Venus Fly Trap

I'm back!

Still finding it fairly difficult to write posts during the holidays, even though theoretically it should be pretty easy to do. Ah, oh well, maybe one day I'll figure out how to balance my time properly! Or I could just not work during the holidays like everyone else, but that seems like a bit of a cop out considering I only put in a couple hours a day on average to begin with.

In any case hopefully everyone had a nice holiday, assuming that's relevant within my readers' geographic location. Let's not forget that it's summertime in the southern hemisphere (so weird).

For Christmas I received... homework.

Hmmm... yep. Fun stuff. No one seems to know what to get me. I'm quite the enigma I suppose. What do you give a minimalist crypto enthusiast who puts all their effort into crypto?

Ah, yes well I did receive one of these bad boys.

Fitting!

Buy the fucking dip.

Wait does it really say that?

Yeah: BTFD.

Oh good.

So what ends up happening is that I'll end up getting some random plant.

The fly trap I got is even smaller than this, and keeping it alive seems unlikely to say the least, but people know I like a challenge, so I've been doing some research.

However, I've already messed up and watered it incorrectly, which can be lethal. Turns out that these plants are native to only one small area of the globe. Can you guess what it is? I certainly couldn't. The subtropical wetlands of North Carolina and South Carolina. Who'd a thunk it? No one could guess this crazy plant evolved within some super random flyover state. So weird.

So apparently these things are quite fussy and like to live in a very particular environment. They like humidity and damp "soil", and by "soil" I mean something that has very little nutrients within it. Apparently nutrients can kill these plants because they've evolved to get the vast majority of all their sustenance directly from the insects they devour. Again, what a weird plant. How does that happen? What series of events led to this thing's adaptation? I can't even imagine. The first record of these things' existence was in the 1700's when America was being colonized, but surely it's been around for a lot longer than that.

Rule #1: absolutely do not do this.

Apparently it takes a lot of energy for the plant to spring the trap. I read that the mouths are only delegated enough energy to close around 5 times before they die, regardless of whether they catch anything or not. Anyone who wants to keep the plant alive would do well to avoid triggering the thing, which is done by touching certain hairs located in the mouth that should be triggered by insects instead.

Digestion

If the prey is unable to escape, it will continue to stimulate the inner surface of the lobes, and this causes a further growth response that forces the edges of the lobes together, eventually sealing the trap hermetically and forming a "stomach" in which digestion occurs.

Just keeps getting weirder...

It is quite clear that there is still much we don't know about this plant, as there are several theories to how it might work in terms of how it is able to move so quickly and the digestion process. Just goes to show how complicated the field of biology is, even when the organism in question has been studied for hundreds of years.

Bugs only

I watered mine today and realized that I may have already killed it right out of the gate. The Internet suggests distilled water or rainwater only, to avoid any kind of chemicals or minerals that may kill the Trap. Again, it gets all nutrients from the bugs and doesn't have much tolerance for other environments. I was thinking about collecting some snow and melting it but if there is any road-salt within the snow I'm sure to kill my plant instantly.

Bottom watering... seriously?

I didn't even know this was a real thing that people did. How do you water a plant from the bottom? Ah well, apparently the container this thing comes in has a clear lid (to promote humidity) which can be flipped upside-down and filled with water. Then you place the 'pot' part into the lid filled with water and it flows into holes at the bottom that promote drainage. This thing is growing in pure moss right now, surely the weirdest plant and upkeep scheme I've ever seen by far.

Green thumb?

Apparently the people in my life think I'm good at growing plants and keeping them alive? I feel like there isn't much to it... just water them, and make sure they get the right amount of sunlight. lol. Apparently that is too much for some to handle. I don't get it, but this little project has been thrown at me as a 'hardcore' challenge. Again, I don't think this plant is going to survive, but hey you never know.

Evolution

Carnivory in plants is a very specialized form of foliar feeding, and is an adaptation found in several plants that grow in nutrient-poor soil. Carnivorous traps were naturally selected to allow these organisms to compensate for the nutrient deficiencies of their harsh environments and compensate for the reduced photosynthetic benefit. Phylogenetic studies have shown that carnivory in plants is a common adaptation in habitats with abundant sunlight and water but scarce nutrients. Carnivory has evolved independently six times in the angiosperms based on extant species, with likely many more carnivorous plant lineages now extinct.

...

Phylogenetic studies using molecular characters place the emergence of carnivory in the ancestors of Dionaea muscipula to 85.6 million years ago, and the development of the snap-trap in the ancestors of Dionaea and its sister genus Aldrovanda to approximately 48 million years ago.

The proposed evolutionary path of these things is actually kind of interesting. It's thought that at first the trap was more like flypaper, sticking the prey to the plant and ultimately being digested later. Then that evolved from a sticky surface to actually capturing it with the makeshift teeth for various reasons. Sounds legit, but still we have to admit that carnivorous plants are one of the weirdest forms of life out there. There's a reason why developers put them into video games. The entire concept is just oddly terrifying.

Magic the Gathering

Mario Brothers

Zelda

Silver lining

It looks like the one thing I don't have to worry about in terms of growing one of these plants are the roots rotting from too much water. Apparently this is exactly the kind of environment it is used to and can withstand roots just soaking in water. Although I doubt this will ever end up happening it is something of a bonus, albeit a small one.

As a side note these plants can also live to be 20 years old,
which is older than the lifespan of most dogs.

Building a terrarium?

Reading advice on how to keep this plant alive and thriving is a bit of an issue. Apparently people take this very seriously and there are many competing arguments. I may come back to this topic later, but for now I think the post is over even though there is still much to talk about. Should I make an open or closed terrarium? How do I deal with the plant going inactive in winter? Should I acquire multiple layers of drainage and other substrates to make sure there are no problems? Ha, who knows, it will probably die before I figure it out. Live and learn (or don't).

Conclusion

Giving someone a living thing as a gift has always been a bit of an odd concept to me. I would never do it. "Here you go, here's something to take care of, here's some work to do." lol, pass. But still it's nice to have plants in my apartment instead of some lifeless brick of concrete. And I will admit that there is a certain kind of morbid curiosity that comes from feeding one animal to another. Reminds me of that one time I fed a fly to a spider as a child or a hermit crab to a sea anemone. Circle of life and all that.

Clearly this post is a bit off-topic compared to normal, but than again what is 'normal'? Certainly nothing about the direction humanity is headed in is normal in any way, shape, or form. At the same time isn't that the ultimate purpose of crypto? To free us from the drudgery of the 40+ hour work week and give us the opportunity to explore other paths? I'd like to think so.

Posted Using LeoFinance ^Beta