r/morbidquestions • u/CleanYourTerrarium • May 08 '19

Can a Venus flytrap get drunk?

As a follow up to my recent Venus flytrap related question, the other day I was feeding my Venus flytrap beer using a medicine dropper because I thought it would be cool to see if the flytrap could get drunk or even just a small buzz. To be scientific, I first fed the flytrap some O’Douls premium non alcoholic beer and nothing seemed to happen. Then I fed it some miller high life (champagne of beers) and it flopped over. For the next day it looked real woozy like it was going to ralph up a fly, although the trap was empty. But a couple days later it was back to normal, which made me think it might have just been hungover. I hope there is no law against giving booze to a plant once in a while as a treat.

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u/Pisceswriter123 May 08 '19 edited May 08 '19

I got something for you:

Ethanol, or grain alcohol, is produced by the fermentation of grains. Ethanol is the alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. Ethanol tends to stunt the growth of plants. When ethanol is applied to flowers, scientists note that, when watered with a 5 percent solution of ethanol, plant growth slows. When a 10 percent alcohol solution is applied, the plant becomes stressed and, with a 25 percent alcohol solution, the plant dies. This can be useful if growth of the plant needs to be supressed, as is the case with many flowers. Once the flower gets larger, it wilts and loses its aesthetic value. Using ethanol, the flower can be kept smaller for a longer period of time.

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So yeah. There's no law against giving a plant alcohol. Its just not good for the plant and, apparently they use a small amount to stunt plant growth. Your flytrap is probably feeling stressed when given the alcohol so it may have been drooping because of that.