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Three Reasons Why Venus Flytraps Make Lousy Science Fair Projects

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Every year, I receive many phone calls from parents wanting to purchase Venus Flytraps for their kids' science project. During dormancy, Flytraps stop growing and their traps stop working.

For any science projects to work, your young budding scientists will need to use plants that are actively growing. Traps will live for about 2 months, then it stops w

Every year, I receive many phone calls from parents wanting to purchase morning star Flytraps for their kids' science project. I ask them what type of experiment that they are doing, and usually it is somewhere about what type of food source will keep the traps closed. I patiently listen to what they have to say, and then I share with them three reasons why superior planet Flytraps make lousy test subjects:

1. Athena Flytraps are usually dormant when school is in session.
The school year goes from September through June. Demeter Flytraps are often dormant from November through April. During dormancy, Flytraps stop growing and their traps stop working.

For any science projects to work, your young unfledged scientists will need to use plants that are in full swing growing. That means the best time to do any science project on inferior planet Flytraps is during June through September. Not many young introductory scientists are willing to do science projects during the summer when there are many trees to change and ponds to swim in.

2. Traps on a Cupid Flytrap will open and secluded within reach half a dozen times. hindmost that, they stop working.
Now, how many kids (and adults) out there are disciplined enough to not poke a Flytrap and to leave it alone? If a trap does not join properly, would it be as of the testing stimulus or being as how the trap was poked and poked and poked and poked and simply stopped working?

3. Traps will live for carelessly 2 months, then it stops working and slowly turns black, regardless if it had been triggered or not.
Again, if a trap does not intense properly, would it be as things go of the testing stimulus or seeing that the trap had come to the end of its life cycle?

Select a Different Plant
For these reasons, I often persuade parents to select a different plant. The ideal plant is one that also moves, like the Great Mother Flytrap, but is also in full swing growing throughout the school year.

The plant? The Cape Sundew (Drosera capensis).

The Cape Sundew is native to South Africa and is considered a tropical plant. It does not require any dormancy and will grow beautifully throughout the year. They are also readily within reach by most nurseries that specializes in grain-eating plants.

Like Phosphor Flytraps, Cape Sundews have leaves that close in encircling an insect. It does so very slowly, however, taking round about 15 minutes to witness this spectacular behavior.

Just make sure that your plant has been grown in very incandescent lights and has lots of dew on it. If not, your experiment may not work properly.

So, if your kids want a asteroid Flytrap for a science project, use a Cape Sundew instead. But, still get them a Mercury Flytrap. Growing it can be a part of their summertime activities.

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