The reason that I first acquired my carnivorous plants was to keep the flies under control in the limery – a natural solution that is also fascinating. The pitcher plants, which featured in last week’s Three Things Thursday are good for controlling large flies, but when it comes to fruit flies and little black compost flies, you need a sundew or two.
The most common and easiest to grow in a UK conservatory is probably the Cape Sundew (Drosera capensis). The plants have linear leaves and either pink or white flowers, the former associated with leaves with red highlights. Mine are always covered in little flies:
And then, if you’ve got some hanging space that’s high enough so you won’t walk into it (and honestly, you really don’t want a face full of this), there’s my favourite – Drosera dicotoma, the leaves of which can reach 30cm. Mine had a bit of a set-back earlier in the year when I was on holiday, but has now grown some new fresh leaves which haven’t had much time to catch many flies, although it is capable of snaring big ones.
So, who needs chemicals or fly paper, when nature can solve the problem for you?
The Snail of Happiness 
Annie
/ June 12, 2017Oh my, it would be like walking into a giant spider!!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 12, 2017A giant wet spider! Ew
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crawcraftsbeasties
/ June 12, 2017I agree! And carnivorous plants are so much more interesting than a can of bug spray!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 12, 2017… I wonder if beasties can be trained to catch bugs… I had high hopes for vaarks, but it turns out they prefer cake!
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crawcraftsbeasties
/ June 14, 2017Hmmm… I’ve never seen them taking much of an interest in bug-hunting, so I’m not optimistic. It might take a dedicated Bug Hunter Beastie, complete with net and specimen jars!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 14, 2017Oh yes, that would be wonderful
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Nikki
/ June 12, 2017Nature’s solutions are often the best! I think I will have to invest in a carnivorous plant or two…can you suggest where might be a good place to buy them?
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 12, 2017The best source I know of in the UK is Hampshire Carnivorous Plants (http://www.hantsflytrap.com/) their stock is very high quality and well packed
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Nikki
/ June 13, 2017Excellent. Thank you.
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Laurie Graves
/ June 12, 2017What a great solution!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 13, 2017So much more of a talking point than fly paper!
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katechiconi
/ June 12, 2017Such a neat, simple solution, but I can’t help wondering what they’d make of the huge swarms of flies you get in Australian cattle country. You’d need *plantations* of carnivorous plants, and I can’t help worrying about them evolving into something like Audrey II!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 13, 2017Yes, forests of pitchers would be needed… although they are voracious and each pitcher can fill to the top with big flies!
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katechiconi
/ June 13, 2017They’d probably grow enormous and you’d have to watch your step around them. You know how the most innocent thing is deadly Down Under 🙂
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cambridgearomatherapy
/ June 13, 2017Been dealing with stickiness here too but that is about extracting honey 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 13, 2017Much tastier than my stickiness!
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Born To Organize
/ June 18, 2017These plants fascinate me. I don’t know that I’ve seen any of them here, other than the Venus fly trap which is often sold as a novelty. I’m all about natural solutions. These are terrific.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 18, 2017It takes a little while to get to grips with their needs, but now I have, they seem to be thriving… and I have no need of that horrid sticky yellow paper.
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Born To Organize
/ June 21, 2017That is wonderful news to my ears!
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