Question
I would like to know if The insecticide safari 20 is safe to use on Venus flytraps, sarracenias, and sundews. I am having an aphid out break in my sunroom and I use Safari on my orchids. I am bring some new CP's out of dormancy and I have noticed aphids on them.

Thanks
Dave

Answer
Hi Dave,

I have no direct experience using this insecticide on carnivorous plants.  Often products that are safe on orchids are safe on Nepenthes and Sarracenia, but more delicate plants like sundews and flytraps often need to be tested for safety.  You could try it on a couple plants, and wait a few days to see how they respond to it.  If it doesn't harm sundews, most likely it's going to be safe on Sarracenia.

What I do know about Safari is that it's a powerful systemic agricultural pesticide not available to the home consumer through regular gardening outlets.  It has a very long life in plants, so does provide long-term protection.  It's also very toxic to Honey Bees.  We had an incident here in Oregon a year ago where a landscape company sprayed Safari on some Linden trees in bloom in a parking lot near here and the trees killed thousands of bees.  It caused the state dept. of Ag. to pull the product even for agricultural use until it could be evaluated more.

Aphids can usually be controlled easily with a less powerful product such as Neem or Pyrethrins.  If you just have few plants, you can also wash them off under water.  Here's a link to our podcast on insecticides:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbRCdJ8ZNF0

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.growcarnivorousplants.com