Fly trap feeding...

[edwardtrapper]

my wonderful lady just picked up a vft for us...the problem is we r a little confused with proper care.  Its a little guy, probably relatively new (2-3 inch stems w/ heads less than .5 inches).  There are about 7 heads, and at different times different ones are open.  We were curious if we should feed them or leave them outside for an hour or so so it can attarct its own food.  If we were to feed them, what should we feed them, how often, and if we were to feed one head, is that considered feeding the whole plant? Do we need to feed each individual head? please help us!!!

 

[brisco225]

Depending where you live, you can just leave it out 24-7. Mine catch their own food.

 

[lil_flytrap_boy]

Feeding one trap means feeding the whole plant as the nutrience goes into making the plant grow bigger!!! Yes it is a good idea to let it catch it's own food but sometimes it can catch more than it needs! If you decide to feed it yourself, it should be 1 - 3 times a month (Not for each trap - Just the whole plant) So no - you do not need to feed all the traps just 1 - 3 times every month! It is natural for the traps to die so don't think your doing something wrong straight away! The traps die after the 3rd or 4th catch.

Hope this helps,

lil_flytrap_boy

 

[biggun110]

Hi lil_flytrap_boy,

Just wanted to say Hi. You weren't around for a while. Were you on vacation? Welcome back.

Bobby

 

[Ross L-Town]

IM thinking about purchasing a VFT, but had a few questions. I live in colorful Colorado and was wondering what I should do about the humidity? I also wanted to know if I could feed the plants Miller Moths since we have soo many around here I didn't know if they could feed off of these. Any help would be great.

 

[RamPuppy]

Edward,

Key point, water with distilled, reverse osmosis, or rain water, most tap waters are un-suitable for carnivorous plants. If you have watered with tap, buy a gallon of the above waters, and flush the pot from above, just pour and let drain.

For everyday care, just let the plant sit in a saucer of distilled, RO or Rain water, the holes int he bottom of the pot will absorb the water into the media, and the plant will be happy.

it will go dormant in winter, keep the soil damp, but not wet.

feeding was addressed above, I will add that it's pray should be smaller than the trap, I believe current rule of thumb is 1.3 the size. Avoid hard shelled insects like beetles, obviously avoid anything that can eat it's way out, pill bugs and some ants have proven to acidic, as have some moths, so feed mothos at your own risk.

General rule I guess is if it is small enough, go for it, 100% of the insect must be contained within the trap for it to form an effective seal, if it can not seal shut, bacteria and fungi will invade and destroy the trap. For a insect with large wings, you could probably pull them off.

welcome to our weird world.