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Has anyone grown these and are they any good in a greenhouse for keeping the number of flying pests down?
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They're a faff to grow and can take a couple of weeks to digest a fly. So probably not very efficient! Fun as a curiosity though.
Sundews and butterworts might be more useful, and they're a lot easier to grow. As a bonus, butterworts have lovely flowers that don't seem to take too much energy from the plant.
I highly recommend the book 'The Savage Garden' for carnivorous plants.March is the new winter. -
Lovely thanks, just ordered it off of amazon
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Well, I have been growing VFTs for years now in my conservatory and each spring I split them up into about a dozen more plants for friends. All they need is watering with rain water and kept wet. However, they won't keep your insect population down, they really are only suited for catching house flies which don't eat your plants anyway. Moreover, the conservatory is full of dead flies that the VFT didn't catch, so they're not very efficient at it.
For smaller insects you could try sundews.Comment
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Don't forget that all carnivorous plants will eat your pollinators just as soon as they will a pest.
If you want something efficient, you should choose a sarracenia:
They'll keep the greenhouse clear.
Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing-'Oh how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade,
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel paths with broken dinner-knives. ~ Rudyard KiplingComment
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Why is the sarracenia more beneficial? Not questioning you're answer, just haven't ever had any dealing with carnivorous plants before
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It depends what you mean by beneficial? The sarracenia is much more efficient at catching prey than the VFT, that's all. Once a VFT's trap is sprung, that's it until it's digested it. A sarracenia pitcher will just fill up.Originally posted by sternyboy View PostWhy is the sarracenia more beneficial? Not questioning you're answer, just haven't ever had any dealing with carnivorous plants beforeLast edited by mrbadexample; 24-06-2012, 05:42 PM.Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing-'Oh how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade,
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel paths with broken dinner-knives. ~ Rudyard KiplingComment
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Flying pests? Most of the flyers are the good guys (bees, wasps, hoverflies).
The pests are the slow movers ... slugs, snails, aphids, whitefly, red spider mite etc.
This is the best, cheapest, quickest remedy for aphidsAll gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.Comment
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