Science Fair Project

[ellen4566]

Hi,
My daughter has studied VFT's and wants to do her 3rd grade science fair project on them. Her hypothesis is "What will happen if I feed my VFT hamburger?". The project is due in 2 months, will this give us enough time to see the results of the experiment? In other words, will the plant show any signs of "stress" in that amount of time? Also, she needs information about WHY it is not good to feed the VFT hamburger, most resources just say NOT to do it. Thanks for any help you can give her.
Sincerely, Linda

 

[goldtrap2690]

Hello and welcome to the forums ! The plants trap will die if you feed it hamburger because the meat contains too much fat and most of the time its too much food so it end up rotting and cps are not really good science fair projects , but if you want to try then go ahead , here are some helpful links : http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq1280.html http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq2520.html .
You'll have plenty of time to see the results and you might want to compare hamburger meat with other types of food too . Generally this is ok to do as a project as long as the plant can be kept alive at school so it will require, light ( and lots of it ) , pure water , and something to keep other curious kids from sticking ther clumsy fingers in the traps ! Most of the judges don't know to much about cps so i'm sure you'll do fine .

Good Luck

 

[jimscott]

I thought it was interesting to read the question, the answer, and see your avatar doing its thing.

 

[droseradude]

well feeding blood to plants is helpful. On www.sarracenia.com Barry Rice talks about it and the story of feeding his skin to his vfts.

 

[Alvin Meister]

To digest fat, the enzyme lipase is necessary. Most CPs use protease to digest the proteins and chitonase to attempt to soften insects' ectoskeletons. A good book to get hold of would be 'Carnivorous Plants of North America and Canada' by Donald Schnell.

 

[JanW]

Quote[/b] ] What will hapn if I feed my VFT hamburg?

Hm I do not think it will swallow the whole city, perhaps just some blocks of houses...  

 

[PlantAKiss]

lol Jan

Linda, you could have two flytraps...one grown properly and one not (fed human food). The hamburger will just rot the traps. The traps will die but it will grow new ones.

Perhaps she could say "What happens to a flytrap when its improperly grown." That could include feeding it hamburger, tricking the traps, watering with tap water, fertilizing it, not giving enough light, etc. Of course...this experiment may be at the expense of the plant.

But it might be a good way to teach the kids about carnivorous plants and proper care of them.

Let us know how it goes and ask any more questions if you have them.

Suzanne

 

[ellen4566]

Thanks for all the help everyone! We are re-thinking this now based on how much time it would take for any results to show up.

Linda