Hello dearies,

I was wondering if anyone had a good recipe for a reliable and efficient way to get rid of whiteflies on indoors carnivorous plants.

I have cultivated carnivorous plants (Drosera, various Sarracenia, Nepenthes, Dionea) for like 2-3 years now and have always experienced wonderful cycles of growth and flowering without any pests or problems. I usually keep all my plants outside from Springtime to around late Autumn or early Winter (as long as the temperatures stay above 0�C). I only water with rain water. I live in western Europe, and we have seriously hot Summers and frosty spells in Winter. I then keep them inside on a south facing windowsill. I have a tendency to cut off all pitchers by the time I take them inside and wait for them to regrow twice as large by the next Spring. I didn't do it this year.

About a month ago I noticed a serious whitefly infestation that started on the Sarracenia flava. Since the potted plants are standing next to each other on the windowsill the pests propagated onto the Drosera capensis. The Nepenthes, psittacina, purpurea and Dionea are all unharmed. But the whitefly began to consume one pitcher at a time. I tried cutting off each infested pitcher but that didn't do the trick. I cut off all the Drosera leaves but that didn't do the trick. I know carnivorous plants are sensitive to pesticide, so I tried using natural black soap which I applied with a sprayer. That was ok on the pitcher plant but it was lethal on the Drosera. Out of the 20 odd Droseras I owned, just under 10 survived. I cut off all the pitchers and it seemed ok until they began to grow back although deformed. Then this morning I noticed that the new growth was covered in the little fu**ers again!!!

I was wondering if spraying a dilute mix of vinegar and rain water could do the trick? Or does anyone else have any other suggestions? I was thinking of placing the plants outside as well, although it is frosty outside. Knowing whiteflies have many enemies outdoors maybe they will take care of them and since I have acllimatised the plants to my type of climate I know that they could survive a short time of frost.

Any help would be much appreciated.