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Most aggressive indoor carnivorus plant

At the restaurant I work at, they want to replace the indoor plants with carnivorous plants since there are a lot of flies during the summer/fall. (I realize that these plants probably won't make a big difference in the amount of flies)

I was wondering witch type of carnivorous plant is most effective at catching flies. At the same time, it would need to be easy to care for as well as affordable. Would you recommended any places to buy the plants?

Thanks
 
sarracenia hands down. the most efficent fly catchers ever. that being said---keep in mind that these plants are good at what they do because they ATTRACT flies. they also need high light demands so unless you're going to be able to give that to them, they wont produce strong pitchers and will die.
 
only keep them on the outside tables...with a wire protectant....kids like to poke and grab.
 
Sarracenia are probably the best at trapping flies; however, they require full sunlight. Most restaurants do not have sufficient lighting to support these plants. A lot of indoor plants are low-light/shade plants. Most carnivorous plants require higher light than your typical houseplant. CPs are specialty plants that have special requirements and need special care. I would suggest that you read the following FAQ.

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq.html

-Hermes.
 
Sarracenia and filiform or forked Drosera, are, hands down, the most efficient "hunters." I recall a restaurant in Queensland which had Dosera binata and others in hanging baskets along an outside deck -- and they were covered in insects.

Happy plants and even happier diners . . .

 
Try pings.
Small, hard to kill and keeps eating until the surface of every leaf is full :p
Just 2 of them took care of all the fungus gnats in my grow room ^^
 
dont get the plants. they wont do the whole job as youre thinking. get fl paper or sticky paper. youll have to buy distilled(or rain or RO, or snow) water, and give them the right temperature, and dormancy every year. if you told us what state you lived in it would greatly help.
 
Thanks for all of the information!

During this time of the year, the area the plants will be gets around 7-8 hours of direct sun out of the east. It's a nice sized bay window.

Are there any particular species I should look at?
 
that sounds very promising! i would suggest: Sarracenia leucophylla---stunning leaves and dark red flowers. i'd also suggest S. flava but knowing that the flowers smell like cat urine would probably repel diners.
 
  • #10
If the indoor plants have access to direct sunlight through some windows, I would recommend some D. Capensis for sure. I've seen that thing survive outside in direct sun, partial shade, under grow lights, and under my big nepenthes' leaves.

CP's are a very expensive way to control pests though IMHO.
 
  • #11
If the indoor plants have access to direct sunlight through some windows, I would recommend some D. Capensis for sure. I've seen that thing survive outside in direct sun, partial shade, under grow lights, and under my big nepenthes' leaves.

CP's are a very expensive way to control pests though IMHO.

Though a well kept capensis would do more than that... they can be beautiful and would certainly attract attention from the kids. Might even get some publicity as the restaurant that uses cps against insects.
 
  • #12
Pings aren't rlly expensive, they are so easy to propagate.
I started with 1 common gardencentre clone last year and got 10 plants now without even trying.
 
  • #13
Don't forget that these plants are intended for an indoor application.

IMHO, Your best bet would be Nepenthes ampularia. It is, I believe, the most shade tolerant species. But it needs high humidity. It would still need to be by some windows, and would need some SERIOUS acclimating, but if you keep it cozy in there, and give the plants lots of time and TLC, maybe they'll work out.

Perhaps if you put in high intensity spot lights over each plant? That might let you keep some forked dews, MUCH easier plants than the tropical N. ampularia.
 
  • #14
Problem is that you will have containers of rotting flies, whether you go for sarracenia, or whatever.

Not good for a restaurant.

Nobody will certainly want to eat near sundews covered in dead insects.
 
  • #15
that sounds very promising! i would suggest: Sarracenia leucophylla---stunning leaves and dark red flowers. i'd also suggest S. flava but knowing that the flowers smell like cat urine would probably repel diners.

no reason to let them flower in the first place..
S. flava would be a fine choice..

but im also iffy on this project..
I doubt it will really make a noticable impact on the amount of flies..
and its unlikely the plants will be able to have proper growing conditions..

I wouldnt recommend trying it..

Scot
 
  • #16
Flypaper's probly yer best bet to control flys... they are pretty strong insects.
Pings and small dews are no good.
Venus FLYTRAPS seems to work better than my large Regias at catching flys and you can fit quite a few more in the same space.
Sarr's while big, seem to attract insects with more of a sweet-tooth like Hornets and whatnot and even my big Neps seem to not really attract flys too much.

Truth be told, FLYTRAPS & Regias seem to attract & catch the most flys in my experience. Flytraps would be more of a bargain, easier to get, you can get a lot of em and they are quite tolerant of a wide range of conditions... I would say go with what should be the most obvious.
Plus large Regias are hard to come by and care for and it would probably be a bit distracting to the diners having flys struggling for hours all over the Regias.
 
  • #17
Having lots of flytraps would be a cool attraction to the restaurant.. You could grow maybe 25 pots of them.. 15 outside ten inside and every week switch ten so they all get adequate light... You could get that many for about a hundred bucks. Even if they don't make much of an impact on insects the children would love that! What type of restaurant is it?
 
  • #18
Flytraps are small, popular and pocket sized. Resteraunts are busy enough, how are you going to police them?

Sorry, I just like playing devil's advocate today!
 
  • #19
just get the tape. why waste money? kids will be messing with them, the tape will work so much better. like I said youll have to give dormancy, and buy water, since you usually cant give tap.
 
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