Carnivorous plants (sundews and venus flytraps)

In looking around I couldn't really find much about carnivorous plants on IC. I remember as a kid my uncle having a flytrap and I was fascinated by it, but I totally forgot about it until last night.

One of the problems I encountered in my last box was that some how either when the door was open, or through an air vent, stupid little @%$!*&# gnats would get inside and bug (pun intended) the shit out of me. I don't think they caused any harm. But I do know I almost tipped the whole damn box over trying to smash them.

So I did a bit of research last night and found out first that Venus flytraps are NOT (necessarily) tropical plants. Here's some copy and paste info on them.



Height of Adult Plant: 5 inches
Flowering Maturity: 2 - 3 years from seed.
Type of Plant: Temperate perennial for outdoor growing. (Venus Flytraps are NOT tropical plants.)
Natural Habitat: North Carolina
Sunlight: Full sun. (Full sun = healthy flytrap; Shade = sickly flytrap.)
Growing Season: April through November.
Frost Tolerance: Zone 8. Mulch in colder regions.

The full sun thing was the part that got me. It seems like although the soil they are in should be kept moist they seem like a perfect in box plant to aid in the capture and destruction of insects. Also I found out that they also use a 18-6 12-12 light cycle when they flower (yes they flower, and it looks bad ass).


The Sundew is the plant I am most interested in because it seems like gnats would prefer this plants longer arms with many trich like sticky digestive nubs.


Some Sundews arms actually curl up around the insects that land on them.



Height of Adult Plant: 8 inches.
Type of Plant: Temperate perennial for outdoor growing.
Natural Habitat: Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Sunlight: Full sun.
Growing Season: April through October.
Frost Tolerance: Zone 5. Mulch is strongly recommended in zones 7 or less.

I also read that with sundews they either pollinate themselves or shoot up other sister plants like strawberries do, I can't remember which it is.

So although both of these plants are listed as full sunlight plants, I don't know how many hours of full sunlight they should have a day. I remember reading they might only need 4-6 hours and then indirect light will suffice, but seeing as that you can order all these plants online for less than $20 delivered it isn't too bad of an investment if you want to get rid of little pests.

Who knows, maybe they can cure the borg if you get (quite) a few of them. I really have no idea. But I do intend on using them in my next cab plan. I'll keep you guys updated on what works and if they die real easy. If anyone else has experience with these plants I would love to hear about it.

Peace,
James

Oh yeah, there are quite a few varieties of sundews and a couple of different flytraps, so one variety might be better than another.

Talk about a 'organic' bug remedy... This is something I gotta check out! Never thought about using nature to kill off nature

Another thing if your looking for bug remedies is more bugs! An example...

and


A praying mantis can destroy bugs (and humming birds apparently), but I don't know if they would attack anthing that gets into an indoor grow. There are tons of natural preditors that farmers use to get rid of unwanted insects. Lady bugs eat tons of afids a day is another example. But I guess I did start this thread about killer plants so I'm already off topic.

i'm not sure a praying mantis would live a healthy life inside of a grow box. i had gnats like crazy when using promix, so i never went back. here is a pic of some of my flytraps. i didn't use them in the grow room because i have a dome on them to keep humidity high.



at first i kept them away from the window and they started to get shitty, so i put them right up to the window with the dome on and a small hole on the top of the dome. those red akai ryu ones i have died and i am not sure if they will grow back or not.

i found a ladybug and threw her in my cab...but i dont know if there's enough food for her as bugs have been scarce for me inside this year.

love carnivorous plants! My mom has a fly trap she sits by the window and that thing is badass! I got to drop a big juicy ladybug into the jaws of death as i like to call em. There is a book she has on all types of carnivorous plants that's really cool and shows the sundew which i thought looked a lot like dank hhehe

i've used fly traps before and they do work, although to fight off a potential invasion, you''d need TONS of em as the pods only eat once every month or two! really cool to watch the process too.


N_G

You can check out all the local big box chains around you for them. The Lowes near me has this little bundle for sale for $10. it has a venus fly trap, honey dew, and a pitcher plant. The home depot had honey dews and venus fly traps too. Many of these plants like really high humidity and most of them like lots of water. They are really fun to grow either way.

FRizzo

I used praying mantids to rid my grow room of a hummingbird infestation. Not pretty but very effective.

aw man, thats crazy. A buddy of mine had a humming bird problem too, they destroyed his whole crop before his mantis's came in the mail. I'm glad to hear you got it all worked out.

i've grown carnivorous plants. the trick is to water them with DISTILLED WATER ONLY. tap water will kill them. also keep them humid... they're only native to humid bogs in the south.

I just got a Venus flytrap from Walmart recently.

A ladybug in one of the traps before it closes.

After closing.

If you buy flytraps, especially out of grocery stores and chain stores, make sure they are not wild plants, but propagated indoors.

A lot of them are harvested natively in swampy areas, and as a result are almost extinct in the wild

MmmMmmM evolution.. I love it.

these really work

these really work

i use a sundew in with clones and they work great for those little fungas gnats or fruit flies not sure what they are (they look just like a ultra small fly and lay eggs that hatch and eat your roots) anyway since i put that baby in there no more gnats anywhere. not to sure about the venus but it does eat the house flys and a spider or two. so i guess the sundew for small bugs and the venus for the bigger ones

intresting.

CannaDestroyer said:

so i guess the sundew for small bugs and the venus for the bigger ones

Click to expand...

good info. thanks.

I don't think even a large fleet of carnivorous plants will help much with any real insect infestation. Better to poison them, use predator-species, or remove their food supply (sadly often not possible as they are eating the plants). But botanical carnivores are real cool to own regardless!

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