VFT "pruning" and water usage

Dio Lazo (bonito@mercury.sfsu.edu)
Sat, 24 Jun 1995 01:34:08 -0700 (PDT)

In the book Carnivorous Plants of the World, the author suggests
that dead parts of plants b cut off th prevent decay of the leaf
and ultimately the possibility of the top soil becoming infected
with bacteria or fungus.
With the VFT, I guess this means I have to cut off the whole leaf
because if I cut off the black trap, then the leaf will start to
decay as well. What do you guys do in this situation?

I know the water thing is a beat up topic but I've got to know what
kind of water do you use? If you have your own well or you are an
engineer and built a filtration system, I can't afford that. I am
talking about bottled water and what is the best kind to get.
I am very concerned about the minerals in water that will eventually
over time build up and kill the plant. No matter what water I look
at, it has some elements in it. I am currently
using Aquafina pure water that is carbon filtered and went through
reverse osmosis. On the bottle it says that it contains less thatn 10
milligrams of minerals per liter. Is this too much and will it cause my
plant to die or grow deformed?

thanks,
Dio