Hive747 t1_j6iugd4 wrote on January 30, 2023 at 5:23 PM

Reply to comment by underscore5000 in Venus fly trap on the hunt by c0ntr0ll3dsubstance

I wondered about that too. Would be weird if the plant dies so fast. Or is a feeding cycle like a few months?

reddragon105 t1_j6kvcgt wrote on January 31, 2023 at 1:14 AM

They digest insects in about 10 days. The traps can last a few months, but they can only be triggered so many times - it takes a lot of energy, and if they keep catching bugs it just gets harder for the planet to digest them every time as it can't remove the old dead insects, so at a certain point they become inactive and just serve as regular leaves for photosynthesis until they die off. The plant itself is constantly growing new traps and they can live for 20+ years.

Hive747 t1_j6m90de wrote on January 31, 2023 at 9:21 AM

Ahh okay thank you for clarifying that! That makes a lot more sense. Though I never had good luck with them. They rarely lived for more than a year. Though I keep all my other plants mostly in a very good shape.

reddragon105 t1_j6mqpbb wrote on January 31, 2023 at 12:58 PM

Yeah, they're not the easiest plants to keep alive! My first one only lasted 9 months - it went dormant for the winter and then just didn't wake up.

My second one is going on for 2 years now - I bought it some higher quality soil and a bigger pot, one where you can water it from the bottom so the soil is always just damp, which is what they like.