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Aphids eek?

Hey everyone sad news today. I noticed Aphids are on most of my Drosera... I've successfully kept them at bay for today by hand but whats the best way to approach ridding my plants of these tiny demons? I know its suggested to flood the plants but I'm really looking for any other approach that works other than that.
help my Drosera are in need

-Thanks
 
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I use rubbing alcohol and a q-tip (cotton swab) and go leaf by leaf, if it is a limited number of sundews.

Otherwise, I keep them underwater for days.
 
okay, so do I need to dilute it or anything? and this doesnt pose a threat to the plants or moss at all does it?
 
I use it straight up, but I carefully target the aphids one by one. The alcohol kills them by drying them out. I have used it on D. capensis with good results.

I would try to avoid it getting on plants/moss unnecessarily, but I have not noticed that it causes any damage compared to the damage the aphids can do.
 
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I'm just worried becuase I have a D. lanata ( which is a wooly) and I can't get the aphids one by one and I believe them to be hiding out... I just dont want to anihilate one of my plants... it'd be a sadddd day. but these dang aphids are just sucking the life out of it. guess I dont have a choice
 
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You are correct that it is better to take some action to help solve the problem.

Perhaps someone who has dealt with aphids on a wooly sundew will offer their input to this thread.
 
yeah but my plants arent growing in western australia theres a number of factors which are considerably different between a kansas apartment and the Australian wild
 
Most Drosera tolerate immersion for a few days, a few are practically semi-aquatic at times. Almost all of the petiolaris complex grow in waterlogged, flooded conditions during the rainy growing season. It is believed that the "wool" on these plants is there to help trap moisture.

This complex and your species has been in wide spread cultivation for only 10 years or so and is unlikely to have lost any characteristics that ensure its survival in so short a time. Even with artifical selective breeding techniques it normally takes many decades of artifical selection to change such characteristics. That's why we still have VFTs that require dormancy and strong light levels.

If the plant is dormant I may not consider flooding.

Your choices for pest control are:

Manual removal - requires a lot of work and diligence as you have to cover a couple of generations. Effectiveness depends on your diligence and patience. Drawbacks - takes time involving active participation.

Chemical - effectiveness depends on proper application of the chemicals, selecting the proper chemicals and how resistant the pest is to the chemicals - drawbacks: kills other insects not just pests, plants can react badly to the chemicals or pests can be or become resistant. Drosera in general are sensitive to sprays and it is best to use a soil drench systemic pesticide.

Biological - predatory species mainly such as ladybugs. Can be effective but usually only will control (reduce but not eliminate) the pests. The problem is keeping the control species around or alive as the pest population declines. The control species may die/leave before the next generation of pests arrive. Drawbacks: can be very expensive for only a few plants, plus you have to put up with the predators wandering around and as noted before usually only controls, not eliminate the pest.

Flooding/Immersion - can be very effective drowning adults, pupae (depends on species of pest) and eggs all at the same time. Drawbacks - kills beneficial non-aquatic insects, a few species/vars such as Drosera filiformis var tracyii are not tolerant of waterlogged, overly wet conditions care should be taken to supply plenty of air circulation after immersion or immersion is to be avoided.

Manual removal is perfectly fine if you have the time and patience to do a thorough job. One of Joseph Clemens preferred methods of manual removal is to use needle spray from a spray bottle, tweezers, a small paintbrush and magnification. You don't normally find that in natural environs any where.

See also these threads:

http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110552
http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110728

And this web page on Aphids
 
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If it were my D. lanata I would overfill with water and drown them. I hear ya... D. lanata is not the same as having that happen to a D. capensis or D. spatulata. Sundews I have tried this with have had 100 % success with removal of aphids, followed by a "drowned rat" look, followed by recovery.
 
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  • #11
my D. falconeri had aphids. I sunk them into water and rubbed everything with my fingers and left them underwater for 1 hr. Most of the folks here agree I didnt kill the eggs. However, I havent seen aphids revive since I did this exercise. Eiter I'm lucky or the eggs arent hatching.
 
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  • #12
The good news is that aphids usually only lay eggs in the late fall and eary winter, propagating by "live" birth at other times. Depends on the species and conditions (mostly temps). The bad news is that the eggs overwinter and hatch in the spring. Hopefully the aphids were not in the egg laying phase.
 
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