It looks like you have gotten the idea - in nature, there are a lot
more insects of the type that these plants eat (especially fungus
gnats). If you want to raise fungus-gnats, just plant a pot of
organic planting medium with grass seed (whole-wheat kernels
will work) and fertilize it - there will be a bunch of little black
gnats in short order, which will happily drown themselves in your
pitchers (and in your tea or soda). Do NOT induce them to grow in
any plant that you care about, as the larvae eat small root hairs
and can kill a plant (even a Drosera capensis can be killed by
fungus gnat larvae).
Y.:Also I find the pitchers go dry very quickly. Should I top these up with
Y.:water? Is is harmful to add superthrive or dilute fertilizers this way?
Y.:(Water is hard, so I adjust pH to about 5-6)
You can top off the pitchers with water, but don't fill them too
full or they will become top-heavy (they usually have a line or
bulge or other indication of where they would normally prefer the
water level to be). The water should be distilled, or processed by
deionizing, to get rid of the minerals (which are poison to the
plant if allowed to build up - neutralizing the Ph will not remove
the minerals, it only adds more salts which are harmful to the
plant). Do not put any trust in charcoal filtration - it does not
remove the minerals (the best, most pure, water that I know of is
produced by a combination of reverse-osmosis and deionization).
Do not add SuperThrive to a pitcher! Ordinary fertilizers such as
Miracid, diluted to about 1/8th strength, is usually harmless, but
SuperThrive contains either vitamins or hormones intended to help
the roots grow, and most of the time those same substances, if
applied to the leaf, will either cause the roots to NOT grow or to
cause the leaves to become malformed, or some combination.
SuperThrive may not have the same hormones as some of the other
rooting solutions, but I wouldn't take the chance, if it were me
(the rooting solution I use is called KLN, and it will prevent root
growth if it gets on the leaves - but that stuff will grow roots on
a rock, otherwise, as long as it is kept away from light and air
while in storage).
Good luck.
-Douglas Wiggins zoron@nwcs.org, Portland, Oregon
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