Carnivorous Plants in GH

[Anton]

Just out of curiosity how many people have carnivorous plants in their GHs to rid it of the little flying nuisances ?

I have hundreds of these little gnaty type thingies flying around, and they have now learned how to avoid the sticky sheets I have around the GH and thinking maybe Fly Traps and similar "Little Shop of Horrors" type plants may help.

[pikevi]

Anton : Last winter I did not have much problems with those nasty flying insects. This year I am planning to have a few Venus fly trap plants and a few Nepenthes ( I bought one a week or so ago and I will see how it grows).

I am not sure which is the humane way to kill the insects- a. Carnivorous plants or
b. Glue-boards

[Anton]

Pikevi, who cares ?

As long a I can't hear them screaming..........

[lynda]

I have two tiny Venus Fly Trap plants that I put among my orchids....all I know is they are catching something, so am going to buy several more to put around the orchids next time I go to Lowes or Home Depot.

[butt0n]

Anton, I've read that a few people here have sundews for the gnats...seems to work for them.

[patticake]

I don't have anycarnivorous plants, yet. I figured they would get too full! Or look gross with gnats all over them. My sticky sheets seem to be keeping things under control for now, and I can throw them out when they look eeewww.

[Anton]

Well, as an update (seeing this thread has been revived) since getting rid of the coir chunks in my potting mixes, they have all but gone.

Now, I only use bark mix which I pre soak for a day in fungicide, and haven't looked back, hardly seen any of those gnatty insects.

There was something about coir that they loved.

[articuno75]

I have the little critters show up every three weeks. I spray.... (you guessed it ) and they go away then come back for another treatment. I thought about getting some sundews...

[jay]

Sundews and Pings work great for gnats. You can also get Nepenthes to handle most bugs and some of the larger species have been known to catch and digest mice.

[articuno75]

EEEwwww. That's a bit much. (Need green, grossed out smilie here) Poor mice. Bet it was a nice snack for the plant though.

[lynda]

Our local grocery store got 30 PitcherPlants in on Tuesday. When I arrived Wednesday morning they had 2 left.....obviously I bought both of them--they were beautiful (each had a minimum of 20 pitchers on them) in a hanging basket for $15.99 each.
I re-watered one of them & set it in a nice dish of distiled water on my roofed/tiled/screened in veranda. Sat down to do a little reading and saw a wasp on the scrren, just as I was getting ready to get up and kill it the wasp spied the PitcherPlant and buzzed over to it and that was the end of the wasp.
I don't know if this was just a coincidence or if this plant truly does give off a smell to lure the wasp.

Question: living in NE Georgia in the mountains how long can I leave this plant outside in the veranda----------it get plenty of light (but no direct sun except for maybe 10 minutes)?????

[lynda]

The other Pitcher Plant I hung in the dining room above my Orchids & african violets......not sure if I can keep it wet enough as obviously I don't want the pot dripping water in the dining room window and I don't have room to set it in a bowl of water between my orchids.

Question: Is the Pitcher Plant toxtic to our cat??? Our dogs are very tiny so they wouldn't be able to reach the plant...but a cat can get into everything???

[tom499]

I grow probably more CPs than Orchids, alot of them Pinguicula, along with Nepenthes, Cephalotus Heliamphora, Sarracenia, Drosera and a big dionaea.

Indoors, insects aren't a problem, plants dont catch alot so get light feeding so often.

The big Nepenthes, Dionaea and Sarracenia grow in the greenhouse and do catch alot of bugs, the Dionaea has quadrupled in size since spring.

The Catch 22 with with CPs is that they will attract insect attention. CPs do eat alot of them, but in turn, the smell of the insect rotting in the traps attracts more insects, along with CPs nectary products to attract prey.

The digestive juices in the trap shouldn't be toxic to cats or animals. Only some genera actually produce their own enzymes, most rely on bacteria to break down their prey, and all their prey are small insects which have drowned .

I assume by pitcher plant you refer to Nepenthes, with the cup like traps, these plants prefer to be kept above 15celsius as they are tropical.

Bright, but not direct hot sun is good for them, and helps them pitcher.

Despite the size of the traps, I would remove any large prey caught. I went to a friends to trade plants and a slug had found his way into a Nepenthes trap. It was too big, and so bacteria had broken it down, rotting the pitcher. Upon the emptying of the pitcher the smell was of nothing I had ever known. Vomit inducing....

[dolo3]

I bought a pitcher plant (Nepenthes) a few months ago at a plant fair because I liked the look of it and the vendor was so nice. I hang the plant out in my lanai near some of the orchids. There aren't many bugs in the screened area so sometimes I put the plant outside under the palms. I figure it can "feed" there for a while. But, now am I worried after reading the post about the hungry plants eating mice Will these plants eat geckos? I hope not because I really like all the geckos running around snatching up ants for me! Should I be worried?

[snowballsarebad]

I bought a nepenthes a few months ago. It's getting big. We don't have gnats, but we have ants...and well, many of them meet their doom in the pitchers. I knocked the plant on its side once, and one of the pitchers spilled, and like 50 dead ants spilled out. I was impressed. Might get another someday. Right now, we have it sitting by the pantry, where our ant problem is the worst.

[lynda]

The sticky label on the hanging basket of the Pitcher Plant says: "Nepenthes Alata PK9 - 6". Well I know its a 6" pot (gee I'm so smart), but what about the rest of the label.

[jay]

Nepenthes alata - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This might help a little. You have N. alata, which is a species of Nepenthes. The PK9 is probably something from the grower to indicate the parents/cuttings or something like that. Not really sure.

[lynda]

Originally Posted by tom499

I grow probably more CPs than Orchids, alot of them Pinguicula, along with Nepenthes, Cephalotus Heliamphora, Sarracenia, Drosera and a big dionaea.

Indoors, insects aren't a problem, plants dont catch alot so get light feeding so often.

The big Nepenthes, Dionaea and Sarracenia grow in the greenhouse and do catch alot of bugs, the Dionaea has quadrupled in size since spring.

The Catch 22 with with CPs is that they will attract insect attention. CPs do eat alot of them, but in turn, the smell of the insect rotting in the traps attracts more insects, along with CPs nectary products to attract prey.

The digestive juices in the trap shouldn't be toxic to cats or animals. Only some genera actually produce their own enzymes, most rely on bacteria to break down their prey, and all their prey are small insects which have drowned .

I assume by pitcher plant you refer to Nepenthes, with the cup like traps, these plants prefer to be kept above 15celsius as they are tropical.

Bright, but not direct hot sun is good for them, and helps them pitcher.

Despite the size of the traps, I would remove any large prey caught. I went to a friends to trade plants and a slug had found his way into a Nepenthes trap. It was too big, and so bacteria had broken it down, rotting the pitcher. Upon the emptying of the pitcher the smell was of nothing I had ever known. Vomit inducing....

Well that answers where I do NOT want to put the plant. Hubby suggested we hang it directly outside our screened veranda.........but we have finch & hummingbird feeds hanging in that area, so that location is definately a no-no.

[tom499]

An interesting point about small birds, I'ver heard of them being caught. I would imagine birds have the brains to stay clear of the traps, as very soon the smell of rot probably puts them off hehe.

I'll hopefully have some good pitchers in a week or so, my N. ventricosa x inermis has finally adapted to my GH.

[jay]

Tom, I bumped a thread about your Cephalotus. How is it doing now? I am looking to get one soon.

[lynda]

Several of the hanging pictures have dried up (looks dead to me) - should I remove these dark pictures from the plant or just leave them alone. I have been watering them every other day with the hose.
Now come winter how should I treat the Pitcher Plant??? I do have a screened in back veranda so they would be out of the direct wind/cold---should I semi cover them??
Any and all help is always appreciated.

[jay]

Lynda, you can cut off the dead pitchers if you like. I personally cut mine back to the leaf. Keep in mind, I have only been growing Nepenthes for a short period of time.

As for the winter, it would depend on how cold they get. They will still need the bright light, and they don't need a winter rest since they are tropical. If they are in the greenhouse, they should be fine.

[tom499]

I would agree with Jay with the pitchers, I cut them off once they've totally dried out, or if the contents starts the pitcher to rot badly.

Again agree with Jay, they like constant temps through the year, highlanders are happy down to 10 Celsius at night, as long as they get some warmth in the day.

[lynda]

Thank you Jay and Tom for your input on my Pitcher Plants. They are doing so well, I'm sure they (the Pitcher Plants) are not looking forward to winter.

[lmartiny]

A friend just gave me a Pitcher Plant about two weeks ago. I just went out to read the tag and all it said was pitcher plant, a carnivorous plant. Which isn't real informative so the above notes were quite enlightening. As far as mice, slugs or lizards, Eew Yuck!
It's currently hanging in a small oak in dappled shade and there are definately bugs in there. I think I'm going to move it by my unruly giant shell ginger that is so dense it needs some serious thinning, but also conceals the yellow jacket nests its harboring, preventing me from diving in there to thin. Maybe it will take out some of those wasps.

[digitalgate]

I use all the carnivorous plant. I still like insecticides.
I have pitcher, sundew, butterwort(they actually works)

[tom499]

Nepenthes one year on. Not a great summer but the pitchers have come through nicely

[Ron]

Hi Tom.
Very nice lot, Years ago I grew lots of CP'S, the best ones were the Sarracineas especially alata. It often got so full of the common small black "sugar" ant that it would fall over.
these pitchers would often be over 2 foot tall.
Never solved the ant problem but it sure put a big dint in the population in the summer months.
I now grow mainly Nepenthus in the orchid house. mainly because I like them and they gives character to the place.
Also get a few crawlies from time to time
See attached photo

[amersault]

never had luck w/ CP's eradicating the gnat problem but i did find the best solution by accident - a small garden spider had somehow found its way to the phalaenopsis collection. in evading myself, the vacuum, and the family dog, i let it have the reward of establishing house among one of my Phal NOID's.

no harm done in the home it's made. in the small web it spun, there's evidence of a whole lot of gnat carnage: that makes one happy me, one happy plant, and one very happy spider

now if only i could find other spiders for the other plants...

PS this isn't a solution for the arachnophobic, hehehehehe

[butt0n]

Originally Posted by amersault

never had luck w/ CP's eradicating the gnat problem but i did find the best solution by accident - a small garden spider had somehow found its way to the phalaenopsis collection. in evading myself, the vacuum, and the family dog, i let it have the reward of establishing house among one of my Phal NOID's.

no harm done in the home it's made. in the small web it spun, there's evidence of a whole lot of gnat carnage: that makes one happy me, one happy plant, and one very happy spider

now if only i could find other spiders for the other plants...

PS this isn't a solution for the arachnophobic, hehehehehe

That's pretty funny...I have a TON of spiders in my house, but only 1 managed to make a web in one of my catts...not sure where he ran off to though.

[Aliamyz]

I have 30 types of Neps and two typesof venus flytraps.
Drosera can be used to avoid this fly disturbence!

[Aliamyz]

And..neps can be used too!

[digitalgate]

I have lizard in my garden. try it .

[Orchidementia]

I just got an American Pitcher Plant a week or so ago and put it with the orchids. The first day it was out I think it ate every gnat that had been lurking around. It's outside, so there should be enough insect life passing by to keep it happy.