The only problem I can see would potentially be your watering. CP's can only take distilled, RO, and rain water with no fertilizer, ever. If thats what your watering system uses, great, you're all set, if not, you're going to have to shield it from the regular water and water it separately. CP media should never dry out, nor for the most part should it be totally waterlogged. Setting the pot in 1/2" of water is good.

Lows of 45 shouldn't be a problem, and in fact are needed for temperate CP's like Sarrecenia and Venus Fly Traps. Pings are like living flypaper with beautiful flowers. Nepenthes are always a fun greehouse plant. Tropical sundews might not like the low temps, but there are temperate sundews too.

No bugs in winter is no problem and not supplementing with meat is good, as meat will kill CP's with its high fat content.

CP's won't get rid of your bugs. Certainly a few, but not all. In fact probably not even enough to make a noticible difference, unless you have a lot of CP's and a lot of bugs.

The important thing is water though, and plenty of light. Hope this helps.
Bob

RO?

The water is tap. No fertilizer; I add fertilizer to plants as needed manually.

How much do they generally eat? As you may notice, I have no experience with them at all; it's mostly just a curiosity at this point.

RO = Reverse Osmosis - a method of purifying water by forcing it through a membrane to remove all the dissolved solids.

Tap water, unless you have amazing tap water will kill CP's quick quick quick. Not only is chlorine a problem, but the TDS, total dissolved solids shouldn't be over 100 ppm. The limit for Human consumption, I think is 500 ppm for municipal water supplies.

CP's grow naturally in nutrient poor bogs. That's why they eat bugs. As a result of this adaptation, their roots are really sensitive to any nutrient or salt buildup.

A common misconception about CP's is that they eat bugs for food. They eat sunlight for food, the bugs are the fertilizer, analogous to popping a daily multivitamin.

How much do they eat? Depends on the plant. Venus Fly Trap needs lots of light and each trap has 2-3 closures, and it takes about 10-14 days to open again. These tend to be bigger bugs as each pad of the VFT "jaws" has 3 trigger hairs on it. The bugs must touch 2 hairs in 10 seconds or 1 hair twice in ten seconds for it to close. (Usually in less than 1/2 second!!) 1 VFT will eat 1-2 bugs per month on its own, here on my balcony in Austin.

Sundews and Pings have passive traps and they tend to get small fungus gnats and the like. Sundews, unlike pings show movement, although slower than the VFT. The plant "knows" where the bug is, and each sticky tentacle near it moves toward it to secure and digest it. They can only eat as much as the surface area of their leaves allow. Larger bugs and big ants can sometimes escape. I get 1-2 new leaves per week on Hubert the Friendly Lance Leaf Sundew and Friends, and each leaf will catch 1-3 fungus gnats per week here under lights in my bedroom

Temperate Pitcher plants need similar conditions as VFT with the light, but need even more water. They eat everything. Nepenthes are tropical pitcher plants, in my opinion are cooler than temperate pitcher plants and the most effecient CP. My Nepenthes eat sooo many little black sugar ants.

An interesting thing to note is that, at least in my case, the CP's tend to bring their own bugs. Fungus gnats have taken residence in the constantly moist media and then quickly get eaten by the CP, especially the nepenthes.

They aren't an efficient means of bug removal but they are neat. Remember though, no tap water. Reverse Osmosis, Distilled, Rain water only.
Bob

Hello karenrei,

The best all around plants for the conditions you described would be the temperate carnivores of North America.

Any of the Sarracenias, Venus Flytrap, Drosera species (rotundifolia and filiformis particularly), and butterworts would all thrive well in such a greenhouse.

The temperatures would be just about right to take the plants into dormancy during winter and the greenhouse would give them bright sunlight and protection from animals and human invaders.

As bob123how indicated, check your water source so that you can determine if it is soft enough for carnivorous plants. If not, invest in a R/O unit to run your watering source through. Mineral buildup in carnivorous plant soil alters the needed acid Ph balance and rots their roots like fertilizer would.

Carnivorous plants would mainly add a touch of interest and beauty all their own as each has it's own leaf and flower structure, scent, and color that make it as worthwhile to grow as any rose or begonia. They will not actually solve the insect problem, but might actually draw more insects to themselves due to the constant scent and nectar they produce to attract them. Yes, they will catch plenty of gnats, flies, ants, and beetles (Sundews are exceedingly good at capturing mosquitos and gnats, Sarracenias and Flytraps tend towards catching flies, wasps, and bees) and might actually put a dent in the insect population in the greenhouse if the door is closed.

The tropical plants would not be very tolerant of 45 degree weather for the most part, but if you ever take an interest and have space and time for indoor or heated greenhouse growing, they are a great all year round addition to your plant growing hobby and tend to require less light than temperates.

Lows of 45F in the winter *are* heated. I live in Iowa ;) Our average low in January is 12F, and our record is -24F. Before wind chill :)

Thanks a lot for all of the info!

Have you considered a few, nice window sill plants?

{{gwi:550238}}

As indicated above, plants that are indigeounous to our Southeast would love a greenhouse where it gets to as low as 45 F (Sarracenias, VFT's, D. intermedia, D. rotundifolia,...)