fly catchers

[suzted]

hi all, i was wondering if theres anyone here that grows Carnivorous plants? i love them, i have a few Drosera's and one Sarracenia. never been brave enough to try other ones tho! i grew all the droseras from seed but bought the sarracenia from a shop!

[aeshna5]

I've got 3 in kitchen- a Drosera, Sarracenia flava + a Pinguicula.

[Mark Tulley]

My wife grows several types. She says it is essential to keep their feet wet all the time, using rain water, not tap water. The plants have survived about 5 years so she must be right. (We don't feed flies to them!)

Good luck
Mark

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Mark Tulley

My wife grows several types. She says it is essential to keep their feet wet all the time, using rain water, not tap water. The plants have survived about 5 years so she must be right. (We don't feed flies to them!)

Good luck
Mark

Yes, it's important not to use tap water, especially in hard water areas. If rain water isn't available then distilled water can be used. I've had mine for several years too. Often in the summer we get a few fruit flies coming in from the compost bin so am grateful when my green carnivores do a bit of culling!

A couple of the Sarracenias have naturalised in a few places in UK/Ireland; certainly S.flava + S. purpurea.

[suzted]

i must admit i thought that living in orkney would make it very easy to get rain water, but i was wrong!! lol ive had to boil then cool tap water a couple of times for them! a forkytail/earwig crawled onto one of my cape sundews once, it got stuck fast but the plant seemed to love it. i curled itself round it and stayed that way for about 2 months! my kids think they are amazing how they work. they sit waiting for flies to land on them!