Complaining! (White Flies)

I went to the sunroom where the plants all my plants are and everything has spidermites, mealy bugs or these little white flies that I'm not sure are the "white flies" that everyone talks about!

I'm just complaining but every time I turn around there's some kind of @#$% infestation going on! I can spray and spray until the plants burn and loose all the leaves but if I miss even one tiny single little bug they multiply by the hundreds. I HATE bugs. I'm going to Home Depot tomorrow and I'm loading up on insecticidal spray. I'll fill tubs of it and dunk the plants if I have to.

I agree with you!!!!

Switch to admiring the little critters. When we admire our plants bad thing happen to them. Maybe if we admired the little critters they would all die or fly away.

Well, that was a little hopeful thinking on my part.janitrol

Well, I can't say that this is the environmentally friendly method, but I just went through this horrible infestation of weird white flies that I don't think are white flies, too.

I finally got some Bayer Tree and Shrub and soaked the soil (1 oz. per gallon of water) of all my plants that were brought indoors. Then I sprayed the plants with the infestations off with Safers soap.

All this was about two weeks ago and so far I haven't seen too many bugs return (a few of those wierd white fly things, but only a very few and those I squish as soon as I see them.)

Oh yes, and I got the Bayer stuff at Lowe's and think Home Depot has it, as well.

Good luck! :)

Safer's soap is your friend! Stock up on it...'cuz the government is pulling it soon...because it's "Harmful to Children." But what if you don't have any children? LOL! April

I'm thinking you might want to consider embarking on a new journey! Have you ever considered carnivorous or insectiovorous plants? There's some real beauties out there. A few CPs or IPs intermixed in with all the other plants in your sunroom oughta take care of the insect infestation in there no matter what kinds of bugs they are. And, you'd have some mighty fat and sassy CPs too!

Check these links out-

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=darlingtonia&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-img-t&fl=0&x=wrt

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=butterworts&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-img-t&fl=0&x=wrt

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=Nepenthes&sm=Yahoo%21+Search&fr=FP-tab-img-t&toggle=1&ei=UTF-8

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=Drosera&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-img-t&fl=0&x=wrt

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=Utricularia&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-img-t&fl=0&x=wrt

And this link to a website called= "Carnivorous Plants, Not your typical garden plant"
http://www.carnivorousplants.homestead.com/Index.html

I'm thinking one could grow pretty darn fond of these beastly eaters real fast!

I'm intrigued by the CPs Equilibrium, I really didn't want to use poison on my plants, just ran out of other ideas. My plants were getting munched to pieces and I was close to loosing several that I love. These white fly things multiply very fast and were devouring plants that had only shown signs of infestation for a couple of weeks.

Aren't CPs really hard to grow in the average home environment? Don't they need tons of humidity, for the most part?

Also, is it really reasonable to expect a CP (or IP) to take care of a bad infestation of any houseplant bug? They usually get pretty attached to whatever snack they're currently attracted to.

I'm really just curious and always hoping to find something not harmful to people and animals to deal with these pests!

Mary Ev.

There are many ways to increase the relative humidity around a plant. The photo below illustrates one of just many.These are juveniles that I set up for somebody else. The mini greenhouses over the tops of them are ice cream sundae cups from McDonalds.

Oops, juvenile CPs really have no need early on for tasty tidbits and many CPs do quite fine with no tasty tidbits at all.

As these plants mature, the need for the constant retention of humidity in and around the plant decreases for the most part. The little cups also serve the dual purpose of keeping insects off of them at a time when they aren't producing enough chemicals to "digest" them. Like human infants who can't come out the gate ready to eat a steak and potato dinner, many CPs need to be coddled a little when young.

CPs are a lot hardier than what many people want to believe. There are many species that do perfectly fine in a basic pebble tray. There are also many species that seem to thrive on neglect.

Most people insure their demise by watering improperly. Specifically, most people can't use tap water. You almost have to use RO, distilled, or rain water or they will be dead. CPs require NO fertilizers or soil ammendments other than perhaps pine needles. Fertilizers kill CPs. Soil mix is very important too. Most do quite well in a 50/50 mix of well rinsed white play sand and sphagnum peat. The other issue is that although many people try to grow these as houseplants year round and there are many CP species that require a dormancy. It isn't that difficult determining which species require dormancy and which don't. I have quite a few out in my garage getting their requisite dormancy right now as well as quite a few tropicals that can stay inside year round!

And, I don't believe it to be unreasonable to expect a few well chosen mature CPs to be able to take care of a bad infestation. You just wouldn't want to start out with gemmaes. The CPs pictured above were started from gemmae. Best to wait until spring and purchase mature plants. And, there are sources out there selling flightless fruitflies for your new babies if you feel the need to keep feeding them after the food source in your home is depleted. One of the best online sources for CPs in which the buyer is offered an array of sizes of plants is The Carnivorous Plant Nursery. I know they are listed in the Garden Watchdog as I have been so pleased with each and every plant I have ever purchased from him that I added him. Call them up and they will talk to you and walk you through plant selection if you'd like to try a few. They also sell CP seed for those more adventuresome. I order from a lot of places and this guy will spend the time with you. He does it for the love of the plants as it was a childhood hobby. Additionally, none of his plants are field collected.

Best wishes to you and may your home be filled with critter eating plants in the near future!

Thank you!

Aside from their practical side, there are really many beautiful CPs and I would like to try them again, (I've killed a lot of pitchers and Venus Fly Traps.) Hopefully with your suggestions I'll be a little more successful next time!

I think I will give them a try in the spring and see what happens!

Do you summer yours outside?

Hi MaryEv, can I ask you to please post a question over in I suppose water gardens. There is a man over there who is a subscriber here who is pretty good... no... very good with CPs and other bog and marsh species. I'm pretty good with wetlands and marsh species. That way he will spot your question. I believe both he and I have experience with CPs enough to get you up and running and who knows... maybe a few tropical plants coming your way from me ;). Both of us tend to gravitate toward hardy CPs that would all be able to be overwintered outside like any other hardy native. Additionally, he happens to be in the same state as you.

And in answer to your question, my Sarracenias are outside year round. I have them all mulched in layers of white pine then oak leaves then white pine again and then oak leaves again and come spring, I will just peel that quilted layer off and voila! The CPs will be perfectly fine. Well, all those that survived the squirrel attacks that is!

I've tried the venus fly traps from home depot and they've always passed on. They've never looked very healthy to start with but I didn't know that when I was buying them.

I have a single pitcher plant that I grew from seed (I can't find the name @#$%!!!!). It has the little cups but it's so small, when does it need to start feeding? I'd post a pic but I lost both my digital cameras so I have to get a new one.

It's growing in small aquarium. Gravel, then peat and perlite, then sphagnum moss. Seems happy and healthy but there's tiny little bugs in the sphag. Any idea what these could be? And the sphag has turned a darkish green, is this just algae or have I finally been successful in getting some to come back alive?

Equilibrium, I don't mind posting my question there, but I'm not sure which question you're referring to? The one about hardiness? or about whether or not they can consume a house full of white flies? :)

Hi Capt Micha, I would be stabbing in the dark if I tried to guess what you've got going on in that aquarium. Post a photo when you get a chance and I can probably steer you in the right direction to be able to look for a positive id on your CP and the little critters in the sphagnum. I am a little bit new to CPs myself but I could always download your photo to my hard drive and forward it to real experts if I couldn't pick up on what it was myself or better yet... you could post in the threads here looking for an id and see who knows.

Regarding when they need to feed, there are two schools of thought on this. Some say never. I believe that there are airborne critters that they get their "juices" on so I am not inclined to "supplement feed". Plants outside get their fill and I can assure you of that in my mosquito riddled area. I suppose a nice big Nepenthes would get its fill just by hanging out and waiting for the occasional house fly or spider.

Hi MaryEv, post both ;) I suspect there are more CP people out there and they are probably itching to talk CPs as most are suffering from CP OCD! If you want to try some very small CPs, I have two I would be more than happy to send to you this spring when the weather warms up and they can be shipped safely. These were sent to me as gifts but I believe in spreading CPs around and I received a few of each. Both are Droseras. You would have to private message me though if you were interested otherwise I'll give them away to spread them out to people. I would be more than happy to stick a tag in the planter that stated MaryEv wants one of this or one of that for spring that way I wouldn't accidentally give it away. I just gave out a few this past week.

I will send you a private message and post a question to the CP folks. thank you!

Equilibrium,
your idea sounds wonderful. There is just one tiny problem, it doesn't seem to work. At least not in my hands. Those little critters/bugs simply don't cooperate for me. I had the same idea a couple of years ago. Bought a terestrial pitcher plant - despite always watering everything in my greenhouse with rain water, it was not a happy customer for long. Then I tried another Nepenthes ( coccinea?). ( Killed one a couple of years ago) My plant is healthy, except at the moment it grows beautiful leaves, not pitchers. ( somebody else posted about this too recently.) And least year when the plant had pitchers, I swear White Flies made a big circle around it.
I find that keeping the bugs out of a greenhouse and a house full of plants is not an easy task at all!! I think it is the hardest part, at least for those of us having to bring the plants inside in Fall. Believe me, I repot and water etc with the happiest of you.
I am curious - Equilibrium, did you, yourself try this method? I mean, keep a house full of plants clean of bugs using CPs?
I am interested, thanks

But did you try a mature Droseras or Pinguiculas?

Venus Fly Traps are by for the most common CP. Sarracenias and Nepenthes would be next in line to be associated as being CPs and that is obviously far from reality. Venus Fly Traps are routinely killed by my kids trying to give them raw hamburger meat. If I had a nickle for every time I told them not to feed the VFTs I'd be rich. They just love to see those traps close around anything but the traps are normally not large enough to digest their humble offerings and then the remains become host to fungi that quickly kill a small tender plant. Most VFTs can easily get what they need by digesting springtails and other tiny life forms present in the soil and the air. All in all, ours get killed off left and right by well intentioned kids. I suspect this is the fate of many a VFT, too much of the good stuff!

I believe success with reducing pest populations would have to do with the age and overall health of the CPs as well as the species of CP selected and the number of plants infected and the number of CPs provided to be placed in and around the infected plants. The biggest consideration being whether a CP utilizes a passive or an active trap. There are many people out there keeping Ed's Flightless Fruitflies in business by ordering culture after culture for their CPs who dread the onset of winter as there are no bugs left for their babies.

And, yes, I have one big huge Drosera that does a bang up job on anything in the vicinity to the point that there is nothing in the vicinity. I keep that plant separated from my other CP plants that are all juveniles and have friends bring me their infected plants to set near it because the kids get a blast out of watching the plant eat and grow. The species is D. binata multifida but that one is a hard one to get your hands on and virtually impossible to get your hands on at this time of year. Most Drosera should adjust to humidity levels above 40%. Although they do appreciate humidity, they are a lot tougher than they look. The particular clone of the D. binata multifida that I have is extremely hardy. It "has survived baking in the sun, going without water until the soil was bone dry, and freezing into a solid block of ice for several weeks" according to the man who sent it to me. So far, I have found the plant to be a hardy beast! I love it and the kids wouldn't part with it for the world.

I do not have any houseplants other than one African Violet. The houseplants I get are solely for the CP (now there's a twist) and I only stick one infected houseplant at a time by it and when it looks as if there is nothing crawling on the infected plant any longer, I give it back to its owner and get another one. There seems to be a constant supply of infected plants. This is my only experience with "biological warfare" using a CP on pests of houseplants.

thanks for your info.
No, I have not tried the Drosera or the Pinguiculas.
But then ONE African Violet or the equivalent doesn't make a house full of plants.
Reading this carefully, it sounds to me like one needs to adjust the ratio of CP to the plants one is growing. Now where could one possibly find the room to place all these CPs. Most of us plant addicts simply run out of room. We are not talking about ONE pretty plant at a time but several hundreds which need to be protected. 100 plants equals ??? CPs? Hmmm
There is also another problem, as MaryEv mentions. We are not just talking flying insects here, but Scale, firmly attached to the leaves, Mealies, root Mealies will kill a cactus or succulent if not caught in time. And the like....

You have a valid point there. Plant addicts run out of room. I am also thinking the combination of cacti and CPs, that require high humidity, is not going to be a winning combo.

Maybe we better all switch to what George said, "Switch to admiring the little critters. When we admire our plants bad thing happen to them. Maybe if we admired the little critters they would all die or fly away."

good point, see George...

Actually, I always seem to bring in some Spiders inside in the Fall. There is a cute black one with a white spot on its back lurking about my large Jade. That plant never gets any bugs!!

And I am very tempted to release Ladybugs into the greenhouse, but the thought of them overrunning the rest of the house is not appealing.

Oh, I love spiders. Can you get a picture of your little black "pet" with the white spot on its back! Truthfully, my kids love photos of spiders and all things that go bump in the night.

And... I'm thinking we all should consider embarking on another new journey... arachnids!

We could release all the cute ones with the little white spots and see what happens!

Gosh, I have a really cute one too, black with a red hour glass on her belly.....just kidding. I think I'll take my chances with some carnivorous plants before inviting in any spiders!!!

I surely will keep an eye out for the little guy to snap a picture!
Sorry, MaryEv
:-)