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I find S. flava and Darlingtonia are both very good at catching
wasps (yellow jackets) but unless there are a few other captives
shortly afterwards, the wasps have a habit of chewing a small hole
in the side of the pitcher and escaping. Anybody else noticed this?
<snip>
Indeed, I have watched yellow jackets and bald faced hornets attempt to
chew their way out with an occasional success. In the Pacific Northwest
we have a number of long-horned beetles (wood boring species). One in
particular is very attracted to the Sarracenia traps, most notably S.
leucophylla and S. flava. This beetle will attempt to chew its way out
of the trap but most often just gets its head through and then stops.
It is not clear if beetle simply cuts a whole just large enough for its
head, shoves it through then gets stuck and dies or if there is some
compound in the leaf tissue that sedates or kills it. I suspect the
former reason.
My Sarracenia are all grown outdoors (except for some research projects) and
fill up very quickly with various Hymenoptera (mostly yellow jackets, a few
bald-faced hornets, honey bees, bumble bees, and other wasp species) and an
unknown moth species.
On a side note, I have found that S. purpurea seems especially
attractive to what we call pill-bugs(sow-bugs, potato bugs,
rolly-pollies). The traps become quite full sometimes. There is the
inevitable stench when you accidentally tip over the plants in the car
on the way to a plant meeting.
Anyone having trouble with slugs lately. I have found a number hiding
inside the pitchers of S. rubra. They eat from the inside so
considerable damage is done before you see them and there is little
evidence (little of no slime trails) to alert you to their presence.
They also seem to have a taste for the emerging inflorescence which
really annoys me.
Various pelletized baits mold in the greenhouse so I am avoiding them and the
liquid formualtion, Deadline, that you drip around or encircle the plant with
doesn't seem to be working.. Does anyone have experience using the foliar
sprays containing metaldehyde? Does it damage developing pitchers and or
infloresences?
Thanks for any help.
Take care..
-Scott
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Scott Gregory Vergara
svergara@pacific.telebyte.com
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