Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 18:06:23 -0800 (PST) From: Andrew Marshall <andrewm@eskimo.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg549$foo@default> Subject: Nepenthes food
Hi folks,
Nepenthes gourmet chef here. I couldn't resist getting in on this
question.
Here is a list of what I have fed to my Nepenthes, I will preface
it with the following... a Nepenthes will 'eat' anything that is put in
it's trap. Not being able to regurgitate, it has no choice. It may not
digest everything though.
The list...
flies, crickets, earwigs(pincerbugs), pill bugs (sowbugs), beetles of all
sorts and sizes, moths, caterpillars... in short all types of bugs can be
safely fed to the plant.
Now the wierd list... slugs (chopped in half to prevent escaping)
earthworms, pinkie mice and pinkie rats, baby snakes, snails, small frogs,
small lizards. Some of these were residents in the greenhouse and
actually 'fed' themselves to the plants...lizards, frogs... and the rest
were fed either dead ot alive. The plants don't care.
There is no need to go to the lengths I have as far as feeding
your plants. Most of the time it is overkill anyway. I would go with
what ever insects you can purchase from the local pet shop, until spring
provides natural ones. Slugs are really good also, but you must kill
them, or else they will just crawl out and away, to ravage the plants
later.
To answer now on 'uppers and lowers'. Upper traps are the hanging
ones, produced when the plant is in vine. They are usuallt trumpet or
horn shaped. Lowers are produced from the lower leaves of the plant and
are often quite different then the uppers in being squat, jug shaped, or
urn shaped things with frills and a more pronounced peristome perhaps.
They are often more colourful then the uppers as well. If your plant is
only producing uppers, and you want to get lowers, let the plant go into
vine and let the vine hang downwards. The weight of this vine will stress
the base of the plant enough eventually to make it produce basal rosettes,
whigh will produce lower traps.
Best wishes
Andrew
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