Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000 12:47:51 -0400 From: "Tom Massey" <massey@fmhi.usf.edu> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2754$foo@default> Subject: RE: Sarracenias that don't attract insects
FWIW,
September in NJ may be too late for many insects to be flying around. Even
here in Fl. pithcer effectiveness is related to the time of year and the
cycles of native insect populations. My fall pitchers of alata, lueco. and
purp. are fairly full. However, we still have (and will have for a while) 85
degree days and 72~ degree nights. Plenty of insects are still active.
Right now, most victims are night flying moths and roaches.
Tom in Fl.
-----Original Message-----
Behalf Of Kit Halsted
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2000 12:08 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
On 9/8/00, David Anders wrote:
>I thought the S. Leucophylla was supposed to be among the best insect
>cathers. Im in NJ and the pitchers have been opened for over a week and
>have caught all of 1 tiny moth and maybe one or two small flying insects.
You're lucky. My S. leucophylla here in Brooklyn has only produced
phyllodia, no pitchers at all. :(
>Does it take a while for the plant to strat producing nectar?
>
>The S. Purpurea Venosa caught a spider. In Adrian Slacks book Carnivorous
>Plants he says that they are decent insect catchers, but in The Savage
>garder Mr. Damata says they are poor catchers.
Mine have caught large numbers of ants & smaller numbers of gnats &
such, as well as the occasional spider or beetle. This despite having
gaping holes in the pitchers where my nemesis, the squirrel, has done
its dirty work. It's probably a matter of perspective: when I first
got my flava & alata they pretty much filled up inside of a week, so
compared to them purpurea isn't very impressive.
>I assume that most Sarracenia meals are fying insects, is this not true?
I think it's true for the tall species, but not the decumbents.
-Kit
-- Kit Halsted Brooklyn, NY, USA, USDA Zone 7
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