It'll eat you alive... (Venus Fly Trap)

Member Name: zpyder

Product:	Venus Fly Trap
Date:	24/06/01 (2998 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pest control, Unique, Useful for school projects

Disadvantages: Needs specific growing conditions, Hard to get hold of in Garden centres

The Venus fly-trap (Dionea Muscipula) is definitely the most well know carnivorous plant that is commercially available in today’s world.


HABITAT INFORMATION
The Venus flytrap, like so many of the other carnivorous plants, is found mostly in or around peat bogs. Most carnivorous plants that grow in this type of habitat thus obtain plenty of sunlight, and lots of water. Because of the properties of the bogs however, there aren’t many nutrients in the soil, and so the plants evolved to obtain their nutrients from somewhere else. Their source of nutrients being the insects they catch.


BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The first plants were first introduced as houseplants in the Victorian times, and were classed as oddities. The plants were taken from their natural habitat, and not from cultivated stocks like we use today. Unfortunately, they didn’t have too great a lifespan in those times, as their growers didn’t understand the plants well enough.

The traps consist of a leaf, which splits at the end to resemble an open book. On the tips of these 2 sections are spikes that, when the trap is closed, interlock preventing any escape. On the inside of each of the 2 sections are three hairs. For the trap mechanism to be triggered, either 1 hair must be stimulated once in succession, or 2 hairs must be stimulated within a certain amount of time. This prevents false alarms and the wasting of energy when the traps have nothing to digest. Also, once the trap has been triggered shut, the insect must move around and continuously stimulate the trigger hairs for a few hours, this is also a backup to make sure that they actually have a live insect.

The plants attract the insects using a variety of methods. The first is that on the insides on the traps most pitchers that have been grown to a sufficient standard have a red colouring, this attracts the insects. The second is that the plant traps emit a faint scent that
lures the insects to their doom. The third, however, in my eyes is the most successful, as other carnivorous plants use this as well. The smells of the decaying insects that have already been caught lures the majority of insects to their doom.

The insects are gradually digested and decomposed over a long period ranging around about a few weeks. Once they are digested the trap opens up and the hard, indigestible parts of the insect are blown away by the wind.


GROWING INFORMATION
Many people say how they once had a Venus flytrap but it died very quickly, others say they are very hard to keep because of experiences like the one above. This is a common misconception. The main reason for the plants to die so easily is that people don’t understand the conditions the plants grow in. The plants are carnivorous because they grow in nutrient poor soil. The most common way of the plant dying is the fact that each trap can only open and close around about 3 times because of the energy needed. So basically setting off the traps by poking fingers in them or small stones in time kills them. So NEVER TRIGGER THE TRAPS.

The plants need the soil to be continuously wet, and should be placed on a bright windowsill that is quite warm, in a saucer of RAIN WATER (or distilled water) about 5ML deep. The re4ason to use rainwater is because the plants are extremely sensitive to the chemicals that are put in our tap water.

Also, never put a soil fertiliser in the plant pots, as this’ll burn the roots that are too sensitive. A very weak foliage fertiliser may work, but the best bet is to stun a fly by hitting it with a fly swat and then put it onto a trap, this works for me!

I hope this review helps you decide on whether to buy a Venus flytrap, and if you do, help you to grow them and have many years of happy growing :)

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