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Carnivorous Plants/feeding asian pitcher plant

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Expert: - 7/28/2008


Question
If i feed an asian pitcher plant crickets. they just drown and die.  does the pitcher absorb the nutrients from the large stem that hooks the pitcher to the stem?  or does pitcher absorb through its walls?  because in some of my pitchers, the water level doesnt reach the stem.

Answer
Hello Matt,

Nepenthes secrete a preservative called benzoic acid along with a viscous sugary substance that work together to snare and drown insects that fall into the pitchers. This secretion is produced by the glands in the pitcher walls. Those same glands also produce digestive enzymes after prey is sensed inside the pitcher struggling. After the proteins in the insect are released as peptides, bacteria are allowed to break the remaining nutrients down into plant fertilizer like nitrogen. Once nitrogen has been released into the digestive fluid inside the pitcher it reabsorbs much of the fluid, along with the nitrogen, through the pitcher walls throughout the rest of the pitcher's lifespan. These nutrients are transferred along the tendril and into the leaf, from there making their way throughout the rest of the plant wherever those nutrients are needed. Pitchers low in fluid merely are old or have fewer glands or are not getting enough light to produce their fluids with in quantity.

Christopher

Carnivorous Plants

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Christopher Littrell

Expertise

I am capable of answering questions about the most common carnivorous plants found in cultivation. I have no personal experience with Byblis, Drosophyllum, Aldrovanda, and Heliamphora. I have not cultivated gemmae forming pygmy sundews nor tuberous sundews. For information regarding those aforementioned species, I would suggest contacting other experts. I can answer questions regarding most species of Nepenthes, tropical and temperate Drosera, Mexican Pinguicula, Sarracenias, and Dionaea. I have some limited experience with growing Utricularia, Cephalotus, and Darlingtonia.

Experience

I have grown carnivorous plants off and on for about 27 years. I have made the same mistakes and suffered the same mishaps that many growers make as they attempt to separate the myths from the realities of growing these plants. Currently, I am successfully growing a variety of tropical sundews, a Nepenthes, several Venus Flytraps of varying ages, and Sarracenias. I have been successful in stratifying Sarracenia seeds and providing artificial dormancy requirements for my temperate plants when needed.

Education/Credentials
I hold a Master's degree in Educational Psychology. Over my lifetime, I have constantly read books involving the growing conditions of carnivorous plants. I hope to incorporate the educational aspects involved in psychology with teaching other people how to cultivate carnivorous plants.

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