Traps close, but open quickly

[roswell1329]

I'm very new to CP gardening, and I just purchased a VFT for my office to have something small but nice to look at. I've had it for about three days and I've done everything I can to make it's environment a happy one. I do have 2 questions, though:

1. When the instruction sheets say to "feed 2-3 times a month", does that mean feed the plant as a whole only 2-3 times a month, or feed each trap 2-3 times a month?

2. I just fed my trap yesterday for the first time, and the trap head closed nicely on a small winged thing I thwapped on the head. Today, however, the trap head is open again (slightly), and the insect seems no worse for wear. Is this the VFT's way of telling me, "That tastes TERRIBLE!" ? Do VFT's have insect preferences?

Most troubled,
Roswell.

 

[SnowyFalcon]

If the insect is not alive, then sometimes the trap will reopen.  The trigger hairs inside the trap need to be repeatedly stimulated otherwise it will think it has trapped some kind of debris and reopen.  Hope this helps.

A once a month feeding schedule is appropriate. Make sure the insect is at least 1/3 the size of the trap or less. Other wise, it might rot!

 

[roswell1329]

Thanks for the reply. Just to clarify, I need to feed the entire plant just once a month, or each trap head on the plant once a month?

 

[SnowyFalcon]

One trap, one insect, once a month.  The trap will send the nutrients to the whole plant.

It would be more fun if you could feed it more often, but resist the urge!!!

 

[Travis]

My thought is you own them, feed them. I usually have one trap always feeding. So it is about 3 to 4 bugs a month. Different strokes for different folks. I am sure you will find your happy medium and what works best for you.

Travis

 

[Travis]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Travis @ July 23 2003,11:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">My thought is you own them, feed them.  I usually have one trap always feeding.  So it is about 3 to 4 bugs a month. Different strokes for different folks. I am sure you will find your happy medium and what works best for you.

Travis

[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Let me rephase that...You do not have to feed them at all if you do not want too.

Travis

 

[roswell1329]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (SnowyFalcon @ July 23 2003,4:35)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">One trap, one insect, once a month.  The trap will send the nutrients to the whole plant.

It would be more fun if you could feed it more often, but resist the urge!!!

 

[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Just one bug for the whole plant of about 6-8 traps per month?  That doesn't sound like much at all.  Amazing! Thanks for all your help!

 

[Jmenprkr]

when you feed the vft all it is is fertilizing itself
that is why you dont want to feed it that often
and you you dont have to feed it often because the traps will start dying because you exhausted the plant

 

[SnowyFalcon]

If you really want to know more about these cool little plants, check out The Savage Garden by Peter D'Amato at your local library. This is a really cool book with lots of pictures and advice.

SF

P.S. This is not a sales gimmick, I just like his book!

 

[vft guy in SJ]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (roswell1329 @ July 23 2003,4<!--emo&

)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">2.  I just fed my trap yesterday for the first time, and the trap head closed nicely on a small winged thing I thwapped on the head.  Today, however, the trap head is open again (slightly), and the insect seems no worse for wear.  Is this the VFT's way of telling me, "That tastes TERRIBLE!" ?  Do VFT's have insect preferences?  [/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Whats wrong is the VFT has an nice little anti-accident system that keeps it from trying to digest things like rocks, rain, escaped prey ect.. After the trap snaps shut, live prey will struggle to escape, further stimulating the trigger hairs on the inside of the trap thus telling the plant that there is indeed prey inside waiting to be digested. Your dead bug did not stimulate the trigger hairs after being caught and the plants natural response is to reopen thinking it had been falsely triggered. When you feed a dead insect, you have to manually stimulate the trigger hairs with a toothpick or something to encourage the trap to seal and begin digestion.
For more on this and many other VFT questions check out: http://www.sarracenia.com/faq.html

Good luck with your plants
Steve