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Carnivorous Plants
enjoyingthesilence

Aphids (?) on sundew

19 years ago

Hello! I'm afraid my bug-eating plant is being eaten by bugs. Gah!

I have a little sundew that I've been keeping under fluorescent lights in my room. It's nice and green, but recently has been covered in little tiny off-white bugs! They haven't done MUCH damage yet, but have definitely hurt a new flower stalk that had just started growing, and the sundew's leaves are starting to develop yellow and brown spots.

Is there anything I can do to get rid of these bugs without hurting my sundew? I'm not sure what they are, but I think they may be aphids. The plant's a little weak right now, after a bad sunburn incident, but had been bouncing back pretty well. I'm just afraid of stressing it again. Help?

Comments (7)

  • 19 years ago

    Any water based pesticide will work, like pyrethrines, malathion, and so forth. Neem oil based products work too. You could also submerge the entire plant under soft water for a day or so, take it out for a day, then resubmerge it again for another day to drown out the little pests. I also like to take a paintbrush, dip it in the sundews dew, then glue the little insects to it and feed them to the plant manually. Serves em right for trying to bite an insectivorous plant.

    Good luck getting rid of those critters.

  • 19 years ago

    If it is just one plant, I would place the pot in a larger, plastic container and over fill the plant with distilled water for a couple days. That will be enough to drown the aphids and not hurt the plant. The plant itself will look like "death warmed over" for a week, but it will recover. Try that before chemicals.

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  • 19 years ago

    Thanks, I'll try drowning the stupid things tonight.

  • 19 years ago

    Are you sure they're aphids? The ones I've encountered have been yellow or green. Mealeybugs on the other hand, are white, sort of oblong shape, and furry. Mealeys tend to be more of a problem for me, but either way, the care is the same. I vote for Neem as it is systemic and an anti-feedant. It makes it undesireable for said bug to eat it, furthermore, it destroys their mouth parts, so if it does take a bite, the bug will be unable to eat for long. Since it is systemic and absorbs into the plant, it lasts for longer then regular pesticides. Just make sure you follow the directions carefully, or its a recipe for disaster.
    Good Luck, Bob

  • 19 years ago

    Okay, it's soaking right now. Poor sad-looking plant. :(

    I couldn't find a container tall enough to submerge the sundew's flower stalk. The flowers have already died; is it okay to cut it off? I'm worried the bugs will hide up there.

    I mostly just assumed they were aphids... I guess they could be sort of light green-ish. It's hard to tell since they're so small. Guess they'll drown either way, right?

  • 19 years ago

    You can cut off the flowers or any dead material. Can you post a picture of the pests?

  • 19 years ago

    Well, I just took my sundew out of its bath and so far so good. It doesn't seem any worse off for it, and it looks like the bugs are gone. :D

    I couldn't get a good picture of the bugs (my camera is sort of lacking in the zoom department) but I just looked up pictures of aphids on Google and it looks like that's what they were. Sort of light lime green and almost lemon-shaped from the top.

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