GardenBanter.co.uk - Lazy Fly Trap

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I must be too well trained by my cats....

I have this little fly problem.

I figured one natural way to "deal with it" would be to have a venus fly
trap around. A nice symbiotic relationship between me, the insects in my
house and the plant.

So I'm watching these flies buzz around the thing...Getting closer... land
on the window... fly away to another part of the house.

So I killed the thing myself and fed it to the plant. You think the cats
were talking to it and said "Don't worry, if you just sit there and look
pathetic he'll give you food." ?

Has anybody seen a venus fly trap EVER ACTUALLY CATCH A FLY OR BUG?

On Tue, 3 Aug 2004, James wrote:

I have. Years ago. The inside of the plant gets pinkish and puts out an odor
that attracts them. If it's not with color, it will still chomp but maybe
not attract too well.

The one I bought is quite tiny. I do recall that pinkish color on larger
plants when the traps get bigger. Maybe I need to give this one some more
room to grow.

I just keep thinking that if I continue to feed it manually it will get
spoiled. :)

"David Kotschessa" wrote in message
...

I must be too well trained by my cats....

I have this little fly problem.

I figured one natural way to "deal with it" would be to have a venus fly
trap around. A nice symbiotic relationship between me, the insects in my
house and the plant.

So I'm watching these flies buzz around the thing...Getting closer... land
on the window... fly away to another part of the house.

So I killed the thing myself and fed it to the plant. You think the cats
were talking to it and said "Don't worry, if you just sit there and look
pathetic he'll give you food." ?

Has anybody seen a venus fly trap EVER ACTUALLY CATCH A FLY OR BUG?

I've a few larger bug-eatin' pitcher plants that do well outdoors, & when
I clip out older pitchers, they're always stuffed with exoskeletons. I've
frequently been weeding or working nearby & heard buzzing inside the
pitchers. One that is very low-growing seems to have a decided preference
for earwigs & wood louses, while a toller one gets moths & flies & wasps.

But the idea that a wee indoor venus flytrap might catch flies all over
the house was, at best, a delusional hope. If you want to see it capture
its own food, enclose it in a terrarium or set a belljar over it, with a
few baby crickets (from the petstore) turned loose in the same finite
space, & you will see flytraps feed themselves just fine.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

I have a tiny fly trap that we got at Rona and they look like
miniatures.....
It caught something the other day.I think it was a tiny spider (could only
see thin legs) but nothing big....I am thinking of feeding it some dead bugs
too as they said that if it is not in a location with plenty insects you
might need to give it some plant food.......
I just don't want to end up killing it so I am taking the "natural way" and
offering some disabled insects (not dead) so it can do some of the job
itself...

FayeC

"James" wrote in message
...

"David Kotschessa" wrote in message
...

I must be too well trained by my cats....

I have this little fly problem.

I figured one natural way to "deal with it" would be to have a venus fly
trap around. A nice symbiotic relationship between me, the insects in my
house and the plant.

So I'm watching these flies buzz around the thing...Getting closer...
land
on the window... fly away to another part of the house.

So I killed the thing myself and fed it to the plant. You think the
cats
were talking to it and said "Don't worry, if you just sit there and look
pathetic he'll give you food." ?

Has anybody seen a venus fly trap EVER ACTUALLY CATCH A FLY OR BUG?

I have. Years ago. The inside of the plant gets pinkish and puts out an
odor
that attracts them. If it's not with color, it will still chomp but maybe
not attract too well.

On Tue, 3 Aug 2004, paghat wrote:

I've a few larger bug-eatin' pitcher plants that do well outdoors, & when
I clip out older pitchers, they're always stuffed with exoskeletons. I've
frequently been weeding or working nearby & heard buzzing inside the
pitchers. One that is very low-growing seems to have a decided preference
for earwigs & wood louses, while a toller one gets moths & flies & wasps.

But the idea that a wee indoor venus flytrap might catch flies all over
the house was, at best, a delusional hope.

I know...i KNOW!! {sobs uncontrollably}

Actually it wasn't really so much that I wanted it to take care of my fly
problem. I just thought it'd be a win-win situation. "You eat flies, I
got flies. Join the family!"

If you want to see it capture
its own food, enclose it in a terrarium or set a belljar over it, with a
few baby crickets (from the petstore) turned loose in the same finite
space, & you will see flytraps feed themselves just fine.

-paghat the ratgirl

Hmm, well, I don't have cable so...

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

Found some good information:

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionar...s%20fly%20trap

That page indicates the plants need to be watered with distilled
water, because tap water will slowly kill the plant. It also indicates
that you should never feed it hamburger. It suggest placing the
plant into a tray of water to keep the soil moist and somewhere
I just read that the actual leaf of the fly trap is the carnivorous
part of the plant and the plant itself is still gets most of it's energy
through photosynthesis (ie, sunlight hitting the leaves). A leaf
will die after 2 or 3 entrapments of flies.

They seem to have originated in a 100 mile radius of Wilmington,
North Carolina.

Apparently North Carolina has put laws into effect that make
people criminals for collecting wild fly traps. :-(

The following link is pretty neat and educational...
http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scri...usflytrap.html

--
Jim Carlock
http://www.microcosmotalk.com/
Post replies to the newsgroup.

"David Kotschessa" wrote:

On Tue, 3 Aug 2004, paghat wrote:

I've a few larger bug-eatin' pitcher plants that do well outdoors, & when
I clip out older pitchers, they're always stuffed with exoskeletons. I've
frequently been weeding or working nearby & heard buzzing inside the
pitchers. One that is very low-growing seems to have a decided preference
for earwigs & wood louses, while a toller one gets moths & flies & wasps.

But the idea that a wee indoor venus flytrap might catch flies all over
the house was, at best, a delusional hope.

I know...i KNOW!! {sobs uncontrollably}

Actually it wasn't really so much that I wanted it to take care of my fly
problem. I just thought it'd be a win-win situation. "You eat flies, I
got flies. Join the family!"

If you want to see it capture
its own food, enclose it in a terrarium or set a belljar over it, with a
few baby crickets (from the petstore) turned loose in the same finite
space, & you will see flytraps feed themselves just fine.

-paghat the ratgirl

Hmm, well, I don't have cable so...

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com