FUNGUS GNATS!!!

[orchidsarefun]

I have 3 butterworts and they have never caught a fungus gnat......the gnats just crawl off the leaf.
However my Cape Drosera is an expert and soon cleared my grow areas. Yep - 1 Drosera cleared 4 separate areas within 3 months. I now have to feed the carniverous plants dried bloodworms to keep them going.
So - be wary of the type of butterworts you purchase, if you go that route. Check that they can "catch" gnats.
Mine have lime-green, soft rosette leaves and blue flowers.

[31drew31]

Orchidsarefun: can you post a photo of your plant? All butterworts have a sticky (feels slimey to us) substance on the leaves which catch small flying or crawling insects. As you said though, Drosera are also great at catching gnats. D. capensis is one of the easiest species and is a good candidate for this as well. Thing is, if they dry out good bye plant, this is not the case for most Mexican Pinguicula species.

When there is a big gnat problem, this is how Pings should look (taken from google)

[orchidsarefun]

No gnats...!
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2

[31drew31]

Oh I believed you when you said your plants hadn't caught any. That is a moranensis type plant, possibly a hybrid and will catch gnats. It could use a lot more light. The leaves are quite etiolated and this is probably why the gnats are not sticking. For reference, I grow mine about 12-14"" under 6 bulb HO T5 fixture. They don't need this much light, but it gives them nice colors.

[orchidsarefun]

the leaves are slimy/sticky and do well enough in holding on to dead bloodworms.......just not sticky enough for gnats. I even tried a mealybug and it crawled away !
The plants are in a South Facing Window and get quite a bit of shaded sunlight, and even some direct sun. I started with one and now have 3, so it does produce "keikis" in these conditions.
None of my plants are under artificial lights.

[31drew31]

Well I sure hope the dead bloodworms dont crawl away!

Either way, that plant could use a lot more light, and I'd be willing to bet a small fortune that gnats would start sticking to the plant with an increase in light.

If you're interested in making more plants to trade, leaf pullings work great and result in full size plants within a year or two depending on conditions.

[isurus79]

I noticed my Drosera lost its stickiness when it got too little light as well. I had a feeling that was the problem, but now I know for sure! Thanks Drew.

[Kailyn]

What is it the butterworts are potted in? I have no experience with CPs except for a Venus fly trap that shortly died when i was a kid. I am very intrigued though.

[orchidsarefun]

mine are in sphag moss. I water only with distilled water and leave about 1/2in in the saucer constantly.

[31drew31]

Originally Posted by isurus79

I noticed my Drosera lost its stickiness when it got too little light as well. I had a feeling that was the problem, but now I know for sure! Thanks Drew.

If increasing the light doesn't help, a repot and increasing humidity slightly should get them producing dew again. Most Drosera respond very well to root cuttings as well, so I always cut 1-2" off the longest roots for propagation incase the mother plant fails for any reason.

Originally Posted by Kailyn

What is it the butterworts are potted in? I have no experience with CPs except for a Venus fly trap that shortly died when i was a kid. I am very intrigued though.

I pot all my Mexican species in an all mineral mix but they will grow in pretty much anything that stays moist. My favorite mix is 50% perlite, 50% aquatic plant soil (APS). I haven't been able to find APS lately so have been using a mix of perlite, sand and small gravel in roughly equal amounts. I water with the tray method and fill the trays with about 1-2cm of water and allow the tray to dry up for a few days before replenishing the water (distilled or RO only for all CPs). Some Mexican Pinguicula have two phases due to their habitat. Half the year is quite rainy, and the other half they barely see any rain. During the dry season they produce succulent leaves that no longer catch insects. During this time pots are allowed to completely dry out and are watered VERY lightly about once per month. Some people call this dormancy, but the plants still produce leaves and often flower from in the succulent phase so I wouldnt consider it dormancy.

The photo below is an extreme example of the changes in leaf types. The species is P. gypsicola and is the same pot in the photo above at the very front.



---------- Post added at 01:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:14 PM ----------

DOH! I just realized Kailyn that you are the original poster of this thread! haha I just assumed the OP was from the USA when I made my first post.

I have some extra Pings Id be happy to send you when the weather warms up for cost of shipping (usually $15 for XpressPost).