Can S.purpurea eat plants?
Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2022 10:23 pm
Can S.purpurea eat plant debris (leafs, twigs etc)? And if so, how much nutritional value do they have when compared to bugs?
The water in the itcher will leech out the nutrients from any material in there and transfer it to the plant via the pitcher walls. As to nutritional value, it depends entirely on what the debris in the pitcher is as to how useful or indeed detrimental it is to the plant.
I suppose the short answer to your question is that the plants have developed to catch prey as the primary source of nutrients and that is what they rely on for a 'balanced' diet, but will take nutrients from whatever falls in the pitcher.
Cheers
Steve