venus fly trap

[Dobby]

I just got some venus fly trap seeds, and some pitcher plant seeds from wyevale, as I've always wanted to grow a venus fly trap, but got to thinking now whether they'd be any good inside a greenhouse to act as a pest suppressor, I'm thinking of whether they'd eat the whitefly and blackfly, and aphids, or whether theyd also eat the pollinating insects.

Anyone any ideas or experiences of using them in this way?

Hoping to grow it big enough to eat Mrs D

[shirlthegirl43]

My mum used to keep a venus fly trap in the greenhouse - don't remember it catching much of anything but that was probably coz us kids never kept our fingers out of it long enough for it to actually get a fly! I bought some of these seeds too so maybe we can compare notes!

[Dobby]

Yea I just planted mine today, it didnt really have any proper instructions, so I guess we'll be swapping notes on em!

[Alice]

Hello Dobby, I'm not an expert on your problem But, I wouldn't put your money on venus fly traps solving your greenhouse pest problems. They're quite temperamental in themselves, and if they do catch a fly it will take them forever to digest it.
Maybe I'm just lucky but I've never had a problem with greenfly, whitefly or blackfly in the greenhouse. I always keep some basil and marigolds in there, which are said to help, but don't know if they keep it clear or I just don't have them. But do grow your flytraps and see how you get on.

[nick the grief]

I've got two Sundews in mine Dobby, not so much for the Greenfly but for the fungus gnats that are around this time of the year they sem to love them

[Two_Sheds]

They're bog plants, so it might be too hot/dry in the greenhouse for them?

[Crazy Chickie]

Hi Dobby, I used to have a couple of carniverous plants when I lived in warmer climbs, though I bought them rather than grew them from seed. They are very fussy about the water that you give them and like pure rainwater or the bottled stuff, tap water will kill them (as I found out ), they also like to be kept very damp and not to dry out. They don't eat alot of flies but might gobble a few of your pests. They are certainly very interesting and beautiful (well I think so) plants to grow.

[Protea]

My younger brother went through a phase of being additcted to carniverous plants, he grew millions of the things and then left my mother to look after them!

Since he's lost interest i inherited a few of the plants and kept them in my greenhouse, they did fine - i just had to keep them moist. I did this by putting them all together in a large plastic gravel tray and keeping it 2 inches deep in rainwater at all times. The sundews (Australian and South African ones) were the best at keeping the flies down and were completely covered in bugs! They also had very pretty flower stalks.

The pitcher plants, and their variations, and the venus fly trap caught a few big flies but no more than that - they were nice to look at though.

I don't think its too hard to grow them from seed (my brother managed it and he's not particularly green fingered!), you just need to keep them damp with rain water at all times.

Unfortunately i've lost quite a few of my plants - i left them outside under a tree last summer for some shade while i was on holiday, my neightbours were watering for me - the birds for some reason took an interest in the plants and pecked lots of the compost out of the pots - the plants didn't like it and i've lost most of the pitcher plants and the venus fly trap however, the sundews must have self seeded as they're popping up all over the place!!

[Sue]

I had a plant from the farmer's market last year called a shoo-fly plant, don't know if it worked or I was just lucky, trouble is I don't know what its real name is, anyone know so I can see if I can find some seed and try it again this year in the greenhouse corner.
Sue

[Two_Sheds]

Shoo-Fly: here's a link:
http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week239.shtml

[mrskp]

I think each VFT only needs two or three bugs a week so don't see it being my main bug catcher. I'm going to give it a go and see how it thrives.

I've let my one indoors get a bit dry and it has started to go a bit yellow. I refilled it's tray this morning and stuck it in the cold kitchen hoping to save it before keeling over. Had lots of new leaves as well.

[bubblewrap]

For the vts small pieces of raw meat use tweezers & tap trigger hairs 3 or 4 times the trap should close nature will take its course

[Sue]

Two Sheds
Thankyou for finding that, and at least I know what fly it is supposed to be shooing - white ones! should have read my chiltern seeds catalogue from cover to cover but found it now, guess that's another seed order going in.
best wishes
Sue