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I've been growing carnivorous plants for more than 15 years and own a business selling them. I can assure you these Sarracenia will not do anything against your
by phito 3y ago
I've been growing carnivorous plants for more than 15 years and own a business selling them. I can assure you these Sarracenia will not do anything against your fruit flies problem. Pinguicula or Drosera will catch more of them and can actually grow indoors all year round given enough light. But even then, they're not really good at pest control.
Sarracenia are outdoors plants, they need a ton of direct sunlight and a seasonal rest in winter. They already look light deprived in your pictures.
- zacharycohn 3y ago/shrug I got 15 dead fruit flies in my Sarracenia. YMMV I guess.
- phito 3y agoWell if that's enough to keep up with the infestation then great! I never noticed fruit flies getting attracted by Sarracenia but I don't grow that genus a lot, so I could be wrong. Still, I would recommend getting a Mexican Pinguicula (for example Pinguicula "Tina"). They do better in lower light and the sticky leaves work much better against fruit flies and gnats :)
- jacquesm 3y ago> Well if that's enough to keep up with the infestation then great! I never noticed fruit flies getting attracted by Sarracenia but I don't grow that genus a lot, so I could be wrong. sits at odds with: > I can assure you these Sarracenia will not do anything against your fruit flies problem. Maybe instead grow a bunch and test and see if you can find out why the author has success where you do not? Otherwise the 'assurance' bit seems a bit thin.
- empyrrhicist 3y agoIt doesn't really, it expresses skepticism as I read it, along with acknowledgement of an outside chance that the original claim was wrong.
- phito 3y agoI just chose to believe him, even tho his experience goes against mine and most other carnivorous plant growers'. We're dealing with living things here and exceptions can happen, I guess? I'm still certain that carnivorous plants are not a good pest control option, I would not recommend it to anyone (even tho it would be great for my business). Even if OP's plants can keep up with the flies' regeneration rate, they will quickly die in that setup. I see posts like these very often, and they never show any real long term results for some reason... Rather, they are just sharing their excitement about putting cool plants in their house while having common misconceptions about them, I can't be mad
- empyrrhicist 3y agoDid that drop them below replacement rate? Seems unlikely.
- Loughla 3y agoI've always been fascinated by carnivorous plants, but have a black thumb. Do you have suggestions for "easier"to care for options indoors?
- Baeocystin 3y agoVenus fly traps are surprisingly hardy and do fine indoors in a bright area or under a lamp, as long as you water them with distilled water only.
- phito 3y agoFlytraps are also outdoors plants, from the same region as Sarracenia (North America). They'll do fine for a while indoors given enough light but it's really not optimal.
- fho 3y agoNot in my experience, I had to start manually feeding my Venus fly traps. Otherwise they would die after some weeks. Never managed to keep one alive over winter.
- Baeocystin 3y agoVenus flytraps go dormant in the winter. Here's some info on their care: https://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-trap-dormancy/ https://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-trap-dormancy/
- phito 3y agoDrosera capensis is a fantastic plant for beginners. Very easy to grow if you follow simple rules. Mineral-free water (with a dish always filled under the pot), a LOT of sunlight (more than you think) and a peat-based media without any fertilizers.
- danparsonson 3y agoCame here to say this - pings and sundews are a better choice; loads of sticky leaves just begging to be landed on. An Alice Sundew (Drosera Aliciae) makes a fine pet and is easy to care for.
- lovehashbrowns 3y agoSundews are perfect for fruit flies and they will not hibernate if they get to eat and have light/sun year round. They’re also pretty hardy! I had them deal with fruit flies to the point that I started getting wingless fruit flies to keep them fed, although you don’t even have to feed them. They’re easily my favorite plants ever. So easy to care for.
- phyzome 3y ago"these Sarracenia will not do anything against your fruit flies problem" seems directly contradicted by the blog post. Perhaps some unexpected environmental difference vs. your setup?
- phito 3y agoSure, they maybe caught a few, but it won't catch all of them, probably not even the majority. That's not how you get rid of a pest, you need to eradicate them all. Then eventually the plant will die, because that's not the right environment for it.
- phyzome 3y agoYou're not going to eradicate fruit flies, since there's an intermittent stream of fresh introductions coming in on produce.