

Tyrant616 · Apr 03, 2017, 11:06 PM

I actually have a venus fly trap (weird right), I keep it in the window sil and it definitely helps with flies!

Apr 04, 2017, 06:55 AM

Pitcher plants! All over the bogs back home...NFLDS provincial 'flower'.

Artchic528 · Apr 04, 2017, 12:04 PM

Well, I am keeping mine outside because they are native to my state. Well, technically, they are native to the more coastal area of my state, while I live in the Piedmont area, but I think they'll do just fine. As long as they get at least 4 hours of continuous sunlight a day, they should be fine. Don't worry about humidity, that's a myth. They just need to be kept moist at all times because they are bog dwelling plants. Also, be sure to only water them with purified, distilled or rain water. Not mineral, tap or bottled water.

zzzsmokeyzzz · Apr 04, 2017, 05:32 PM

That is supper kewl. I always wanted to get one and watch it do it's thing but I thought they might be hard to care for.

Unrigged64072835 · Apr 04, 2017, 06:57 PM

I used to have one as a kid. When there wasn't enough flies we'd give it a tiny piece of raw hamburger. Kept them alive for a while.

Artchic528 · Apr 04, 2017, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fharraige

I used to have one as a kid. When there wasn't enough flies we'd give it a tiny piece of raw hamburger. Kept them alive for a while.

Now a days, feeding raw hamburger to a Venus Fly Trap is discouraged because of the high fat content in the beef. Of course, this is from growers who are very serious and methodical on the ways they grow Venus Fly Traps and those who have done copious amounts of research on these plants. I'm sure way back when, even a couple decades ago really, that feeding your Venus Fly Trap raw hamburger was suggested among the care instructions. Mostly because research and knowledge of care were not as widespread as today, with the readily accessible nature of the internet and whatnot.

Here are my Venus Fly Traps, all settled into their new planter home.

Apr 04, 2017, 09:10 PM

This might seem like a stupid question, but do they eat just flies or all insects? Because if they eat roaches and ants too, getting one would certainly be worth the investment

Artchic528 · Apr 04, 2017, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarknessIsMyFriend

I want some carnivorous plants because I have been having a lot of issues with insects lately. Roaches, ants, flies, and until the other day, bedbugs have been making my life a living hell.

Hell, I'm almost at the point to where I want a pet spider because at least spiders don't annoy me unlike these lowly forms of life that we call insects.

Where do you get carnivorous plants at anyways? Are they safe to keep indoors?

I bought mine from Joel's Carnivores off of Amazon. The processing took about 2 days and then the shipping took an additional 2 days. So, I made the order on Thursday, the 27th of March, and received the order on Monday, the 1st of April. The plants came with thorough care instructions and you can always find a carnivorous plant forum for any additional information needed. Venus Fly Traps are best kept in direct sunlight for a minimum of 4 hours a day, and do best when kept outside.

I don't know what your local hardiness zone is (a zone chart can help with determining that). Basically each plant is designated a zone or area of the US Map where they can thrive the best. Some plants can thrive in multiple zones, such as the native American pitcher plants, for example. A Venus Fly Trap is native to the coastal big areas in a small swatch of North Carolina coastland, and a bit of South Carolina coastland as well. In fact, because of dwindling habitats, and even poachers, these plants are fast disappearing from the wild. Anyways, A Venus Fly Trap does best in US hardiness zones of 8b and will thrive in this and warmer zones if kept outside year round.

Since the Venus Fly Trap lives in nutrient poor peat bogs, it evolved to catch the nutrients it needed via insects, spiders, and other small critters that can easily fit inside of it's traps. The trap secretes an intoxicating aroma that draws in it's prey, and when the prey is walking about on the open trap, it'll brush against one of 4 trigger hairs. Brushing against these hairs twice will trigger the trap to close rapidly and encase it's prey. Once closed, the trap seals itself shut, and begins secreting digestive enzymes to break down the prey and suck out the nutrient rich slurry that results. The trap opens once it's done "digesting" it's prey and reveals only the mere dried husk of the body. The trap is then ready to lure in another victim. Traps can do this up to 2-3 times before finally dying off, as new ones grow to replace them. It's really quite fascinating to me.

So, because the fly traps grow in nutrient poor bogs, they are best kept in that sort of medium. Use long fibered sphagnum moss (LFS), or sphagnum peat moss, but only those that aren't enhanced with nutrients, like "Miracle-Gro" brand peat moss is. I recommend either buying a good book on growing carnivorous plants, like "The Savage Garden" by Peter D'Amato, or even joining a forum dedicated to the subject, if you want to have the best experience growing these guys.

Artchic528 · Apr 04, 2017, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarknessIsMyFriend

This might seem like a stupid question, but do they eat just flies or all insects? Because if they eat roaches and ants too, getting one would certainly be worth the investment

They can eat anything that fits in their traps, which basically means anything a 3rd the size of the open trap. Anything bigger will just rot in the trap and the trap will die off.