Are Mosquitoes Attracted to Carnivorous Plants?
Do pitcher plants attract mosquitoes? This is a good question and one that deserves some attention. There are two different groups of insects that use these plants. One, they are the mosquito larva, which depends on a specific type of plant to survive. The other group of insects, the cone wets, find the plant as a source of food and do not care if the insects feed on it or not.
The plants that the mosquitoes feed off of have two things in common. They are dark colored, and they grow up in grassy areas. The most common of these is Cucurbita Maxima. A close relative is the cactus, which also has a dark color and grows well in grassy areas.
So does a pitcher plant cause these insects to be attracted to them? Most of the time it is due to the way the plant grows, and the lack of hairs on the leaves of the plant. Without hairs, the insects simply walk on the surface of the soil to suck plant sap. Without sucking, however, the plant remains inactive and becomes an attractive feeding ground for mosquitoes.
There is a secondary reason that the plant attracts these insects as well. When the leaves are fully developed and dry out, the insects are unable to eat the food that is left. Instead, they fall from the plant onto the ground to feast on the decay. As the plant dries out more, there is less of it, and the insects find other plants that they can feed off of. This cycle continues until there are no insects at all, and the plant is completely dry out.
Now we know why the pitcher plant attracts mosquitoes, we can ask the question: Do mosquito eggs grow inside these pitchers? We already know that they do not. The only reason the mosquitoes would be attracted to this type of plant is if the eggs were there. Now, there are some plants that do spawn a few eggs, but this is rare, and it is not common enough to be able to do so consistently. So in effect, it is not the eggs that attract them, but the conditions that are present when the eggs are produced.
Of course, if you want to attract the occasional mosquito you can, but most of us want to do something to prevent the mosquitoes from attacking us in the first place. This is why the best way to prevent an attack from a mosquito is by having a flower garden in your yard. If you have many different types of flowers, and you throw out or give away the flowers when they are overgrown, you will attract fewer mosquitoes.
Of course, there are other ways to prevent a mosquito from hatching. One way to do this is by using pesticides and sprays on the plants. These can be sprayed around the perimeter of the garden, but should be avoided around the main plantings, where mosquito larvae will hatch and start to feed on the flowers. Of course, there are lots of other methods as well, including the natural way of dealing with mosquitoes by making sure that there are no standing water areas in your yard. This is especially important around flowers that are attractants.
As you can see, it is pretty hard to answer the question: Do P pitcher plants attract mosquitoes? As mentioned above, they will attract some, but not all of the adult mosquitoes. And there are other ways to get rid of them altogether, so you don’t need to bother with the question “Do P pitcher plants attract mosquitoes?”