Carnivorous Plants discussion

Any questions about anything remotely connected to carnivorous plants! I'll try and answer them for you...so check back once in a while...

...and after I answer your question, post another one!
I want this to educational as well as fun!

okay, well, what do they eat? :)

Mostly bugs...however some pitcher plants from Asia have pitchers that can hold a gallon of juice, and have been observed to regularly catch prey as large as rats & lizards!

cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and creepy. lol.

this is gonna sound dumb, but obviously i know nothing about them x) how do they know if there is prey in their pitcher - like how do they know to close and start digesting it (isn't that what they do?)?

They don't have a lid that closes, unfourtunatly, that would be kinda cool...
They just start dissolving it whenever it falls in...it can take awhile though...especially if the prey is large...
Some frog species that fall in have all of their body dissolved but their hands, so you can tell how many frogs were caught by counting how many froggy "gloves" there are in the pitcher, and divide that number by four to find how many froggies got caught. (no, I am not making this up)

No, I know they don't have a lid, but I think I've seen footage of a CP before and it like shuts on itself or something . . . snaps shut at the top. Idk.

Eeeeeeeeew. And weeeeird.

Ha ha xD

And where are they usually located, CPs?

They can be found on all the continents except Antartica, and some type grows wild in all of the U.S. states as well...kind of neat... I live in California, and that has a good variety of CPs that can be found out in a bog someplace..

Oh, okay!

No wonder you know so much about 'em! Ha ha xD

Must be neat to watch one get prey . . . I mean, I'd prob. feel for the prey, but you know what I mean x)

:) I guess so...I like watching ants fall into pitchers when I have nothing better to do...actually, usually I do, but I watch them anyway... :)

I think Raven is talking about VFTs.

Ha ha ha x)

How whats? :)

If she is talking about Venus flytraps, then yes, of course they snap shut...but not over a pitcher...look at the pictures on the group's picture page to see the differences between pitcher plants and VFT's...

AAAAAAAH Venus fly traps. I do believe that's what I'm thinking of. Ha ha sorry!

Lol okay! :)

Okay! 'nother dumb question now that we've gotten the whole VFT confusion thing cleared up! Lol!

How do the pitcher plants keep their prey inside? Like, if it was a fly, couldn't it just fly out?

The pitchers are lined with small hairs pointing downwards, thus making it hard for anything to get a foothold or crawl up...the pitchers also have some liquid in them, and this is often enough to keep the bugs inside...the lid on top can also knock a fly back in if it flies straight up...it would smack into it, and fall right back into the tube...

Also, head on over to the polls and vote on the two I have so far if you haven't done so yet, people! Thanks!

It is...there is no such thing though, thankfully...
It might have a lid that snapped shut once the fly fell inside, that would be pretty cool!
Still, no such plant has been found yet, boo hoo...

Any other questions?

OK - this page is becoming rather dead. Hmm...

I'll try and post once in a while on different subjects here...but I'm not going to be quite as active for a while....so just keep asking questions, OK?
*echo*
*silence answers*

Hope this question is alright.

This year is going to be my first winter with my CPs and I wanted to know if it's possible delaying their dormancy for a month so instead of going dormant in August they go in their dormancy stage in September. I know some that does that often with their plants they seem to turn out well-though they are succulents instead of carnivorous plants.

That should be fine...although if you are growing your plants out of doors than they will go dormant by themselves exactly when they need to...most CPs go dormant around September - October, depending on where you are in the US. Are these CPs native to the US, or are they from somewhere else? Are they tropical? If so, they DO NOT NEED A DORMANCY. They should be moved indoors for the winter, unless you don't have freezes where you are - (if so, your plants won't go dormant at all, and will eventually die off unless you can find a way to keep them cool and somewhat dark. Try tropical ones instead so they will be OK with being warm year-round....)
Thanks for asking a question! Any others?

Thanks! They're not tropical, simple temperate ones I believe. I live in a place that can qualify as a desert with late or early winters depending on the year so I just wanted to make sure since this has bugging me since I've got them. Thanks again! This has really helped!

Good! Glad to help...just leave them outside for the winter unless the temp drops around 5 degrees below freezing...they can take colder, but its not really needful.

Any other questions?

Dormancy is just around the corner, but right now, several of your N. American pitcher plants will be at their peak, producing their biggest & fanciest traps of all.
Keep your plants water trays full, and trim off any brown & dead foliage from the spring growth period. Other than that, just enjoy your plants!

You sound like those Sarracenia Northwest dudes.

YOU sound like a dude.

No, sir. Stop that at once.

At least I'm not being called a dude.

Any real "general Q's", or should I just give up?