Little black nats flying around?

[orchidsarefun]

my 1 handles about 25 orchids adequately. They are very picky about water quality, I found this on plantoftheweek.org

drosera capensis need full sun to light shade, with an acidic, moist soil mix. In the greenhouse, we use a soil mix consisting of 2 parts peat moss to 1 part sand. In a terrarium, you will need to add at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) of horticultural charcoal before adding the soil mix. If grown in containers, the container should be placed in trays with at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water at all times. They must be watered with distilled water or rainwater because they will not tolerate city water or hard water. Do not fertilize! During the winter months, water should be alternated between wet and dry periods. Insectivorous plants are adapted to low nutrient conditions (they obtain nitrogen, phosphorous and other needed minerals from trapped insects) and are damaged by high pH and water-borne nutrients.

[greenpassion]

Thanks for the quick reply! If you say one handles 25 orchids well, then all I need is one I guess. I do think I'll have sucess growing it in S/H, as it sounds like the perfect growing condition for this plant. I've posted this in the S/H forum, so I'll wait before I leap!

[greenpassion]

Has anyone ever tried growing these sundews under lights? My orchids and moss are under the natural white LED track heads, and are doing great. I just bought 2 Drocera sundew capensis, and need to know how they might do. I have researched this but haven't found much info other than reading CFL lighting is suitable. I have LED's. Also, I had planned on putting them right with my orchids, on the glass shelf which has a heat mat on it. I guess I had thought I could have the sundews keep the fungus nats away, but if I can't keep them with the orchids, I goofed in buying them....

[Rowangreen]

Originally Posted by NatalieS

Just as a matter of interest I went searching on one of the UK orchid forums and found a thread about people using cat litter as a potting medium!! Apparently fungus gnats hate it, and the results for people were pretty good. I might experiment with this myself...

I'm in the UK, and had been wondering about trying this myself, as I noticed the 'perlite' or white 'volcanic rock' in some mixes looks remarkably like some brands of cat litter. Any chance you have a link to that thread?

(I also have gnats. Currently kept down with yellow stickys (you can get cute sunflower ones for windows here), hope to get some butterworts and sundews (good excuse!) and maybe try biological control once it's a bit warmer!)

[Rowangreen]

PS, you can also use some types of chicken feed as cat litter. *G* ('crumb' for chicks, must be unmedicated, if you are interested! Rather like US brand Swheat Scoop (I think it's called?)

[Leafmite]

I think the sundews and butterworts are the perfect way to eliminate fungus gnats. I had a terrible problem with these but now I see very few and they are usually stuck to one of the two butterworts. I've encountered a couple of orchid vendors at shows that had a few butterworts for sale among their orchids so it seems to be a common solution. I ordered a sundew a few days ago to have a bug eliminator on each shelf.

[orchidsarefun]

don't get too many, they may starve and then decide to glob together and get the next living thing in the room....

[Leafmite]

I will watch that my pets don't get too close. : )

[NatalieS]

Originally Posted by Rowangreen

I'm in the UK, and had been wondering about trying this myself, as I noticed the 'perlite' or white 'volcanic rock' in some mixes looks remarkably like some brands of cat litter. Any chance you have a link to that thread?

(I also have gnats. Currently kept down with yellow stickys (you can get cute sunflower ones for windows here), hope to get some butterworts and sundews (good excuse!) and maybe try biological control once it's a bit warmer!)

Here ya go: The UK Orchid Forum - with resources for the EU • View topic - Cat Litter success?

I didn't read the whole thread - seems like it's good for germinating seed as well as for potting orchids. You are spot on - it does seem very much like perlite.

[orchidsarefun]

I think my cats would think I am crazy.....err maybe crazier, if I used kitty litter for my orchids or even for seed germination....