Question

eaten venus flytrap fl   QUESTION: I have a venus Flytrap, with traps about 3cm large, and i spotted a yellow worm that was on it's flower stem.After i removed it, it had eaten some of the stem. Will the stem wilt? And if so, should i cut it off?Also if buying pesticides, can i use a chemical one? It's pretty hard to find natural ones.

ANSWER: The flower stem may not wilt, but if it does, then cut it off near the base to spare the plant putting any more of its energy into the production of the flower stalk, flowers and seeds. In general it's better to allow only mature and healthy plants to flower, and to cut the flower stalks off any younger, recently transplanted, stressed or less healthy Venus Flytraps, so that their energy will be diverted to leaf production and accumulation of additional food (from sunlight and photosynthesis and from captured and digested insects) rather than expending more of their stored food.

Regarding insecticides, although neem-oil based products are reported to work, a chemical systemic insecticide (which makes most or all of the plant poisonous to chewing and sucking insects) works well. I use acephate (the generic name of what used to be called Orthene), an organophosphate systemic insecticide that has no adverse effect on Venus Flytraps and which is very effective at killing most or all of the common insect pests that are likely to target Venus Flytraps, including scale, aphids, thrips, and mealybugs. Acephate also works against spider mites, but for these particular stubborn pests the addition of a miticide to the acephate mix is recommended. I use Pentac but any miticide (also called acaricide) should probably work fine.

For a lot more information, and to ask questions and receive a lot of useful and helpful comments and suggestions from other carnivorous plant growers, please consider joining the FlytrapCare.com Forum.

Best wishes and happy growing,
Steve

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Today, I found that the bugs are larvae from moths. In Taiwan, where i live, they lay eggs during this season. i know that because i found some eggs on the leaf.The flower stem did not wilt even though a pretty large piece was missing.I let it flower because the traps doubled in size during the three months.It was and still is doing well.Can acephate kill moth caterpillars?

Answer
Yes, acephate is a very effective systemic insecticide. While a superficial insecticide stays on the surface of the leaves, a systemic insecticide is absorbed by the plant and makes the entire plant poisonous to any insects that eat the plant or suck liquids from the plant.

I mix acephate according to directions, then I spray several times during the course of 1-3 days, allowing the spray to dry and be absorbed between sprayings. This treatment causes the plant or plants to be poisonous to insects for up to 6-8 weeks.

I usually do a preventive spray of acephate in the Spring several weeks after the Venus Flytraps have emerged from dormancy, and then I watch for outbreaks of particular insects such as scale, aphids and spider mites later in the season. Spider mites sometimes appear when the weather is unusually dry and hot.

I hope that this information is helpful. Another good place to ask questions such as this and get a variety of helpful answers from experienced growers is at the FlytrapCare.com Forum: http://FlytrapCare.com/phpBB3/

Best wishes,
Steve