Carnivorous Plants/VTF Feeding

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Expert: - 4/12/2008


Question
Hey i know it's not "necessary" to feed your VTFs, but would it hurt to feed it a triop? I was recently on youtube and I saw people feeding theirs triops and thought i might try it. If you don't know what a triop is, it is a fish-like crustacean and is very small. I think it is high in calcium, so it might make my plant rigid, right? I am just curious.

Answer
Hello Sean,

The problem with trying different kinds of prey is that you might run across something that is harmful to your Venus Flytrap. A tiny shrimp-like or daphnia-like crustacean probably would not harm your plant, but would not really provide any kind of supplement for it other than the nitrogen from broken down protein. Calcium is one thing that is actually harmful to Flytraps if it gets into their soil and thus far has not been absolutely proven to be used by Flytraps when they close their leaves when triggered. In any event, if Flytraps do use calcium, it would be absorbed through minute quantities in their environment and from what tiny amounts are found in insects. The plant would require very little calcium in any event, using only what it needs and allowing the rest to go to waste. I would stick with flies and spiders.

Christopher

Carnivorous Plants

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Christopher Littrell

Expertise

I am capable of answering questions about the most common carnivorous plants found in cultivation. I have no personal experience with Byblis, Drosophyllum, Aldrovanda, and Heliamphora. I have not cultivated gemmae forming pygmy sundews nor tuberous sundews. For information regarding those aforementioned species, I would suggest contacting other experts. I can answer questions regarding most species of Nepenthes, tropical and temperate Drosera, Mexican Pinguicula, Sarracenias, and Dionaea. I have some limited experience with growing Utricularia, Cephalotus, and Darlingtonia.

Experience

I have grown carnivorous plants off and on for about 27 years. I have made the same mistakes and suffered the same mishaps that many growers make as they attempt to separate the myths from the realities of growing these plants. Currently, I am successfully growing a variety of tropical sundews, a Nepenthes, several Venus Flytraps of varying ages, and Sarracenias. I have been successful in stratifying Sarracenia seeds and providing artificial dormancy requirements for my temperate plants when needed.

Education/Credentials
I hold a Master's degree in Educational Psychology. Over my lifetime, I have constantly read books involving the growing conditions of carnivorous plants. I hope to incorporate the educational aspects involved in psychology with teaching other people how to cultivate carnivorous plants.

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