Unlike most gardeners, Wissmiller grows and raises hundreds of carnivorous plants, such as venus flytraps, that depend on insects for their nutrients.

Wismiller said he has raised the meat-eating plants for 25 years. As a child, he became curious about carnivorous plants after seeing a venus flytrap eating hamburger and other meat on television.

He said he later purchased several venus flytraps but had an opportunity to expand his collection when noted biologist Fred Case Jr., from Saginaw, gave him other species of carnivorous plants.

Wissmiller said caring for the meat-eating plants differs from caring for regular houseplants. He said all of his carnivorous plants sit in water trays and are planted in peat moss instead of soil.

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz The red color on this pitcher plant seen in Bob Wissmiller’s greenhouse on June 6 tricks bugs into thinking it is meat, helping the bugs to gravitate it to the mouths of the plant.

“Topsoil has too much nitrogen for them,” he said. “They want to catch insects to substitute for the nutrients they would get in the topsoil.”

Each classification of the carnivorous plants Wissmiller grows captures its meals in a different way.

The venus flytrap, for example, patiently waits for an insect to land on it and step on biological triggers in the plant’s mouth that snap the plant’s jaws and teeth closed. The plant then digests the bug.

An American pitcher plant, meanwhile, which resembles the shaft and horn of a trumpet, waits for a bug to enter its orifice. Wissmiller said the plant has a nectar inside that lures in prey. Once the bug is inside, the plant has a drug in it that inebriates the insect and causes it to fall into the waiting mouth of the plant below.

Wissmiller said there are also downward-pointing hairs in the plant that keep the insect from climbing out and another zone has a type of wax that coats the bugs’ feet to make them slippery, making it easier for the bugs to fall when they lose their coordination.

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz One of the hundreds of venus flytraps that Bob Wissmiller has in his greenhouse is seen in closeup on June 6. The plant has mechanisms that snap the plant's jaw shut when an insect steps on them.

“It gets drunk,” Wissmiller said. “The bug becomes clumsy and eventually falls down the tube.”

Another one of the plants relies on its thin, fuzzy tentacles that are coated with a glue-like substance to capture bugs that land on it. The plant uses its tentacles to wrap itself around its prey to kill and consume it.

Wissmiller said more people raise carnivorous plants than people realize. He said he is a member of Facebook groups whose followers raise the plants and they share ideas, show off pictures, and offer advice to one another.

He said the International Carnivorous Plant Society is a group of gardeners, conservationists, scientists, and educators all interested in sharing knowledge and news of carnivorous plants.

Wissmiller said the plants go dormant during the cold months of the year, but rebloom in the spring. He said that, while the plants are dormant, it gives him a chance to replant, rearrange, and create hybrids of the plants.

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz A collection of Bob Wissmiller’s carnivorous plants is seen in Wissmiller’s greenhouse on June 6.

“I have eight pure species — three of which are endangered — and then I made some hybrids,” Wissmiller said. “I have made them out of seed and by planting different flowers with different pollen.”

Wissmiller said the plants require little time to maintain during the warm months of the year. They have continuous water sources and feed themselves. He said all he really has to do is make sure the plants have the insects they need to feed.

“All I have to do is open the window and tell them to come on in,” Wissmiller said. “The plants attract them. Many of the plants have red colors to them, which attract the bugs because they think it is meat.”

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz This carnivorous plant, seen in Bob Wissmiller’s greenhouse on June 6, relies on its thin, fuzzy tentacles coated with a glue-like substance to capture a bug that lands on it. The plant uses its tentacles to wrap itself around its prey to kill and consume it.

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Dozens of venus flytraps patiently wait for their next meal to land in their mouths in Bob Wissmiller’s greenhouse on June 6.