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isabelcueva

Drosera Capensis help

11 years ago

Hi

I have gotten a Drosera Capensis and I live at the foot of the Blue Mountains, Sydney and i have being trouble with my drosera, here are some of the problems:

The plant is producing no dew and I only water it with rain water and it gets 8 hours of light a day (not always as its winter)

The stalks of the plants are turning a reddish/brownish colour that does not look good at all.

I had been leaving the plant outside then moving it undercover (still outside) so that it won't get rained but one night I left it out and it rained. Ever since that night has been going downhill, I moved it inside as it was getting to nights close to 0 celsius. I had it under a LED light ( I heard you can use these as well somewhere) as the house I live in is very dark and there was no sunny window sill. During the day I would move it outside to let it have sun. Is this the problem my sundew is facing? It might be shock but if I leave it outside it will get cold yet inside there is no light. Help please

Thanks

Comments (12)

  • 11 years ago


    Hi,

    How long have you had the plant? do you use the tray watering method? what kind of media do you have it in?

    It sounds like your problem could be sun shock. When I moved my
    drosera capensis outside in full sun (I did not have enough room for all
    my other plants under the plant lights) it started to get red and brownish
    just like yours. I will post a picture of the plant when it got sun shock
    and after,

    If you want to keep the plant outside during the day (provided it is above 5 celcius, no lower), start with it in the shade and after about a week expose it gradually to more sun. I would buy a plant light for indoor use ( they only cost about $8). I use a compact flourescent light with a 5000K. When the plant produces no dew, it usually means it is very stressed, They are quite hardy and you should be able to turn things around.

    These plants can only withstand about 5 celcius so make sure it does not go any lower than that.

    Ethan.

    this is the plant when it got sunshock

    this is the plant after sun shock (it is still recovering)


    isabelcueva thanked ethankauai
  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Thankyou yes it looked a lot like this!

    will try your suggestions, I'll post a photo tomorrow when theres light so you can see and detect anything else wrong with it.

    Thanks!

  • 11 years ago

    Oh lol I forgot to answer your questions.

    1. I've had the plant for 2 months.

    2. l I have in a little pot and when I see it drying out I put it in a bigger bowl with water (rain water).

    3. Well I got the plant from Bunnings (Australian hardware store) and I think its in peat moss?

  • 11 years ago


    these plants like to be sitting in water ALL THE TIME. I put mine in a tray with 1-2 inches of water (you use rain water so that's perfect!) and fill it up if it gets below 1/2 inch or so (they like it swampy)

    a good medium is 1/2 perlite and 1/2 peat. if it is only in peat i would repot it (they take extremely well to repotting)

    isabelcueva thanked ethankauai
  • 11 years ago

    Okay, thanks

    I will try to repot it and put it in 1 inch of water


  • 11 years ago

    I don't know if you can see too well but this is how it looks at the moment.


  • 11 years ago

    Thankyou so much

  • 11 years ago

    I think I know what the problem is with your plant.

    I see from the picture that it has flowered three times and is flowering right now.
    When I let my droseras flower, I let them have one flower stalk and that's it for awhile,
    as when droseras flower, it takes a lot of the plant's energy and if it flowers too much it will die. I would not let it flower unless I want seeds or else it's a waste of the plant's energy.
    I recently let one of my healthy drosera capensis flower and it was not looking too good and took about 2 months to perk up.

    Make sure to clip off all of the dead leaves and flower stalks as close to the plant as possible without damaging the plant, this will help get rid of the possibility of fungus or mold growth.

    If the green flower stalk is flowering right now and still has buds to open, then cut it off.
    But if it is all done flowering and is ripening, then do not cut it off. Leave it and it will give you
    lots of seeds to plant.

    Good luck!




    isabelcueva thanked ethankauai
  • 11 years ago

    This might seem very possible

    Although this might seem very possible I'm not so sure as Ive started to change the things I was doing to the things you told me and I've seen changes and it seems to start to get some more dew.

    This photo is great as its pretty dark and the iPad camera wouldn't focus on the seeds itself but these are the flowers (well used to be) and now I don't know what to do with all these little things that come out of them. Do I have to do anything special to them or can I just plant in 50% perlite 50% peat moss and will it grow? The thing is i think there ready to take out but I will be leaving for a month o holidays. WOuld I be able to put the seeds in a little bag and save them until I come back?

    Thanks Ethan, your questions have been very useful!

  • 11 years ago

    Awesome! Happy to hear it's looking better.

    Drosera Capensis is the easiest sundew to germinate.
    You can plant them in the mix you listed above (50% perlite 50% peat moss)
    I plant them in that mix and they all seem to love it.

    Since you are going away, I would just cut the flower stalk off and then put it in a plastic bag
    and it will keep on ripening.

    To harvest the seeds, take it out of the plastic bag and crumble the flowers beneath your fingers gently (the seeds are pretty hard to damage) and when you have all of the seeds removed you are ready to plant them.

    If you want you can wash your peat moss, it helps keep mold and algae growth from occurring, oh and make sure that the peat moss is pure peat moss and doesn't have any added fertilizers.
    This is how to wash your peat moss:
    (you don't need to wash your perlite but it's a good idea just to get rid of any dust)
    http://www.growsundews.com/rinsing_peat_and_sand_for_carnivorous_plants.html.

    Ethan.


    isabelcueva thanked ethankauai
  • 11 years ago

    Thankyou for all the advice everybody, hopefully my sundew can recover!

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