Question
I have a flytrap purchased last fall that I wintered over in a garage and now have put back into an eastern facing window. I keep it on a bed of pebbles that I add water to regularly to maintain humidity. The plant has put our several new shoots so it seems to be faring well. I tried to feed it a small spider yesterday, and the leaf closed around it but opened this morning with the spider still inside. I had to kill the spider to get it inside the trap, and maybe that is why the palnt didn't "eat" it? Is movement absoltely necessary for the plant to digest the insect? If so, how can one  practically feed the plant, since the insects won't cooperate by walking into the trap and I don't want them walking around my house!

Any info on this plant would be appreciated!

Answer
Hi Zach,

I understand the novelty of and fascination with carnivorous plants. However, these plants rarely do well as houseplants. One of the problems is the artificial feeding techniques that we apply to these plants. Too often they are treated like dispose-alls.

Carnivorous plants can digest only very small quantities of food and quite infrequently. Too much, too often will cause digestive problems. It is the movement of small live insects that cause the traps to close and the digestive juices to be stimulated and released. Spiders are too large and dead spiders do not provide necessary movement.

I don't know of any practical way to feed carnivorous plants, unless you have a way to introduce small insects into the plant's environment. Catching food for them and feeding them by hand just doesn't work.

Please let me know if any of this is unclear or if you have any additional questions.

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Regards,
Will Creed, Interior Landscaper
Horticultural Help, NYC

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