INTERVIEW. Everything you need to know about carnivorous plants explained by an expert

2024-01-14 09:30:06

Interview with Mathieu Jehanne, at the head of the Carniflore nurseries, in Pouldreuzic (Finistère).

The general public often equates carnivores with tropicals: info or misinformation?

Info AND misinformation: in the large family of carnivorous plants – there are between 7 and 800 species – there are indeed tropical plants like nepenthes, but they have difficulty surviving below a temperature of 12°C.

The carnivorous plants of the northern hemisphere, on the other hand (Dionaeae, pitcher plants, certain sundews) are hardy down to – 10, or even – 15°C. To thrive, they must be grown outdoors because they need a lot of light.

Also read. Why are there carnivorous plants?

Insectivores “but not insecticides”

Can carnivorous plants be useful in controlling flies and mosquitoes?

Not really. I usually say that if they are insectivorous, they are not insecticides. Even if a pitcher plant is capable of ingesting up to 500 insects per year, do not count on it to remove mosquitoes from your terrace.

Should we feed them?

No, especially since people generally give them dead insects which will rot in the plant: the digestive process of a carnivore only begins if certain glands are stimulated by the movements of a living insect.

The particularity of peat bogs

Carnivores grow in peat, which poses a problem from an environmental point of view: are there alternatives?

The fate of peatlands is a real issue. In our defense, the cultivation of carnivorous plants remains a niche culture, the impact of which is incommensurate with the massive use of peat in potting mixes. We are obviously monitoring possible alternatives, but it is complex: for a carnivore, the substrate must be at the same time acidic, poor (free of decomposed organic matter) and capable of retaining water like a sponge. .

Sphagnum moss, a moss that grows in bogs and can be grown off-site, would be a good substitute. If the volumes of cultivated sphagnum moss are still insufficient, we can already reduce the quantities of peat used by partly replacing them with sphagnum moss.

Also read. Carnivorous plants, no more preconceived ideas

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