Carnivorous Plant Growers
 

I have some of questions for those who grow Pinguiculas.

I picked up a little Pirouette a few weeks ago. Seems to be doing ok, nice green color, roots looked like a bundle of fine filaments when I potted it up in peat moss/perlite mix. Can't really tell if he's grown any or at all.

So, this little guy hasn't caught anything but dust. I get a gnat a day but I have to swat them. I think he's sticky enough, I inadvertently picked him up.

So my questions are:

Is it the nature of Pirouettes not to be good gnat catchers?
How do you keep these dusted/clean?
How do you feed them if not bugs (I've feed them along with my chids)?

TiA

One trick to try is to put the ping at level with the pot where you see the most gnats. That helps the gnats to find the leaves. The pings release some sort of fungus smell but perhaps it is overshadowed by the smell of the real fungus.
No idea how to dust them. Spray with distilled water?

Carnivorous plants be pretty self cleaning, they do live outdoors where they are surrounded by dust and dirt.

P. 'Pirouette' is a hybrid, so it's going to catch less prey than a pure species. I recommend giving it a lot more light. It's supposed to be bright pink.

Ok, more light.

Thanks!