Date: Fri, 21 Mar 97 18:12 EST From: dave evans <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1039$foo@default> Subject: Re: Re: Good Creepy Crawly
> >Last night I noticed a small orange-brownish looking thingy walking
> >across the compost of a pot of pygmy sundews. Initially I thought it
> >was a spider mite, but rather than nuke it immediately with insecticide
> >I watched it for a while. Suddenly it grabbed the head of a fungus gnat
> >larva that I hadn't even noticed, pulled it out of the compost and started
> >munching away on it.
<snip>
> Hey Nigel, can I have some?
> Carlo
Eh, you might not want them. I used to have those too. Perhaps
I still do, but I'm not convinced of their benefit. The first
time I sat down to watch one of these things, it walked around
(on a Nep) the leaf (they tend to keep to the soil though) until
some other creature came near. Then with surprising speed, it
jumped and bit into the other (I forgot what) animal, killing it
right off. "Wow," I though, "this is great!" But later on, after
lots of eye strain, looking through a magnifying glass I realized
that these are spider mites anyway (Just a type that doesn't mind
high humidity). Also, inspite of the several thousand I noticed
later on in my large Nepenthes growing area, the plants were
suffering terribly from thrips, scale and something else. Now
after poisonning, the plants have recovered and I hope those
pests and the mystery creatures stay dead.
I also noticed even when only plants (no pests or other prey)
where availible, the plants would quickly turn pale (loss of
chloroplasts?) and die when these (non-?) spider-mites were
present. I tried this out in sealed plastic bags. But, I have
never seen them doing damage. I think these guys came with a
N.rajah I had bought a couple years ago, and it was the first
plant to die. :( Another N.rajah growing in the same conditions
has grow to three times it's original size, so I doubt it was
the conditions which did it in.
Either they are pests themselves or the pests come out at
night, but anyway you slice it they didn't have any good effect
at controlling other pests.
Dave Evans
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