- Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:37 pm
#138185
Heyyo,
I'm Jackal and a resident of NC (native home of flytraps, yay) and I've had Venus Flytraps for several years. I'm currently 17. I bought my first set of VFTs about four almost five years ago, along with a pitcher plant, and up until recently, they were doing just fine. And then squirrels discovered that not only could they tear up the stones I'd placed around the traps and tightly packed in the pot, but peat moss makes really good digging soil. So they started mauling my traps, and I have little to no hope of saving them.
They literally yanked them out of the ground and... probably carried most of them off and dumped them somewhere.
Mom won't let me make a heat-and-shape guided squirrel shooter.
I then asked if she would prefer a laser.
No dice.
So after five years of raising beautiful traps, I'm starting over. The Fallen Soldiers are at my mom's house. I'm starting over at my dad's with the Reinforcements of the Army, who fortunately has a kind of courtyard that seems to discourage squirrels from visiting (and has way too many bugs!) so I bought five VFTs (four from Whole Foods, one from Southern States) and got two more pitcher plants in addition to my first two Sundews. I've never owned Sundews before, but I've read about them, and they're pretty fascinating. And I've still got room to spare in the pot I got for them, in case I come back with something else from Duke Gardens during their Spring Sale. Fingers crossed.
Here we go:
Note: I've been using tap water. I know it's a rule of thumb-- don't use tap water-- but it turns out that the tap water in this area is 80ppm or under with regards to the minerals and stuff it might have in it. I'm fairly sure it needs to be under 100ppm, and so far, it's worked for the last 5 years, so I expect it will keep working now. That's actually rather convenient!
I'm Jackal and a resident of NC (native home of flytraps, yay) and I've had Venus Flytraps for several years. I'm currently 17. I bought my first set of VFTs about four almost five years ago, along with a pitcher plant, and up until recently, they were doing just fine. And then squirrels discovered that not only could they tear up the stones I'd placed around the traps and tightly packed in the pot, but peat moss makes really good digging soil. So they started mauling my traps, and I have little to no hope of saving them.
They literally yanked them out of the ground and... probably carried most of them off and dumped them somewhere. Mom won't let me make a heat-and-shape guided squirrel shooter.
I then asked if she would prefer a laser.
No dice.
So after five years of raising beautiful traps, I'm starting over. The Fallen Soldiers are at my mom's house. I'm starting over at my dad's with the Reinforcements of the Army, who fortunately has a kind of courtyard that seems to discourage squirrels from visiting (and has way too many bugs!) so I bought five VFTs (four from Whole Foods, one from Southern States) and got two more pitcher plants in addition to my first two Sundews. I've never owned Sundews before, but I've read about them, and they're pretty fascinating.
And I've still got room to spare in the pot I got for them, in case I come back with something else from Duke Gardens during their Spring Sale. Fingers crossed.Here we go:
Note: I've been using tap water. I know it's a rule of thumb-- don't use tap water-- but it turns out that the tap water in this area is 80ppm or under with regards to the minerals and stuff it might have in it. I'm fairly sure it needs to be under 100ppm, and so far, it's worked for the last 5 years, so I expect it will keep working now. That's actually rather convenient!
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