Hi Ben,
When my collection had a major aphid infestation, I also thought it would be
great if I could avoid insecticides and use beneficial insects, I liked the
idea of a natural method of control. Since I had a lot of Drosera in the
enclosed area, I ruled out lacewings, aphid midges, and parasitic wasps, I
figured these would be caught by my plants in no time. I settled on the
bigger, tougher ladybug, I thought they'd have no trouble shoving their way
between sticky sundew leaves and getting at the aphids. I released a whole
canister of the beetles in the enclosed space, that was an experience in and
of itself! They ran up and down my plants, chewing voraciously on aphids, I
thought maybe this just might work.
Unfortunately, within a week, every single last ladybug had been caught by my
Sarracenia! The pitchers were overflowing with them, I dumped the live ones
out, and within 5 minutes they went back in. There was no helping them.
Seems the Sarracenia were by far a much stronger attractant to them than the
aphids. At least my pitcher plants got a good meal out of the whole
experiment! Hope it goes better for you.
Regards,
Demetrios