[Charles]

Thanks - that'd be great!

We don't have a definite answer yet, but my feeling at the moment is that a pitcher whose fluid has been diluted by rainwater would be more likely to provide a suitable habitat for Aedes albopictus (BTW, I'm being specific about A. albopictus as there are some other Aedes species that have actually adapted to living in Nepenthes full-time, but as far as we know they are not disease vectors). This means that if you accidentally add water to pitchers when you are watering your plants, you may end up altering the fluid chemistry in a way that suits A. albopictus. This has obvious implications for N. ampullaria - the contents of its pitchers are always diluted by rainwater in the wild and so this is the species that is of greatest interest to us at the moment.

I don't think there's any need to add chemicals to your pitchers to control larvae - just keep a watch on your entire collection and kill the larvae if you find them (or you send them to us for an ID, but let us know before you do so, so we can advise on how to prepare them for sending). We're also looking at some interesting options for biological control and if these work out, we'll let you know.

Cheers,

Charles