Date: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 17:49:04 +0900 From: "Ivan X Lim"<lim_ivan@jpmorgan.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg712$foo@default> Subject: Revenge of the insect prey
I just read the following excerpt from from the CACTI_ETC mailing list
1397.
So I was just wondering if any of you had a similar experience of the
insect
prey emerging victorious over the plants. I lost one of my VFT's as a
result
of a really rare/strange twist of fate.
I was looking at my plants one day when I noticed one of them not looking
particularly healthy. Upon closer inspection of the leaves, I found that
even
healthy looking ones detach very easily when tuggged gently. Suspecting
rot,
I unearthed the plant from its peat medium & found the rhizome infested
with
fly larvae!! They were eating my plant alive & caused the rhizome to rot
:(!!
I could only speculate that some fly that my plant caught must've been abt
to
lay its load of larvae when it got trapped. Then the larvae escaped before
the
trap fully closed on them, found their way to the rhizome & decided to make
it
their home.
Thank goodness, this is not an everyday occurence. But I'm just curious to
find
out if I'm the only one.
Happy growing :)
Ivan
>------------------------------
>
>Topic No. 7
>
>Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 10:25:13 EST
>From: MKimnach@aol.com
>To: cacti_etc@opus.hpl.hp.com
>Subject: Re: Fungus gnat (sciarid fly) control
>Message-ID: <2113c997.34eda05c@aol.com
>
> Sundews (Drosera species) are great for catching fungus-gnats, which
get trapped on
>the sticky leaves. However, when we had a nice collection of insectivorous
plants at the
>Huntington some years ago, the larvae of the gnats thrived in the wet
sphagnum in which we
>grew the insectivorous plants and they constantly attacked the roots of
the plants. So we
>had a real battle going on, with the sundew leaves covered with dying or
dead gnats and the
>roots being eaten by the larvae. Finally the gnats won and we gave up on
insectivorous
>plants.
>
> I use those yellow sticky pieces of cardboard (available from nursery
supply
>companies) to trap the gnats. The surface becomes thickly covered with
them, though the
>critters are never eradicated completely. A very weak dose of liquid
diazinone has cleared
>up some infestations I had in cultures of fern sporelings, though I find
that a baggie over
>the top of the pot, with a rubberband just under the rim to seal it, keeps
them out.
>
>
> Myron Kimnach.
>
>------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:31:29 PST