Bees, wasps, flies and more!

Bees, wasps, flies and more!#431965

By Barlapipas 6 -  Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:52 am
Location:  zone 9b Greece
Posts:  476
Joined:  Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:26 pm

- Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:52 am #431965

Insects are increasing day by day! I am seeing honey bees, carpenter bees, sweat bees, yellow jackets, paper wasps, butterflies, jumping spiders (I know they aren’t insects) and a lot of small and big flies. All these bugs also mean a lot of food for my plants. And they have already caught some! My VFTs caught 2 paper wasps and one fly and my S.purpurea also caught one paper wasp. My cape sundews are catching a lot of gnats too! Here are some pictures of some of the insects that tried to escape unsuccessfully

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I am hungry

Re: Bees, wasps, flies and more!#431971

By Intheswamp -  Tue Mar 14, 2023 12:52 pm
Location:  N31°43'59" USDA 8a/b
Posts:  3444
Joined:  Wed May 04, 2022 2:28 pm

- Tue Mar 14, 2023 12:52 pm #431971

The bugs that are hanging halfway out of the traps probably need to be removed and maybe refed to the plants. My understanding is that since the trap can't close completely on it the plant will not start digesting the bug and thus the bug will rot, killing the trap. It looks like the plants bit off a little more than they can chew, er, digest. Congrats on your plants looking good and catching their own food...just like younguns, sometimes their eyes (do they have eyes?

) are bigger than their stomach (trap?).

ETA: On looking at the bugs, they might be too large. Most recommendations are for food roughly 1/3 the size of the traps. Those might be a little big. But, it looks like the one silhouette image has a large bug nestled down nicely inside the trap. Just sayin'....

Re: Bees, wasps, flies and more!#431989

By Barlapipas 6 -  Tue Mar 14, 2023 4:10 pm
Location:  zone 9b Greece
Posts:  476
Joined:  Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:26 pm

- Tue Mar 14, 2023 4:10 pm #431989

I didn’t want to say it but I cut the parts that were sticking out of the traps and gave them to my purpurea. There are still some wasp legs and wings sticking out even though I tried to push it deeper. On the other hand, the trap with the fly is completely sealed. I remember one time when my old VFT caught a wasp that was sticking out and it ate it just fine without rotting. But it was in the middle of the summer in blazing hot sun. It was also a different plant so it maybe could handle bigger prey.

I am hungry

Re: Bees, wasps, flies and more!#431996

By Intheswamp -  Tue Mar 14, 2023 5:39 pm
Location:  N31°43'59" USDA 8a/b
Posts:  3444
Joined:  Wed May 04, 2022 2:28 pm

- Tue Mar 14, 2023 5:39 pm #431996

Hey, maybe they'll gobble them on down!!!! Nice move on sharing parts of the bugs with your purpurea!

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