Carnivorous plants, because why not ?

Hello,

I've had a few years if not a few decades ago a bit of an interest with carnivorous plants. Thinking about them again, a few questions pops up, which I think the answers would be really interesting:

Would they have their place in a permaculture setup ? (probably, but examples would be awesome)

Are there medicinal carnivorous plants ? Are there edible carnivorous plants ? (I mean, payback would be nice)

What about creating some micro-bog, or place where they can thrive, with the spot being self-sufficient ?

It's more of a thought experiment, as I won't have neither the space nor the micro-climate for those plants for a while. But who know, maybe one day ?

I actually bought a carnivorous plant to play around with this past year! I've only had it over winter so it isn't growing much and I'll have to experiment with keeping it outdoors when the weather warms up. My biggest concern is keeping the bog-like environment going in my wildly hot Texas environment. I'm notorious for not watering often enough so that's an issue.

I don't know much about them but I do know the purple pitcher plant is medicinal. I forget what exactly it does but the one (useless?) fact I know is that you can use its tincture for small pox. Last I checked small pox isn't a problem but if it became a problem, or perhaps another small pox like disease, perhaps you could use it as a remedy for that. There were some more broad things you can use the plant for but I forgot and only remembered the more useless information, naturally.

Mike Lafay wrote:Hello,

I've had a few years if not a few decades ago a bit of an interest with carnivorous plants. Thinking about them again, a few questions pops up, which I think the answers would be really interesting:

Would they have their place in a permaculture setup ? (probably, but examples would be awesome)

Are there medicinal carnivorous plants ? Are there edible carnivorous plants ? (I mean, payback would be nice)

What about creating some micro-bog, or place where they can thrive, with the spot being self-sufficient ?

It's more of a thought experiment, as I won't have neither the space nor the micro-climate for those plants for a while. But who know, maybe one day ?

My immediate thought was that I need a bunch next to my chicken run.  Last summer we had an incredible monsoon season, and flies were EVERYWHERE.  But they definitely liked the chicken coop, and I would have liked a viable solution other than chemicals.  Any carnivorous plants for zone 8a high desert?

Trish Doherty wrote:My immediate thought was that I need a bunch next to my chicken run.  Last summer we had an incredible monsoon season, and flies were EVERYWHERE.  But they definitely liked the chicken coop, and I would have liked a viable solution other than chemicals.  Any carnivorous plants for zone 8a high desert?

Finding ones that would be happy in your zone should be plenty easy. The tough part is combatting the “high desert” as these plants grow in  wet bogs! Lol

Currently my little guy is just the size of a man’s fist and I have it sitting in its original plastic pot that sits in a bowl of water (distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis water required).

Apparently the kind I got is picky.

I’ll have to see about rigging up a little bog to keep it outside. Some are alright with partial shade so that probably would be ideal in a high desert to prevent the water from drying out so fast. Perhaps some kind of impermeable basin to hold water at the roots with the carnivorous plants in a pot with open bottom/holes in the bottom with sorghum moss. Seal it well from the elements to prevent mosquito growth and evaporation.

Spoken as an amateur~

Drosera (or sundew) is medicinal, used for cough and other respiratory system issues like asthma. Have been inttending to harvest and dry some to use when I catch a cold.

Pinguicula (butterwort) is apparently strongly bactericidal, traditionally used to treat sores in cattle. In addition, it has been used in Scandinavia to curdle milk and make fermented milk products. I think the specific milk product you get is the one called långfil in Swedish. I have been intending to try this (mainly out of curiosity, since I'm not all that fond of långfil... But maybe it can be an acquired taste!) Haven't got around to it yet, though. I think the method is to rub the inside of a bowl or other container with the leaves (presumably the upside of the leaves), fill the container with milk and let it sit. A bit weird, though, to use something bactericidal to start (bacterial) fermentation... But maybe it kills off the unwanted bacteria, and leaves the right ones? If so, presumably the ones that are part of the plant's digestive system... Or maybe the curdling is entirely enzymatic. Although I think I've heard that people took a part of the old batch to start the new one, instead of getting more butterwort leaves. Well, I don't know.

To give carnivorous plants a reason to be in permaculture I would see them as part of a whole who will never standing in the highlight of any permaculture system.

Yes, they catch insects but the amount they digest is not significant at all.
The Toothpick in a Bonfire is 1000 Times more efficient than 10 plants that might eat 60 flies all together, every few days.

You have a sorghum bog that has no fertilizer from decaying plants (will kill them instantly) or making one from sorghum moss, shielded that not any fertilizer will leach from outside into it, then they are a nice to have plant for sure.
Sure an eye catcher for any visitor but for all people I met they were a temporary guest in their house and gardens because nobody could meet their requirements in their home gardens.
One guy had a big land and it was including a quarry built in the 30's. There were some wild growing sundews and all trials to move them failed.

Furthermore:
If you succeed to produce a suitable habitat for your carnivorous plants this habitat will change over the time like everywhere in the wilderness and it will be not suitable anymore for your plants. So you have to start from scratch again..

Good luck

Definitely, permaculture can benefit from carnivorous plants.

I have never grown any though I have read a lot about them on the forum.

They are pretty:

And let me tell ya, they were SO beautiful. I had to share my pictures. ...
It seems like carnivorous plants could be really useful in permaculture.

https://permies.com/t/41403/knew-carnivorous-plants-incredibly-beautiful

Mosquito control:

Ultricularia gibba (bladderwort), a aquatic carnivorous plant, is very effective at keeping mosquitoes from breeding in aquaculture tubs, plant pot saucers, and other small containers of water where mosquitoes normally like to lay their egg rafts. Bladderwort's bladder trap catch and eat mosquito larvae.

https://permies.com/t/120/7925/Mosquito-Control#411358

This is a fun thread about pest control on houseplants:

https://permies.com/t/171578/don-fly-carnivorous-plant-deficiency

Native species of carnivorous plant & they tend to be extremely rare.

https://permies.com/t/165682/Carnivorous-Plants-Great-Lakes-Region

There are lots of carnivorous plants near me in northern Wisconsin - some aquatic/shoreline and some that live in bogs/fens like the one just downhill from me. It has pitcher plants and sundews (but not butterwort and bladderwort - those are a few miles away). I love them! I’ve seen a good mix but haven’t checked off all my local species of sundews and bladderworts.

I know some people who are really into exotic plants do create artificial bog-like conditions in their gardens to be able to grow carnivorous plants. Personally, I don’t really understand the desire to possess them, but I do recognize they are fascinating plants!

I think these plants have a place in permaculture, in their natural habitat - which is to say, the places they naturally thrive should not be disturbed or developed, but should be gently visited. That’s zone 5, right? It isn’t off base to want to provide habitat for wildlife (including awesome plants) but in this case, it is more effective to protect what already exists than try to recreate it on a small scale.  

A biologist friend of mine used moss and a pot to make a small bog that sits on her picnic table. At least one of the plants (she had a variety of species in the pot) seemed to give off a scent that attracted flies. It also attracted one of our local tree frogs. I suspect the frog ate more bugs than the plants did, but pemaculture is all about cooperation between species!