Question
Hello,

I live in the Bronx of NYC, and I have a N. Sanguinea, N. Truncata, N. Miranda, and N. Ventricosa. All are being grown in a south facing windowsill under a complact flourescent bulb that stays on the better part of the day and all are watered with filtered tap water.

The Truncata and Miranda are potted in your nepenthes soil mix, while the ventricosa and sanguinea share a pot and are potted in your standard peat moss/perlite mix.

My carnivorous plants share the window sill with a croton and Fittonia and the Fittonia & Croton have spider mites/gnats that have now traveled over to the pot with my Ventricosa/Sanguinea. I don't see any spider mite webs on the truncata or miranda, nor any gnats flying around them. Only the Ventricosa/Sanguinea. Is it because the nepenthes soil mix drains quicker and isn't as moist as the peat mix in the other pot? I don't know how to treat the plants for the spider mites/gnats. I bought a spray for fungus gnats/spider mites from Ortho for the regular plants, would that be ok to use on the carnivorous plants? Should I just repot them? Right now I don't have a large infestation of the pests, and Id like to kill them off before they become a huge problem. Please advise.

Answer
Hi Jessica,

That spray should be fine.  Nepenthes are just as tough as most plants, and tougher than many.  It sounds like it might be one of the systemic insect killers.  The fungus gnats will be killed quickly, and are more of an annoyance than serious pest.  The spider mites are a very serious pest, however.  Once you spray, you may need to repeat it again at whatever frequency the label recommends.  I also recommend spraying the plants in a garage or outside if it's not too cold.  Once the spray dries it'll be fine, but it has a very disagreeable odor, and you don't want excessive insecticide in the house.


Good Growing!

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