Do carnivorous plants actually need fertilizing?
Carnivorous plants are rather special plants. Some gardening enthusiasts ask: since carnivorous plants eat insects, do they still need fertilizing? How can we ensure the nutrient supply for carnivorous plants? Let us explain it for you.
Nepenthes
Carnivorous plants are plants that eat insects, and this is the unique way this group of plants obtains nutrients. If there are insects in their growing environment, they can generally catch insects on their own and obtain the nutrients they need. You can also hand-feed them small insects or high-protein food, which is one of the great joys of growing carnivorous plants. When feeding, be careful not to feed too much or too large a portion, lest it cannot be digested, causing rot and affecting hygiene and appearance. To avoid these problems, it is recommended to provide nutrients by fertilizing, generally using the spray-irrigation method, with the fertilizer solution diluted to about 1/5 the concentration used for ordinary plants. During the growing season, use a general-purpose compound fertilizer, etc. For example, if the product instructions say to dilute it 1000 times for ordinary plants, it should be diluted about 5000 times for carnivorous plants, sprayed over the whole plant or poured into the traps, 1-2 times a month. When fertilizing, it is better to use a weak solution and apply it frequently; never use too high a concentration, to avoid the serious consequences of fertilizer burn or even fertilizer death. If you have no experience, do not fertilize at will.
How carnivorous plants eat insects, feeding and fertilizing
Many friends who are just getting to know carnivorous plants always ask curiously:
A. How do they eat insects?
B. If they have no insects to eat, will they starve to death?
C. How should we feed insects to them?
D. Do I need to fertilize them?
A. Carnivorous plants originally live in poor, barren places in the wild and mainly rely on preying on insects to supplement their nutrition. There are mainly 3 ways of catching insects: Nepenthes, Sarracenia and Cephalotus catch insects with funnel-shaped traps, and once an insect falls into the trap it can never crawl out again; Dionaea (Venus flytrap) and Aldrovanda catch insects with shell-like snap traps, which can clamp the insects that take the bait inside the trap; Drosera (sundews) and others have many sticky glandular hairs on their surface, like a fly-catching sticky paper, which can stick small insects to them.
B. Carnivorous plants are not like ordinary flowers and plants; their demand for nutrients is very low. Under artificial cultivation, the "soil" used for carnivorous plants already contains the necessary nutrients. Feeding or fertilizing is like us eating snacks and supplements - it is not necessary for survival.
C. If there are also a small number of insects in the growing environment, they may be able to catch them. Although feeding is not necessary, it is one of the great joys of growing carnivorous plants for many people. We can feed these strange "pets" small insects or fresh high-protein "raw" food (cooked protein is denatured and hard to digest). Generally we only feed the highly entertaining Dionaea (Venus flytrap); feeding food to other carnivorous plants is not recommended. When feeding, be careful not to feed too much or too large food, so that the Dionaea trap can completely enclose the food, and the number of traps fed must not exceed 1/3 of the total number of traps, lest it cannot be digested, causing rot and affecting hygiene and appearance. During winter dormancy the traps will not catch insects, so please do not feed.
D. To avoid the problems caused by feeding, we recommend using the fertilizing method to provide them with more nutrients. Generally use the spray-irrigation method; during the growing season, about every two weeks you can use a general-purpose compound fertilizer, etc., diluted and sprayed over the whole plant or poured into the traps. The fertilizer solution should be diluted to about 1/5 the concentration used for ordinary plants; for example, if the product instructions say to dilute 1000 times for ordinary plants, it should be diluted about 5000 times for carnivorous plants.When fertilizing, it is better to use a weak solution and apply it frequently; never use too high a concentration, to avoid the serious consequences of fertilizer burn or even fertilizer death. If you have no experience, do not fertilize at will.Do not fertilize during dormancy or when growth has stopped or symptoms of disease appear.
How carnivorous plants eat insects, feeding and fertilizing
Many friends who are just getting to know carnivorous plants always ask curiously:A. How do they eat insects?
B. If they have no insects to eat, will they starve to death?
C. How should we feed insects to them?
D. Do I need to fertilize them?
A. Carnivorous plants originally live in poor, barren places in the wild and mainly rely on preying on insects to supplement their nutrition. There are mainly 3 ways of catching insects: Nepenthes, Sarracenia and Cephalotus catch insects with funnel-shaped traps, and once an insect falls into the trap it can never crawl out again; Dionaea (Venus flytrap) and Aldrovanda catch insects with shell-like snap traps, which can clamp the insects that take the bait inside the trap; Drosera (sundews) and others have many sticky glandular hairs on their surface, like a fly-catching sticky paper, which can stick small insects to them.
B. Carnivorous plants are not like ordinary flowers and plants; their demand for nutrients is very low. Under artificial cultivation, the "soil" used for carnivorous plants already contains the necessary nutrients. Feeding or fertilizing is like us eating snacks and supplements - it is not necessary for survival.
C. If there are also a small number of insects in the growing environment, they may be able to catch them. Although feeding is not necessary, it is one of the great joys of growing carnivorous plants for many people. We can feed these strange "pets" small insects or fresh high-protein "raw" food (cooked protein is denatured and hard to digest). Generally we only feed the highly entertaining Dionaea (Venus flytrap); feeding food to other carnivorous plants is not recommended. When feeding, be careful not to feed too much or too large food, so that the Dionaea trap can completely enclose the food, and the number of traps fed must not exceed 1/3 of the total number of traps, lest it cannot be digested, causing rot and affecting hygiene and appearance. During winter dormancy the traps will not catch insects, so please do not feed.
D. To avoid the problems caused by feeding, we recommend using the fertilizing method to provide them with more nutrients. Generally use the spray-irrigation method; during the growing season, about every two weeks you can use a general-purpose compound fertilizer, etc., diluted and sprayed over the whole plant or poured into the traps. The fertilizer solution should be diluted to about 1/5 the concentration used for ordinary plants; for example, if the product instructions say to dilute 1000 times for ordinary plants, it should be diluted about 5000 times for carnivorous plants. When fertilizing, it is better to use a weak solution and apply it frequently; never use too high a concentration, to avoid the serious consequences of fertilizer burn or even fertilizer death. If you have no experience, do not fertilize at will. Do not fertilize during dormancy or when growth has stopped or symptoms of disease appear.