Feeding time for Drosera

[xscd]

Our apple trees are beginning to drop ripe fruit. A few days ago I noticed an apple under the trees that had a hole around which there were several fruit flies. Knowing how fast these tiny flies breed, I brought the apple into the greenhouse to rot, placed it on one of the growing tables, and surrounded it with my few Drosera (paradoxa and petiolaris "red" both from Ron Lane in trade (*thanks* Ron, they're growing great!), a red and standard capensis, an adelae from Lowe's).

Within several days the fruit flies had bred to an astonishing quantity, and now my drosera are gorging on many of those who dare to fly from their safe and cherished home, the rotten apple. So successful is this drosera buffet that I brought in another apple, carved and punched a few holes in it, and set it beside the now mostly rotten apple to make a new home for the fruit flies.

Yum!

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

GREAT idea. You know you can culture thoe flies for an endless supply! I;m not sure how to do it, but they sell cultures online and some folks around here do it for their frogs. Way cool idea! I have thought about getting a culture online and starting to breed them. You can also get wingless fruitflie cultures online too!!!

 

[FarmerDave]

That's really cool, if the abundance of insects goes down in my yard then I'll definately try that.
Thanks for the info.

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

http://www.flyculture.com
http://www.buyfruitflies.com/shop_ffm.html
http://www.carnivorousplantnursery.com/info/fruitflies.htm

Hmmm seems that the last site is a CP site selling the wingless flies for use with drosera!  Very interesting I might have to order some cultures and start feeding all my CP live prey!  Fertilizer here we come!

Mods if thelast site is in violation please remove it.  I put it there for the fruitflies.

 

[larry]

I used to culture wingless fruit flies, what a pain in the butt. It was messy, smelly, and the maggots look nasty. Oh, and them buggers are hard to catch, they're very good at hopping.

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

Hmm thanks for the input larry.  I still night try it though.  They can live out in the GH where the smell will not bother anyone, and if they get out oh well they will just die.  SMASH. I am not worried about how they look. Shoot I am a surgical tech, and you haven't seen or smelled anything as gross a patient who has a dead bowel and we have to go in and remove it!! Putrid smell when its been festering for a while inside a closed abdomen and its alreay black and nasty!!  I planned to just pour out the culture tubes into the traps of various plants.  Nepenthes and dews mainly.  Maybe some flytraps too Sarrs might be a pain to feed.  I figure its worth a try if anything.

 

[jimscott]

I've been putting leftover fruit in Gladware with a little water, having them placed strategically in the attic, where the majority of the collection resides. I just go tap tap on the container and the fruitflies jettison - right toward my sundews.