I love being bugged!

Pollinators aside, most plants hate bugs as they are pests that will either destroy them (think locusts) or lay eggs that produce caterpillar that will eat them. We have had our fair share of aphids and butterfly caterpillars munching our fruit & veg in the garden this year. On the other hand, we have had lots of bees pollinating too and interestingly, we have even tolerated a wasps' nest and painful stings as we have had lots of figs this year (will explain why in another blog). There is however another group of plants that love bugs on a whole next level! They absolutely relish them....for food!

Carnivorous plants hold the fascination of all young boys (& girls) and not so young ones too as they can catch and digest insect prey. The common ones you see everywhere on sale are the pitcher plants and the iconic Venus Fly Trap. But there are so many others that use cunning devices to entrap insects.

However, of all the plant groups in this blog, they are the most difficult to grow and keep alive - many a Venus Fly Traps have been lost in countless kids' rooms including mine! So I cannot vouch to be an expert here but am improving all the time, with my last Venus and pitcher plants lasting longer than before, including flowering for the first time!

So here are tips on growing these which I have got from experts that I hope will help you (& me) to be more successful next time.

Is it worth the effort you ask me? Well, yes, as there is nothing more exotic than these ingenious plants. And we start with the easiest and most photogenic - the nepenthes pitcher plant.

1. Nepenthes Pitcher plants

The nepenthes variety are great hanging plants and conversation pieces. I have seen them in the wild in the rainforest so keeping a bit of humidity with misting or a tray of water with pebbles below it would keep it happy. This was in the last blog so I will not repeat the facts. The pitchers will die eventually so cut them off when they do and new ones will form on other leaves.

2. Sarracenia Pitcher Plants

These trumpet-like varietry of Pitcher plants are popular. According to Tom's Carnivores -

https://www.carnivorousplants.co.uk/resources/how-to-grow-pitcher-plants/, there are 8 species as below. They are native across the Eastern seaboard of USA, thriving in the colder and warmer states. Their care is very similar to the Venus Fly Trap below with dying back during a winter dormancy period. Here are ones on sale at Rose Clover Nursery.

3. Venue Fly Trap

The easy advice is to just say 'no' and walk away from the temptation to buy one from the supermarket or plant store. They are tricky to look after but if you are determined to get one, I I will share some simple do's & don'ts and hope you have more success than I have had.

The best advice I have come across online is Tom's Carnivores, with the link to the Venus Fly Trap here: https://www.carnivorousplants.co.uk/resources/venus-flytrap-complete-guide/ and I agree with him that the best book on caniverous plants is probably The Savage Garden by Peter D’Amato.

There are several amazing facts about Dionaea muscipula, some less obvious than others, like it is just a single species and only grows wild in only a small area of Carolina, USA. There are different cultivars, producing different colours and sizes and some downright bizarre mutants. The picture below from Tom's site shows some of these variations.

The other important advice about the VFT is that it needs direct sunlight, so I place mine on the windowsill - an unheated greenhouse or outside in a sunny protected spot all summer will also work. They can survive under artificial grow lights as well.

In summer, they hate getting their leaves wet, but need moist soil - so stand the pot on a saucer or tray with 1cm of water rather than water them from the top. And not just any water, but water without any nutrients - so no tap water but rainwater, distilled or RO water. I use water from a dehumidifer if you have one at home. Likewise, never give it fertiliser - that will kill it. Although an adult plant needs no more than a 10cm pot, if you decide to repot them and if you want to avoid peat, use fine milled bark (Orchid compost works well), lime-free horticultural grit and perlite/vermiculate, to a ratio of 2:1:1. To feed them, use live bugs which are less than 1/3rd the size of the traps - they need to be alive to stimulate the trigger hairs to start digestion once the trap is closed - dead bugs won't do that so if you feed it dead bugs, you might have to tickle the hairs inside the closed trap with a cocktail stick!

Winter dormancy - this really fools most novices including myself. The plant dies back to black leaves and then nothing in November and looks like it has died. It has not, the rhizome under the ground is still alive and will resprout back in March next spring. In this winter dormancy, just keep it in a cold place like an unheated greenhouse or summer house and ignore it till next spring.

Flowering - somehow it seems particularly mean they should flower, usually in spring with, I think, quite exquisite tiny white flowers on stalks. This attract insects to help pollinate the flowers only to eat them afterwards! But I made the mistake to leave the flowers on for too long - these should be removed when they reach about 5cm as they will drain the plant of energy and it could then die.

If you follow these simple rules, your VFT will give you lots of pleasure for a long time.

So good luck with these trickier plants.

Remember the mantra; eat (bugs), (winter) sleep and tray (of water) !

Till next time, fellow WackyHousePlantie, 👦🏻💜🌵