Carnivorous plants

[Gina145]

Interestingly, the ancient forms of Broccoli, Cauliflower and cabbage were all carniverous in some form or other...

I have a picture in my head now of stone-age cabbages stalking the land and eating unwary dinosaurs! Check this link for more information.

At the bottom of the page underneath the picture, the topic is given as "Fakeapedia". It looks like this story is the figment of someone's wild imagination. His style of writing is pretty convincing though.

 

[Steve Denning]

OK, a link to another not so wacky site: Imaginative Worlds. Plants become carnivorous as a way to obtain more nutrients in a nutrient poor environment. Once cultivated, they are placed in nutrient rich environments and so, over the generations, the carnivorous tendencies lay dormant or are lost altogether. Also, cabbages, potatoes and the like are not true carnivores, they just demonstrate carnivorous tendencies.

 

[Gina145]

OK, a link to another not so wacky site: Imaginative Worlds.

That's a really interesting article and I plan to have a look around the rest of the site when I have more time.

Any plant that can kill aphids is a friend of mine. I've just started some cherry tomato plants from seed, and I'd be really happy if they would keep the aphids off my bonsai trees. I doubt that will happen though as I'm sure there are enough aphids to go around.

I really need to read up more about carnivorous plants. It sounds like there are some very interesting things happening in nature that I know nothing about.

 

[Steve Denning]

Can you buy ladybirds where you are? I know you can get them off the internet, but you need to make sure they are being sent from the same country you are in. Ladybirds love aphids more than anything else.

 

[Gina145]

I know ladybirds love aphids but I rarely see any of them. I'm not sure if one can buy them here, and I somehow can't see myself doing that. I manage to keep the aphids under control, so it's not a serious problem. They guys that I find difficult to cope with are scale insects. I hate using poisons so mostly I tend to pull them off my trees when I see them.

 

[Steve Denning]

Have a look at this article, it's from the BBC Gardening site, you may find it useful.

 

[Gina145]

Thanks Steve. I haven't got time now as I've still got work to do on my trees before it gets dark. But I've left it open to read later. I'll report back when I've read it.

 

[Steverd]

Carnivorous plants are one of my specialties. I grow sundews, pitcher plants, venus fly traps, and nepanthes.
I grow them all outside here in the Northwest. Well most need a cold/rest peroid. Except for the Nepanthes the cold would kill them. Here is one of them:

 

[firelily99]

Can you buy ladybirds where you are? I know you can get them off the internet, but you need to make sure they are being sent from the same country you are in. Ladybirds love aphids more than anything else.

Some garden centers now sell lady bugs and praying mantis egg sacs. I am able to buy them locally at a small garden center And they do quite well.

 

[Lacey]

I tried to grow a venus fly trap and it was really hard to grow. It grew about a centimeter and then died. I did a lot of research on them so I could make sure they would grow, but it didn't. I love them, I think they are so amazing to see and watch.

 

[DeaneRenata]

How about a thread of some cool looking, meat eating plants?
Here's a good old venus fly trap.

You know I was tempted to buy some venus flytraps and I almost did, except for my mother told me that she was disgusted that they are meat-eaters and that they take a week to digest small insects.

 

[Treeca86]

I love Venus Fly Traps. My grandmother had a big one when I was young. She'd give me little chunks of meat to feed it. It was really fun to watch it's "mouth" slowly close, then slowly swallow it and it go down.

 

[MindyT]

How hard is it to maintain and keep a Venus Fly Trap? Every time I see one, I think of the movie, Little Shop of Horrors. Well, it is actually a musical. Has anyone else seen that movie? The plant's name is Audrey II. I won't say very much more about the movie for those who haven't seen it, but let's just say she is not an ordinary plant!!

 

[Whitewolf2578]

I would love to get some. I have always been interested in Venus Fly Traps. It is cool how they attract insects due to a sweet scent they give off. I could really use one right now here in my room, this fly has been buzzing around all dang day and won't leave. I have tried to swat at him a few times, but I almost knocked over my computer monitor in the process. These plants would save me the time and effort. I once tried to use ladybugs for aphids, but when I set them in the garden they just took off. I find that the prey mantis is the better insect to use for dealing with pests.

 

[ChanellG]

I purchased a venus fly trap at Whole Foods a little over a week ago. It's indoors for now, but if I manage to keep it alive, I may try cultivating more plants outside. The flies and mosquitoes can be such a pain. I just worry about other insects - the beneficial ones, like bees, getting trapped in the plant.