Intro and VFT question

From: Ray Brusasco (rmbrusas@pacbell.net)
Date: Wed Sep 29 1999 - 20:37:21 PDT


Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 20:37:21 -0700
From: Ray Brusasco <rmbrusas@pacbell.net>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg3379$foo@default>
Subject: Intro and VFT question

Greetings,

I'm new to the list and in keeping with the info email that I got when
joining, let me introduce myself.

My name is Ray, living in California. I've been interested in carnivorous
plants since I was a kid, but it was actually my daughter (8 year old) who
got the plant. She can't have a pet in our apartment, but I said she could
have any plant she wanted. So, we went hunting for a Venus Flytrap at a
local nursery. We found an apparently healthy specimen and brought it home
to set up housekeeping for it.

I've a fairly green thumb, but these plants appear to be challenging and
different at first blush. We're taking a look at information on the Web and
figuring things out as we go. Also, I'm trying to keep an image of North
Carolina in my mind as we grow this particular plant.

I've a question which I would like to pose regarding its current growth
state. Lately, the new leaves (we've had the plant for about 2 months now
and it has put up 6 leaves in that time) have a large, vigorous leaf-base
but virtually no trap at the end; just a short spike where the lamina would
be. The last three have been like this. My theory is that the plant's bulb
(is that what it has under there, in the peat?) is making a pitch for more
photosynthesis and is putting up leaves like this. Alternatively, I'm wrong
and the plant is suffering somehow but I can't decipher what it is telling
me. Any help along these lines would be appreciated.

I would be interested in trying my hand at Drosera, but I'm not sure autumn
is the right time of year to be starting any new plants. Thanks for reading
this far in my first post.

RMB



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