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Over feeding

I hope my question is not to dumb. Can you feed your VFT to many bugs. I see post about bugs are not so important for the plant, but I can't resist feading them. Every time a trap opens, I can't help myself. I put a bug in it.
 
Yup, overfeeding is something that can easily be done There was some general rule of thumb about one bug per trap per month, or something to that effect. The plants don't need the live food nearly as much as we think they do, being the rather sadistic creatures we are. They need lots of light and moist, open air conditions to thrive, with occasional bugs.
 
Thanks for the tip.
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Whoops. On my VFT's a trap is only open for about an hour or so before I put something in it. I also can't resist!
 
Yep, it's like a drug. Every time I see a fly I start getting all wierd in my head. I can't wait to see my plant clamp down on it
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Sorry Jim but I will put in my differing two-cents.
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You have to remember out in the wild no one is regulating how many bugs the plants catch. No one is saying "Nope...you can't have a bug because you just had one last week." My VFTs (grown outside) usually have almost every trap full almost all the time. They catch what they do naturally at their own pace.

But you do need to bear in mind the traps will only feed 2-3 times before wearing out and dying off. If you are constantly shoving bugs into every open trap, they will also wear out faster. I prefer to let my plants catch their own bugs and thereby not worry about over or under feeding. They just do their thang.
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[b said:
Quote[/b] (PlantAKiss @ May 22 2005,9:12)]Sorry Jim but I will put in my differing two-cents.  
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  You have to remember out in the wild no one is regulating how many bugs the plants catch.   No one is saying "Nope...you can't have a bug because you just had one last week."  My VFTs (grown outside) usually have almost every trap full almost all the time.  They catch what they do naturally at their own pace.

But you do need to bear in mind the traps will only feed 2-3 times before wearing out and dying off.  If you are constantly shoving bugs into every open trap, they will also wear out faster.  I prefer to let my plants catch their own bugs and thereby not worry about over or under feeding.  They just do their thang.  
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I don't disagree with what you are saying. For those of us who keep them outside, where they are getting all the elements for the makings of a healthy plant, then letting them get what they can get, works just fine. But for a newbie, who might have a plant inside, with less than the best conditions, and the normal sadistic nature, the tendency is to want to feed the plant more often than what it can handle. The rule of thumb, which I didn't make up, is just a guidline for someone who needs the boundary. It's fun to watch them respond to food. It could also be overdone.
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Yes you can over feed your plant they can only eat 4 in their life so if you feed them four before a new trap can grow you will kill the plant off
 
  • #10
I have a friend who owns a muffler shop; he has large East and South facing windows and gets alot of flies.  I gave him some Green Dragons for a muffler one day; it's now a year later and you should see them.  They are Smithsonian quality.  My point is, late last Summer there wasn't an open trap on any of his plants; they just kept right on eating flies, etc. Some traps had two or three!  They aren't any worse for wear.  They had so much stored up food in their bulging rhyzomes, that after dormancy; there wasn't any soil to be seen; Just 1 to 1 1/2 inch traps everywhere ( I counted 40 huge traps between the two plants that probably need dividing now). I am insanely jealous.

Feeding your VFT all it can eat will mean losing the traps sooner; but to the plant, it has done it's job; and the foodstore where you can't see will have the resources to put up more to meet demand.  That is what has happened to my friends vft's.  What counts is what is coming up to replace it.

Now my VFT'S (practically all varieties) are under flourescents (4) and are doing fine. I don't feed them often; but mist with diluted Superthrive and a pinch of Miracid in a spraybottle for foilar feeding; once every month or two. This is fine; but it isn't until I do give them a fly or two that the weaker ones really start to show improvement. I think people see the traps die and see that as a sign of ill health for the plant overall. If you want the traps to last longer; don't feed them a thing; but if you want that one trap to be replaced (quickly) by two or more; than give it a juicy fly.

There are some that say you NEVER have to feed the VFT'S. This doesn't add up. They are getting virtually nothing from the medium; (which is why they developed their leaves to capture nutrients) and are living purely on the reserve from which they HAD something to eat at some earlier point in their life, it's going to end up with no new growth (why should it; if it's getting nothing, why waste more resources putting up more traps)? and eventually decline. Aww, sure; you have a smart looking plant with 6 or more traps; but isn't possible to sustain.

A VFT is capable of eating two or three times before the trap either dies with the insect inside, or spreads outward and becomes a true leaf for pure photosynthesis; but look at the larger new ones (more than one) quickly rising up to meet the demand and has the resources to meet the demand.

If your lighting isn't sufficient; you are missing one key ingredient in the plants food cycle; and filling up the traps isn't going to do much good; as mentioned above.
 
  • #11
I think in terms of overfeeding it depends on the plant. If I have my windowsill VFT that has never been fed before, I don't one day want to fill up all of the traps. If I have a plant outside which catches a bug every now and then, there's less to worry about if I feed all of the traps. Furthermore I think it'd probably be wise, if at all possible, to need feed all of the traps at the exact same time. I have no scientific studies to back it up, but it seems logical; this way, not too much energy will be required all at once. Still, it seems to be the same as in people: a person who has been living on minimal nourishment will get a tummy ache (in the least) if they suddenly binge. Just me, but it seems like you aclimate plants with photoperiod and light intensity, the same should probably be done with feedings.
 
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