What are the proper Venus Flytrap Care and Feeding ?”
Caring for the Venus’ Fly Trap – Dionaea muscipula. This amazing plant is native to a small region in the Carolinas. Insects are trapped and digested by the plant to obtain nutrients; they are carnivorous plants. There are six small trigger hairs inside each trap. One hair touched twice, or two hairs touched once, signals the trap to snap shut. Empty traps reopen in a day or so. Traps with prey remain closed for a week or two. Then, the trap will reopen exposing the dry shell of the victim. Flytraps do not need regular feeding and can go long periods without insects. If you are growing them in a condition where no insects can get caught, such as a cool greenhouse, feeding one trap a small insect every couple months is probably beneficial. Care: Venus’ Fly Traps are perennials that form bulbs. They are winter hardy from about Maryland, southward. If you plan on growing the plant outdoors in this region, sink the pot or container in the ground to help prevent rapid temperature fluctuatio
Q: What should I feed my Venus flytrap? Hamburger meat? A: I often see Venus flytraps for sale in grocery stores, hardware stores, or other unlikely venues. Being a little snotty by nature, I like to ask the sales clerks about “those flytraps”, playing the role of a curious but uninformed customer. The sales clerks usually tell me the plants are easy to grow, as long as they are given a dish of water and a little hamburger meat from time to time. What do they think they are selling? Kittens? The information you get from sales staff is all wrong, of course. If you feed a Venus flytrap a bit of hamburger meat, it will probably die. Venus flytraps expect bugs. Feed them anything else, and they will not like it. There is far too much non-bug energy and protein in cow-meat. Emu meat is no better. \\ If you want to feed your plants, you must find bugs. Bugs, bugs, bugs. I recommend caterpillars, flies, spiders, crickets, slugs, and very small children. I do not recommend ants (the leaves are
