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Insect digestion question

Hey - I'm a newbie to sundews, and I was wondering if the insects caught by this plant (spathulata) are supposed to completely dissolve and disappear into the leaves, or if they simply become "emptied" and eventually get taken off the plant by the elements or by human intervention.

The reason why I ask is that I have 4 fungus knat corpses that have been stuck to my sundew for a couple of weeks now, and it looks to me like some kind of mold (white hairs) is beginning to grow from them.  The knats are on the leaves in the 3 o'clock to 6 o'clock positions in the pict below.  Does it look like I should spray them off?  Thanks!

sundew_knats.jpg


(Edited by Leo at 10:27 am on May 27, 2002)
 
The bodies stay until removed. My sundews don't like having their leaves molested, so on mine the corpses remain until the leaves wither.

Steve
 
Yes, I just leave the corpses there too. More remains of some bugs than of others, but if the mold gets too bad the ICPS talks about using a dab of alcohol to control it on their page on germinating seeds. I have never tried this so I can't say from personal experience. I am afraid to touch mine when it is looking that nice!

http://www.carnivorousplants.org/seedbank/species/D_spatulata.htm
 
I would recommend flushing it off with a jet of water, or a dab of alcohol to kill the fungus. Fungus is nothing to take lightly, it once cost me a 150 plant collection in a substrate terrarium. Rather safe than sorry, and it is for this reason that I never feed my terrarium grown plants, nor are they suffering from this.
 
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