Pesticide Recommendations

[Davis]

I am having a minor pest problem in my highland terrarium and want to take care of it before it becomes major problem. I think the problem is Thirps but with a hand lens I have also seen small whitish red insects on the underside of my Nepes and on my Darlingtonia. It lays tiny red eggs and destroyed some of my newly forming Darlingtonia traps.

In Peter D’Amato’s book “The Savage Garden” there are a few recommendations including Diazion, Malathion, Orthene and Sevin. Before I cover my plants in pesticides, I wanted to see if anyone had used any of these and if so, how they applied it and how well it worked. I have several Nepenthes, Drosera, Cephalotus, Saracenia and Darlingtonia that I would like to treat as well as some new Nepenthes cuttings.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Davis

[jdallas]

Hi Davis,

We actually did a recent podcast on this subject: www.youtube.com/user/SarraceniaNorthwest#p/u/8/lbRCdJ8ZNF0

Jeff

[Davis]

Thank you! That was very helpful. I picked up a bottle of the Bayer Rose and Flower Insect Killer containing Imidacloprid. Have you used this product on Cephalotus? Are they a little more hardy like Nepenthes?

Davis

[jdallas]

Hi Davis,

Yes. As long as you follow the label directions it's safe. The 3 in 1 product is also quite effective against the patchy mold that Cephalotus is prone to. Cephs do tend to be fairly tough. I haven't found any regular insecticides they are sensitive to. I've used both imidacloprid and Acephate(Orthene) on them with no harm.

I was also going to mention that in an enclosed environment, "No-Pest Strips" can be very helpful. They won't harm plants, but will kill all the bugs in your tank.

Jeff