FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

]I got Ortho Orthenex two or three days ago for aphids. It seems to have worked fine on my VFTs and pitcher plants (thankfully the aphids haven't gone after my scarlet belle or tropical pitcher plants, or sundew), but it doesn't agree with my butterwort. Maybe I used too much, but it seemed to hate it almost immediately. Almost made the leaves see-through. After about 2 days, here's what it went from and to:

ouch! not good I guess drowning them is the only option?

Hi TENroaches,

Sorry to hear about your butterworth.

Since you can't use Ortho Orthenex, this is what you can do once your plant has gotten over the shock of Orthenex.

Try submerging your buterworth in a bucket of distilled water for three days. Once you have done this, it should kill thew initial infestation of aphids. After one week, repeat the process just in case they have laid eggs.

I hope this helps and good luck!

Giovanni

Thanks for the tip. I wonder if it was a bad idea for me to replant it today. I got rid of all the soil (I think it was all long fiber sphagnum moss...) and rinsed the plant with distilled water, and repotted it with sphagnum peat moss with a little long fiber sphagnum moss in it. We'll see what happens. I might keep it in the window instead of outside with bugs... Or do you think outside would be better, in the sun?

You're welcomed!

It may have been a bad idea to replant since your butterworth is trying to get over the shock of Orthenex. What's done is done and I think bringing it inside near a south facing window is a good idea in order to prevent any more aphids from attacking it. Hopefully your plant will recover from replanting in about a week and then you can submerge it in water for three days to kill any remaining aphids or eggs that have been laid.

Good luck and please keep us posted on the outcome,

Giovanni

What's the trick to keeping it submerged? Don't these things float?

My plants have to survive a move in a week! It's pretty much just an 8-hour car ride, though.

Ouch! Sorry to hear about the effect that Orthenex has on Butterworts. Thanks for sharing that information with the community. That's very helpful to know. Stinks that you had to be the one to find it out though! Hopefully it will recover.

TENroaches wrote:What's the trick to keeping it submerged? Don't these things float?

My plants have to survive a move in a week! It's pretty much just an 8-hour car ride, though.

That doesn't sound like a serious move for your plants. As long as the growing conditions where you're moving to are similar, it shouldn't affect them much at all.

I've never submerged a plant, but if it floated up, I'd figure out something to pin it under water by using something as a weight on the edge of the pot.

I was just told in the chat that butterworts control their own aphid problems.... That's good news, for the future, if that's true!

When you were replanting, you could have submerged the whole plant under water and seald the container. After 3 days, I'm sure the aphids would have been dead...

At least there's good news:

Ah, it's making a comeback!

That's nice! But i think the Ping is a bit too wet on those last pictures..

NZL wrote:That's nice! But i think the Ping is a bit too wet on those last pictures..

I noticed that, too. I took these the morning after a rainfall, so I guess that's why it's wet. It was also in the smallest of the plastic containers plants come in at Lowe's, so there wasn't much room for water around the pot itself. I poured out most of the water when I saw it.

Does this Butterwort need dormancy? If not, at what temperature should I bring it in at night? It's been living outside and it's been getting down into the lower 50s at night. Mid 70s during the day.

TENroaches wrote:Does this Butterwort need dormancy? If not, at what temperature should I bring it in at night? It's been living outside and it's been getting down into the lower 50s at night. Mid 70s during the day.

TIM!!!!!!

well it depends if the plant is Temperate..


Allen,