I have read at growsundews.com that feeding Drosera will “speed up growth and encourage flowering.” Go to http://www.growsundews.com/feeding_sundews.html for an excellent discussion of the subject. Beta fish food works well, for instance. I would like to feed them fresher food.
Using the bug vacuum to suck up an ant colony, as in the previous post, is a good method to get Drosera food. I had been tinkering with a simple method to trap ants. All you need is a drop of honey on a paper plate and put the plate in a ziplock bag. Put it outside and within hours, the plate is filled with ants. Just seal the bag and put it into the freezer and presto! Fresh Drosera food.
I did't get an accurate count, but it looks to be over 150 ants
Note you can’t leave this for too long. The ants will efficiently eat all of the honey and leave you with an empty bag.
I decided to trap and feed mosquitoes to the Drosera quite by accident. Not adult mosquitos, but their larva. I found a plant watering tray just packed with mosquito young. I poured the tray through a large funnel using a paper towel as a filter. I was then able to tweeze the mosquito larva onto the drosera.
Admittedly, growing mosquitoes for Drosera food is not particularly practical. The biggest problem with growing mosquitoes is that YOU”RE GROWING MOSQUITOES! Unless you can prevent any adults from escaping, you’re part of the problem. Texas has enough mosquitoes already.
I like the honey-trap to catch drosera food. This was much easier of my previous attempts. I had ground up larger bugs with a mortar and pestle and then sprinkled the bug dust onto the drosera. That’s way too much work and it stinks. I don’t advise it.