Dried shrimp to feed to nepenthes

17 years ago

Hi All -

I've got several Nepenthes...all of which except 1 I grow in the house. So they don't catch many bugs.

I know that food is not by any means the number 1 concern for growing CPs or even anywhere near the top. They are growing decently well and arent showing any "problems".

All that being said..I would like to give them some

vitamins". I have been raising crops of wingless fruit flies to give them, but to be honest...these little suckers are kind of a pain in the ass and I wouldn't at all mid giving them up.

are there any store bought products that you guys have seen work well for your plants?

I have used a few of the dried shrimps that are for my turtle reading that some people have found success with that, though i wonder how much nutrients are actually in them vs shell? Well, they seem to keep the turtle alive so I wouldn

t think they could be bad?

Would you guys recommend continuing to use the dried shrimp? Anything else out there better?

Thanks guys and good growing!

Mark

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Comments (6)

hunterkiller03
17 years ago
You've fed your neps shrimp? One problem I would find is the salt contents in the shrimp? I think just removing the shell solves the "nutrient vs. shell" problem.

But I personally would definitely stay away from shrimp. I would suggest dried crickets or bloodworms from pet stores. moisting them before dropping them in the urns. I know someone will recommend foliar feed.

In my case I let my plants do the feeding themselves. If they get a few or too many, either way, they get what they need naturally.
taz6122
17 years ago
I feed mine fish food. The floating pellets. One or two pellets a week per plant and a different pitcher each week. Works well and not too much for the pitchers. Rotating pitchers keeps the ensigns in check. If dried shrimp works for you, keep it up unless the plants start to decline. I would also cut the pitchers off before they fall off and release the contents into the soil if they are above the soil or water supply.
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marklius
Original Author
17 years ago
Good stuff guys!

As for the shrimp, I mean the tiny, tiny ones meant for fish, hunter :). I looke don the label and I guess that they are called krill... though I had not thought about the salt issue. I wonder if the dried shrimp fish food would contain salt as it is...

I only have fish flakes but I do have turtle pellets.

These would probably work too, I bet..
taz6122
17 years ago
I wouldn't buy krill if I didn't have to. Krill harvesting is endangering the welfare of seals ,whales and other ocean life that depends on krill for food. Krill is in a lot of fish foods but it is not the main ingredient.
Your turtle pellets should be ok. Not too much though.
While salts are very damaging to the root system of CPs, I'm not too sure about the traps themselves. I will be looking into that.
hunterkiller03
17 years ago
Krill shrimp... I was confused there! It kinda mystified me about the "nutrient vs. shell" problem. Lol.

I'll second taz, fish pallets are usually made with vegetable and fish by products. Fish, even living in the sea don't have that much salt in their bodies.
petiolaris
17 years ago
Yeah, I wouldn't use anything that is saltwater-oriented. Some people also use Koi pellets.