The Great Nepenthes Experiment Thread

[MPX_78]

I know that this post could go in the feeding poll/thread, however this could go towards all plant experiments in general- so here it goes!

Experiment #1: Feeding a nepenthes plant a 2 cm cube of strawberry fruit snack.
Results:
- enzyme/ pitcher fluid production increase
- Fruit snack absorbs some fluid, begins to break down within 45 minutes
- within two days, pitcher produces nectar, and has completely absorbed the fruit snack.
- as of this posting, pitcher shows no negative impacts from this experiment- and in fact looks pretty healthy.

What do you guys think? Have you done any experiments yourself? If so, what were the results?

 

[Grey Moss]

Interesting. I wonder if it was enzyme activity by the plant and not the candy dissolving on its own. As far as I know the enzymes produced by nepenthes are mainly nitrogen focused.

I tried to see if live prey made a difference versus dried in growth and only found that they'd catch far more on their own outside than I had the time to feed by hand when they were inside.

 

[MPX_78]

note: cm cube was a typo, they should be much smaller. It takes more energy to absorb the sugars I guess, and too much will overwhelm the plant. As with other types of food, too much will kill of the trap.