- Carnivorous plants catch small insects
- Use Venus fly traps against flies?
- Use large carnivorous plants against flies?
Especially in summer, flies become a real nuisance in the living room. Many a plant lover considers cultivating a carnivorous plant because they feed on small insects. But do carnivores also help against flies?
Carnivorous plants normally only eat small flies
Carnivorous plants catch small insects
Carnivorous plants or carnivores are quite rightly named. With sticky leaves, in large pitchers or funnels, they catch mosquitoes and small insects that settle on the leaves or get caught in the traps.
However, carnivores only digest a few insects at a time, and only if they aren't too big for the traps or the sticky sheets.
In the case of fruit flies, butterwort, sundew and the like can reduce an infestation. However, they are powerless against normal houseflies. These are usually way too big.
Use Venus fly traps against flies?
The Venus Flytrap is one of the best-known carnivorous plants. It has snap traps that are very noticeable and will strike at lightning speed if insects land on them. It is therefore often recommended for controlling flies.
In practice, this rarely works. The prey must not be larger than a third of the snap trap. If the prey is too large, the trap will snap shut, but the digestion process takes a long time in large animals. The trap often dies afterwards because it has absorbed too many nutrients. In any case, Venus flytraps open a maximum of seven times before they die.
Use large carnivorous plants against flies?
There are a few species of carnivores that have traps large enough to catch flies. These include pitcher plants, if their pitchers are large enough, and pitcher plants, with their funnel-shaped traps.
Not only do these carnivorous plants need a perfect location, they are also very high maintenance.
Also, pitcher plants only help against flies if there is liquid in the pitchers. This is not water, but a secretion that the Nepenthes uses to digest the insects caught in the pitcher.
tips
Although it may be irritating, never feed dead flies or other inanimate insects to carnivorous plants. The plants only respond to living prey. Dead prey rot in the traps.