Re:Sarracenias that don't attract insects

From: Kit Halsted (kit@kithalsted.com)
Date: Fri Sep 08 2000 - 08:57:47 PDT


Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000 11:57:47 -0400
From: Kit Halsted <kit@kithalsted.com>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg2753$foo@default>
Subject: Re:Sarracenias that don't attract insects

On 9/8/00, David Anders wrote:
>I thought the S. Leucophylla was supposed to be among the best insect
>cathers. Im in NJ and the pitchers have been opened for over a week and
>have caught all of 1 tiny moth and maybe one or two small flying insects.

You're lucky. My S. leucophylla here in Brooklyn has only produced
phyllodia, no pitchers at all. :(

>Does it take a while for the plant to strat producing nectar?
>
>The S. Purpurea Venosa caught a spider. In Adrian Slacks book Carnivorous
>Plants he says that they are decent insect catchers, but in The Savage
>garder Mr. Damata says they are poor catchers.

Mine have caught large numbers of ants & smaller numbers of gnats &
such, as well as the occasional spider or beetle. This despite having
gaping holes in the pitchers where my nemesis, the squirrel, has done
its dirty work. It's probably a matter of perspective: when I first
got my flava & alata they pretty much filled up inside of a week, so
compared to them purpurea isn't very impressive.

>I assume that most Sarracenia meals are fying insects, is this not true?

I think it's true for the tall species, but not the decumbents.

-Kit

-- 
Kit Halsted
Brooklyn, NY, USA, USDA Zone 7



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