Christina Websell wrote:
What else to do then unless you have a mega amount of flies circulating
around your house that are likely to commit suicide in the Venus fly trap?
You have this carnivorous plant, needs feeding on flies. You have no fly
volunteers. What then? I really want to learn, I am not being sarcastic.

Actually, a fly trap would probably be overstuffed in our house. There is
certainly no shortage of fruit flies or houseplant flies around here,
unfortunately. (Nick uses fly paper, but it seems rather cruel, and it is
also very annoying when I end up with it stuck in my hair!)

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"kay" wrote in message
...

Slainte;896212 Wrote:


I'm off now to change the water - bottled this time - and catch some
flier -
)


Check the analysis of the bottled water. It'd be silly to exchange hard
bottled water for soft tap water. If you're worried about chlorine etc,
leave the tap water to stand for a day before using it.

Remember the fly needs to trigger the hairs in the trap in order for the
trap to close. I can't see dumping a dead fly on a trap being very good
for the plant.

What else to do then unless you have a mega amount of flies circulating
around your house that are likely to commit suicide in the Venus fly trap?
You have this carnivorous plant, needs feeding on flies. You have no fly
volunteers. What then? I really want to learn, I am not being sarcastic.

Is that a serious point though? Do they actually need the odd fly to let
them thrive. This one hasn't even had its breakfast yet! But as I say -
seriously - do they need feeding?

Mo

In article ,
says...

"kay" wrote in message
...
What else to do then unless you have a mega amount of flies
circulating
around your house that are likely to commit suicide in the Venus fly trap?
You have this carnivorous plant, needs feeding on flies. You have no fly
volunteers. What then? I really want to learn, I am not being sarcastic.

You could try, reading this thread

Janet

On 03/08/10 21:04, Sunny Bard wrote:
Christina Websell wrote:
wrote in message
...

Slainte;896212 Wrote:


I'm off now to change the water - bottled this time - and catch some
flier -
)


Check the analysis of the bottled water. It'd be silly to exchange hard
bottled water for soft tap water. If you're worried about chlorine etc,
leave the tap water to stand for a day before using it.

Remember the fly needs to trigger the hairs in the trap in order for the
trap to close. I can't see dumping a dead fly on a trap being very good
for the plant.

What else to do then unless you have a mega amount of flies circulating
around your house that are likely to commit suicide in the Venus fly
trap?
You have this carnivorous plant, needs feeding on flies. You have no fly
volunteers. What then? I really want to learn, I am not being sarcastic.

Just plonk the dead fly in the trap and then trigger two or three of the
hairs with something quite gentle ...

IME if the fly died of an overdose of fly spray, the plant dies too.

On Sun, 1 Aug 2010 17:48:52 +0100, "Slainte"
wrote:

Hi,

I have a Venus fly trap (Dionaea Muscipula) plant - bought in Homebase. I
have been following the instructions on the label but it isn't thriving. So
far since I bought it one month ago I have had to remove a number of
leaves/shoots as they have turned black and apparently died. The
instructions say to keep it standing in approx 5mm of water and I have been
doing this. I have also tried it in bright sunlight and in the shade but it
still seems to be suffering.

I would dearly like to know why and what I can do to resolve the situation.

Many thanks,

Mo



I killed the first one I had.

I think it was the small piece of a pork chop I gave it :-)

To those who have grown them successfully - how big do the traps
actually get?

I did not write the stuff you attribute to me.

In article , kay.6cf7786
@gardenbanter.co.uk says...

I did not write the stuff you attribute to me.

sorry Kay

Janet

For anybody who is in Leiden in the next few days, there is an
exhibition of flesh eating plants in the Hortus Botanicus from 6-15
August http://www.hortusleiden.nl/index.php...etende_planten

There is a web cam showing life size flesh eaters. ATM it doesn't seem
to be working. Maybe it will be tomorrow. http://www.hortusleiden.nl/

On 05/08/10 10:15, Martin wrote:

For anybody who is in Leiden in the next few days, there is an
exhibition of flesh eating plants in the Hortus Botanicus from 6-15
August http://www.hortusleiden.nl/index.php...etende_planten

There is a web cam showing life size flesh eaters. ATM it doesn't seem
to be working. Maybe it will be tomorrow. http://www.hortusleiden.nl/




Video of the exhibition in 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9ncGMa2ATE