FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello, I was just wondering what insect has the highest levels of nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium for carnivorous plants? I know high levels of nitrogen helps with foliage growth, phosphorus helps with root/flower development, and potassium helps with overall health of the plant. Carnivorous plants can’t be fertilized so I just wanted to know the best food for CP.

hi,
I have been using FREEZE DRIED blood worms for years now and there awesome
most pet stores carry this product and one bottle goes along way.

I can't speak to food value, but I like the natural approach. I use fruit flies (vestigial wings so they cannot fly) which I culture myself. Very easy to culture and harvest, but I must admit that the occasional fly does manage to escape into the wilds of my plant/fish room (and sometimes they do show up on the pings or drosera). I dump the live flies from the culture into a zip bag and then freeze them. For feeding, I just dump some of the flies into a small sample container and use a moistened toothpick to feed. I also use a very weak solution of maxsea on occasion, applied lightly, but never on young or smaller plants .

twitcher wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2020 9:29 pm I can't speak to food value, but I like the natural approach. I use fruit flies (vestigial wings so they cannot fly) which I culture myself. Very easy to culture and harvest, but I must admit that the occasional fly does manage to escape into the wilds of my plant/fish room (and sometimes they do show up on the pings or drosera). I dump the live flies from the culture into a zip bag and then freeze them. For feeding, I just dump some of the flies into a small sample container and use a moistened toothpick to feed. I also use a very weak solution of maxsea on occasion, applied lightly, but never on young or smaller plants .

That’s interesting I would like to do that as well, where did you get the wingless flys? And how do you raise them?

The flies can be obtained at many pet stores, especially the ones that sell lizards. I am willing to trade a starter culture for a cp of interest, once the winter subsides (probably April would work) if none are available in your area.. What is needed is an appropriate container and media for the flies. I use 8 oz container of applesauce mixed with baby oatmeal as the media. The flies need something to crawl on and keep them off the media all the time. I use excelsior. (available at craft stores or Amazon). A small handful is enough fo the culture. They also need a container with screen or cloth covering to admit air and restrain flies from escaping.

Thanks, I’ll check my local pet stores. I would use them for most my CP. I also went through forums and someone already talked about the insects that contain more nitrogen and it’s usually the carnivorous insects such as spiders, wasps, Beatles, (etc). If I don’t find any wingless flies I’ll message you, in the meantime I’ll do some research on caring for them.