Help with New Terrarium

From: Thomas C. Smith (tatar@sover.net)
Date: Mon Sep 08 1997 - 15:00:07 PDT 

Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 18:00:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Thomas C. Smith" <tatar@sover.net>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg3442$foo@default>
Subject: Help with New Terrarium

Hi!

I just received a carnivorous plant collection from Connecticut Valley
Biological Supply Company for my classroom. It consists of a pitcher
plant (purple?? - I know it survives outside in Vermont, USA, zone 4), a
butterwort, a Venus Flytrap, and the absolute tiniest sundew I've ever
seen (I thought it was a piece of sphagnum!!), and a bunch of live
sphagnum.

I used a jumbo mayonnaise jar as the terrarium and placed two inches of a
gravel / charcoal mix in the bottom. I placed a thin layer of the moss on
this, then the pitcher plant. On this I placed a two inch layer of moss
and on that the three remaining plants. Then a fair amount of distilled
water was added.

The butterwort is going real well, the tiny sundew looks no different,
some of the pitchers are dying, yet others are being produced. The
problem that has the students concerned, and they count every day, is that
the VFT traps are turning black one by one. Is this adjustment shock?
Will the whole plant die? HELP!! The jar is in a sunny window with the
lid ajar.

Thanks!

Tom

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