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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Sept 1, 2013 8:38:47 GMT -5
"I was thinking that way dvg, then someone said a bigger insect will give the trap more nutrients it needs rather than a small one!" Hello cook1973  i wrote some threads on this subject on other forums, so maybe im the 'someone'. Here the original text: Bigger prey provides increasingly higher nutritional value, but large insects can easily escape the sticky mucilage of flypaper traps; the evolution of snap-traps would prevent escape and kleptoparasitism (theft of prey captured by the plant before it can derive any benefit from it), and would also permit a more complete digestion. Larger insects usually walk over the plant, instead of flying to it,[22] and are more likely to break free from sticky glands alone. Therefore, a plant with wider leaves must have adapted to move the trap and it's stalks in directions that maximized its chance of capturing and retaining such prey - in this particular case, longitudinally. Once adequately "wrapped", escape would be more difficult.[22] Then, evolutionary pressure selected the plants with shorter response time, in a manner similar to Drosera burmannii or Drosera glanduligera. The faster the closing, less reliant on the flypaper model the plant would be. As the trap became more and more active, the energy demanded to "wrap" the prey increased. Therefore, plants that could somehow differentiate between actual insects and random detritus/rain droplets would be in advantage, thus explaining the specialization of inner tentacles into trigger hairs. Ultimately, as the plant relied more in closing around the insect rather than gluing them, the tentacles so evident in Drosera would lose its original function altogether, becoming the "teeth" and trigger hairs — an example of natural selection hijacking pre-existing structures for new functions. Completing the transition, at some point in its evolutionary history the plant developed the depressed digestive glands found inside the trap, rather than using the dews in the stalks, further differentiating it from the Drosera genus.(...)" -=- B52 and others giants cultivars have abnormal sized traps, it can catch bigger preys for sure but i dont think its a must for the plant. They dont need that kind of big prey, and its even too much nutrients for the plant. What i was trying to say with my very good english, is that drosera(regia) evolved into a 'snaptrap' system because this way, the plant can catch bigger prey and the assimilation is better with a sealed 'stomach'. Lately, i saw a video of a giant flytrap catching a little snake, so very big prey can be catched, but its useless for the plant. The average dionaea(typical), have small traps, .5", and the perfect prey have to full 1/3 of the trap. Of course, this is from my personnal experience and own researchs, im not the vfts yoda Hope this help a little bit at least ! It helped a lot because I was wondering how bigger prey reacted when getting caught and probably damaging the plant escaping capture or avoiding the plant completely in the wild when it passes over the plant or whatever they do to avoid capture to begin with I have two normal flytrap and a big jaws cultivar that someone in the forum told me they can skip dormancy until they are adult plants,like 2 or 3 dormancy skips then I was going to take one of the regulars and plant it outside but being from NL where we get frost and snow if this is a good idea or should I keep them inside like I am doing now.? I ordered these from a nursery(HB) because they are healthier and more disease resistant, they cost more but worth it. when I got the big jaws it had 3 traps but sulked and did not adapt well to being replanted and died, now I have 5 traps coming up from the peat! this is more than I lost so how many can I expect 5 or 7, I was told 7 is possible, is this true? |
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Post by Maiden on Sept 1, 2013 9:56:41 GMT -5
"I have two normal flytrap and a big jaws cultivar that someone in the forum told me they can skip dormancy until they are adult plants,like 2 or 3 dormancy skips " Again, i think im the one who tell you that too lol. For your vft, if you want to skip this winter dormancy, try to keep the same growing conditions all year long. So yes, you will have to bring the plant inside in a month or so to keep it growing. And another personnal experience; if you stop feeding the dionaea, the plant, even baby, will try to go dormant. Just keep feeding it once a week. "when I got the big jaws it had 3 traps but sulked and did not adapt well to being replanted and died, now I have 5 traps coming up from the peat! this is more than I lost so how many can I expect 5 or 7, I was told 7 is possible, is this true?" Sometimes when i get a new dionaea after a 2 weeks travel, the plant will lose many traps. So i think its a normal thing after a shipping or a big stress. For the traps number, a healthy dionaea will have 4 to 7 open traps. If you have more, then you have a colony of plants Again I am drawing conclusions based on my personal observations. Feel free to disprove. |
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Sept 1, 2013 10:22:27 GMT -5
No man I am not disapproving anything
You might have given me advice on the dormancies, honestly I read a lot of posts and cannot remember who sent them lol !!you said to keep feeding them to stop it from trying to sleep, what do I feed it/ I contacted a pet store and ordered some what they call gourmet crickets cheap too.
but I threw them out because the smell made me sick!
do places selling bait carry anything? I have a bottle of freeze dried blood worms and give each trap 2 or 3 since they are so small,is it getting enough nutrition? from these they seem to like those but I was wondering if there is anything else they can be fed?
I read where you told Lloyd he was probably overwatering. he is the last person I would expect to do that!
I use the tray system to water my sundew and VFT's I put 1 inch of water in the tray and do not water again until the tray is dry!
I live in NL and its getting cooler here now so I keep the plants under LED light for 12 hours a day when its too cold to get them outside. I am debating now to let it flower and try my luck germinating VFT seeds or hold out for bigger traps. if I do decide to get seed I will post a pic if it works for me lol !!
I have a strange problem, or maybe wiser people on VFT's have seen this,
One of my Venus Flytraps has 6 healthy green leaves,5 of them look to be making traps
the problem is 1 is growing green and healthy but nothing on the leaf to make another trap!!
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Post by Maiden on Sept 1, 2013 22:24:31 GMT -5
Lloyd is a experienced grower, i dont think he need any help from me ! Maybe i was just sharing my own growing conditions. Many many vfts problems came from a overwatering+lack of ventilation.
Keep feeding your plants with dryed blood worm, its perfect. I feed all my plants with that.
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Sept 2, 2013 10:32:39 GMT -5
"I have two normal flytrap and a big jaws cultivar that someone in the forum told me they can skip dormancy until they are adult plants,like 2 or 3 dormancy skips " Again, i think im the one who tell you that too lol. For your vft, if you want to skip this winter dormancy, try to keep the same growing conditions all year long. So yes, you will have to bring the plant inside in a month or so to keep it growing. And another personnal experience; if you stop feeding the dionaea, the plant, even baby, will try to go dormant. Just keep feeding it once a week. "when I got the big jaws it had 3 traps but sulked and did not adapt well to being replanted and died, now I have 5 traps coming up from the peat! this is more than I lost so how many can I expect 5 or 7, I was told 7 is possible, is this true?" Sometimes when i get a new dionaea after a 2 weeks travel, the plant will lose many traps. So i think its a normal thing after a shipping or a big stress. For the traps number, a healthy dionaea will have 4 to 7 open traps. If you have more, then you have a colony of plants Again I am drawing conclusions based on my personal observations. Feel free to disprove. Do you know about D Capensis? Mine has got e reddish tint on the end of the leaves where the tiny hairs form which are white,should I cut the reddish parts off the leaf or should I do something else less drastice. BTW I have the flytrap in a clay pot that had some kind of mold growing near the top on the outside,since I put it under a LED light the mold is turning white and flaky to the point where I can scrape it off the pot....everything else is in plastic pots. |
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Post by Maiden on Sept 2, 2013 11:52:37 GMT -5
Maybe its just a ventilation issue ?
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Sept 2, 2013 12:11:07 GMT -5
Maybe its just a ventilation issue ? [/quote I emailed Lloyd he said red means enough light! I am gonna keep a eye on it though and if it looks sickly,I think I will email Lloyd again and suggest cutting the red Thanx for the help though! |
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Post by Maiden on Sept 2, 2013 13:55:16 GMT -5
I mean your mold and white things, its probably a ventilation issue.
And no problem, i hope i help a little !
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Sept 2, 2013 14:42:46 GMT -5
I mean your mold and white things, its probably a ventilation issue. And no problem, i hope i help a little ! The Flytrap in the clay pot had the root broken and I just got it growing so I am going to let it grow a bit then re plant it in a pot I bought for it I had to trim my Sundew,turns out the water tray was almost dry so I gave it some fresh rainwater I collected What looked red was brown ,probably the plant starting to die I trimmed off the brown so with any luck the trimming and fresh water will be a good move! |
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Sept 2, 2013 18:10:09 GMT -5
Cook1973, i've found that flytraps do better with eating medium sized insects such as houseflies. When i put my vft's outside, they typically feast on daddy long legs/harvestmen spiders. If you put a live bee or especially a yellow jacket hornet in your trap, expect them to escape form your vft and be loose in the house, if that's where you're growing your plants. If the trap does manage to stay closed and attemps digestion of such a large meal, expect the trap to turn black soon. dvg So, this is a case of too much kills lol !!! |
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Sept 3, 2013 12:09:01 GMT -5
Cook1973, i've found that flytraps do better with eating medium sized insects such as houseflies. When i put my vft's outside, they typically feast on daddy long legs/harvestmen spiders. If you put a live bee or especially a yellow jacket hornet in your trap, expect them to escape form your vft and be loose in the house, if that's where you're growing your plants. If the trap does manage to stay closed and attemps digestion of such a large meal, expect the trap to turn black soon. dvg So, this is a case of too much kills lol !!! I had to change the water, where I used to buy it, the store manager decided to go with a cheaper water to stock For $1.69 I got 4 liters of spring water that has 350 ppm and fluoride ions of 0.0.4 I divided it by 4 which was 87.5 ppm! I thought that high and went online to look into this and found this: Venus flytraps, sundews, pitcher plants and more. ... Most carnivorous plants should be grown in some mix of peat moss, perlite or ... Total dissolved solids (TDS) is best if below 160 parts per million (PPM). ... Max www.californiacarnivores.com/californiacarnivoresgrowingtipI think this might be true cause my plants lived off tap water left overnight for months and grew like weeds lol !! That address will take you to a dead link....I googled maximum ppm a Venus Flytrap can survive on? |
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Post by lloyd on Sept 3, 2013 13:18:54 GMT -5
I would hesitate to water CP's with TDS > 50 PPM. For my inside plants I use distilled water = 0 PPM . For my outside plants I will go as high as 15 PPM TDS. Why take a chance with your plants to save a little bit on water.
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Post by markym4rk on Sept 10, 2013 0:52:29 GMT -5
I'm going to have to agree with lloyd on this one. I treat my plants like my own babies! I personally use R.O water with ppm of 0 and 1 ppm at most.
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Sept 10, 2013 16:25:12 GMT -5
I found a place to get 4 liters of steam distilled water !!.....cheap for here too!
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Sept 19, 2013 16:18:38 GMT -5
I have a Big Jaws Cultivator
Right now 6 stems are coming up,all have traps on them
Only 2 of the 6 are partially open,1 has a trap opened but is wider on 1 trap leaf than the other
The second has a partially opened trap with some red coloration near the mouth of the trap
I was told to feed it, but since neither appears to be able to eat should I try feeding these 2 traps?
BTW the other 4 are not starting to open but seem fine.
I thought the red coloration was due to roots rotting or stagnating and re-planted it in new peat watering through the tray and misted the surface until the soils was damp to the touch.
The Big Jaws I own now has 7 stems coming up!
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i wrote some threads on this subject on other forums, so maybe im the 'someone'. 
