My Venus Fly Trap has aphids, what do I do?

[Wolfn]

I was just checking my Venus Fly Trap after it's been producing really small traps the past couple of weeks. I checked and saw little green bugs covering the leaves.

What do I do? I've just trimmed off all the leaves and preparing to immerse the plant in water to drown out the bugs.

 

[F R e N c H 3 z]

Neem oil works pretty well though it's not a long term control unless you reapply pretty often, you can also try a more 'biological method' of ladybugs and young praying mantids.

 

[Not a Number]

I would have just soaked it without trimming off the leaves.

I just soaked all my VFTs recently due to red spider mites.

 

[Indigo]

from where i came from some people use smoke to control insect problem in their crop. and it kill instantly. but it could be poisonous for humans. but i m quite sure ots 100% risk free for plants

 

[Joseph Clemens]

Remove the insects, not the leaves. The leaves may be all that's left for the plant to restore itself with. Sorta like removing the intestines along with an intestinal parasite (oops) - at least the plant might have enough energy to grow new leaves, if it hasn't already been weakened too much.

 

[Wolfn]

If my FlyTrap doesn't survive, I'm already looking at buying a "low giant" to replace it.

 

[technoracer]

i'd just submerge the entire plant in water over night. the aphids will either drown, or seek drier plants to live on. you're vft will be fine overnight underwater. it is a bog plant afterall...

my $.02

peace,
tech...

 

[scottychaos]

Aphids are one of the easier bugs to control..
I agree, just submerge the plant completely in water for a day or two..
the plant can handle it fine, the bugs cant..

I would cover the container in plastic to keep the buggers from escaping and colonizing elsewhere.

Now if it was scale, I would just throw the plant away..
but fortunately scale is rare on CP's..

Scot

 

[mark.ca]

So it seems that most people here recomand submerging the plants... I did try with dews and no result....48 or 72 hours and the bugs are still alive...or at least some of them....any ideas? Because i'm not killing the eggs maybe or they just survive?
Anyway, i find this helpful any time you get a potted plant from any nursery. It will kill most of the bugs on the plants and in the soil. No matter the name of the nursery they all have infested plants! It's close to impossible to keep a large colection 100% clean all the time!

 

[Not a Number]

The problem with soaking Drosera is that they trap a lot of air. Remove as many of the pests from the plants as possible first with a small paint brush or water spray. Then tap the container vigorously after filling with water to loosen many of the air pockets (lift container and tap bottom on hard surface).

 

[mark.ca]

I was thinking of a combination....spray with chimicals, wait a few minutes and them submerge...and hope this way the poisson will affect only the pests. I will try it next time.

 

[scottychaos]

Im NOT recommending anyone try this idea!
instead im offering it as a theory..to see if anyone thinks it would be dangerous to the plant..

some insect sprays rely on some kind of oil..the theory being that the oil coats the bug and suffocates it, because it cant breath through the oil layer..

what if you took an aphid infested VFT..bare-root it (take it out of the pot, rinse away all the peat from the soil) spray the entire plant down with olive oil...(probably not the roots..just the greenery) wait maybe 2 hours..then rinse the plant thoroughly in water..then re-plant..

the oil will also (eventually) suffocate the plant!
but the plant can probably "hold its breath" much longer than the bugs..

I honestly dont know if this would harm the plant or not..but its an idea..

2 hours will likely kill the bugs..the only question is..how long can the VFT be coated in oil without causing harm? I dont know the answer to that question..


but actually, I think if you bare-rooted the plant, and rinsed it down with water, hose it down with a fine spray from the hose, then swish it around in a bucket of water..that would probably solve the aphid
problem right there..

Scot

 

[Wolfn]

Well, I've trimmed all the leaves off and submerged the plant overnight. I checked on it a few minutes ago, and I don't see a single aphid.

Now I'll just keep it in full sunlight to help it recuperate.

 

[Joseph Clemens]

Be careful with the olive oil. Back in 1968 when I purchased my first VFT, I lightly coated the leaves with olive oil, it made the leaves look so nice and shiny. But, unfortunately in a few hours the leaves turned black, shriveled up, and the plants never recovered. I never did that again.

 

[tommyr]

I use ortho or Bayer rose and flower spray.

 

[billylh]

recently the aphids have gotten pretty bad on my plants then i found this stuff in my garage called ortho rose pride, its in an aerosol can and i can say that after about 5 minutes of use the aphids were running around like crazy and falling off the plants, then 10 minutes later, they were all dead. I kind of misted it over the sundew area(following the directions on can) of my mini bog and so far all the dews seem to be good and didnt have a bad reaction to it. i will definitely pick up another can of this stuff as it has been the most effective stuff ive used.

~billy

 

[Wolfn]

Well, my Venus Fly Trap didn't survive, so I'm going to buy a new one

 

[tommyr]

Well, my Venus Fly Trap didn't survive, so I'm going to buy a new one

Sorry to hear that, yes, get another one!