Drosera adelae

The Drosera adelae does not grow any new leaf yet. It is bare survive and maybe stress from shipping. How can it start new leaf?

Connie

I am so sorry it appears everyone missed this thread. How is your little Drosera doing these days?

I can not offer much help to you because other than Drosera binata, I only grow temperate North American species of Drosera these days but I can tell you D. adelae is a woodland species from Australia I believe. I had it here for a while and it got a little weedy so like all plants that start trying to jump pots on me, I potted them up and gave them all away. They seemed to like swampy growing conditions and filtered light from a window supplemented by fluorescent light. Recently re-potted plants often do shock so don't give up hope. You might want to keep this plant constantly moist and don't allow it to dry out between waterings because it evidently likes a lot of water when it is actively growing and you might want to back it out of full sun for a bit by placing it in an eastern window and see if this situation doesn't right itself on its own. Other than that, your plant may just not be actively growing right now. If your plant went to CP heaven, do not dispair. This happens to all of us from time to time.

Here's a few nice links on your plant-
http://www.cobraplant.com/drosera-adelae.html
http://www.agristarts3.com/drade.htm
http://www.pitcherplant.com/care_sheets/drosade_care.html

And here's a cut and paste of something I stumbled upon while poking around for a few links for you-

Expert: Sarracenia Northwest
Date: 9/16/2005
Subject: Strange Drosera adelae problem

Question
I sent you a question a while back concerning fungus on my D. adelae plants. You suggested that I increase the light, which I did. This cleared up the fungus, so that's great. Well, now that there's more light, it seems that my Lance-Leafs aren't doing too well. The new leaves (they're all a nice red color because of the light increase) don't unfurl all the way and just kind of die at that point. So I have all these new D. adelae leaves turning black before they even have a chance to catch any bugs! I've suspected that maybe they aren't getting enough water, since I don't like to water my classic terrariums too often for fear of waterlogging my plants. Could this be causing the D. adelae to take a dive? I really don't want to lose all my D. adelae :(

Answer
Hi Mitch,

This is why I'm not a big fan of growing plants in terrariums. The ecosystem is often too delicate that it is sometimes difficult to pinpoint where the problem is. It could be the soil is contaminated with bacteria, the humidity changed drastically, or the temperature fluctuated too quickly, especially if your new lights are producing more heat in the enclosed environment. I also understand about not watering too often since non-draining soil can lead to root rot. But, plants need to get the vast majority of their moisture from the soil rather than through their leaves.

As I recall, you used Physan to control the fungus. This and many other products are safe for carnivorous plants, but we use them in an open system rather than in a closed system. Much of the insecticides and fungicides we use are washed away through rain or constant watering. In a terrarium, the breakdown of these products are not washed away, so it might be possible that they are having an adverse effect on your plants. But, I just don't know since not much is known about the use of chemicals in terrariums.

You might not want to hear this, but for now you should remove your sundews from the terrarium and grow them in a brightly lit windowsill until they recover. Also check the pH of your soil. If it is alkaline, you should change it with fresh soil before adding back your plants.

If necessary, you could save your plants by cutting off its leaves. This is perfectly fine, and this is how we propagate Lance Leaf Sundews. We take a big clump of it, hack of its leaves and separate the roots. Within 3-4 weeks, sprouts appear. Within 4-6 months, we have adult-size plants that are capable of flowering again.

If you still want to use a classic terrarium, do what you can to increase air circulation and ventilation. Make sure the soil is always moist. To prevent bacteria build up, it may also be necessary to change the soil twice yearly rather than once yearly. Think of a classic terrarium like a fish tank. The water quality has to be finely tuned until it reaches a stable level that the fishes can tolerate. Sometimes the addition of another fish can greatly change the chemical balance and water quality. Or if a fish gets sick, the other fishes are likely to get sick if it is not removed and quarantined quickly.

I think that, like fish tanks, terrariums should use filters, specifically air filters, to always filter out bacteria and fungal spores, and to keep the humidity at a healthy level.

So, what's my bottom line recommendation? Remove your plants from the terrarium until they recover and check the nature of the terrarium to find a way to keep the soil well moist, but not waterlogged that it causes root rot.

Let me know if you need further assistance.

Happy growing!
Jacob Farin

Sarracenia Northwest Carnivorous Plants
Website: http://www.cobraplant.com
Phone: 503-630-7522

Co-Author of "Secrets to Growing Beautiful Carnivorous Plants for Your Home and Garden"
Website: http://www.carnivorousplantsecrets.com

How is your little drosera doing now? I totally missed this thread, too.

Hi Equilibrium and Pixydish,

I think that's good news...

I repotted the D. adelae with LFS. It grows new leaves. When it grows little bigger, I will take picture of it.

Connie

Yay! It lives! Good for you!

Hurray! Excellent news!

I've been poking around the Internet and I found this site on propagating Drosera by floating cuttings in distilled water-
http://www.geocities.com/quizibo2000/water.htm

I'm going to try this with some of my Drosera binata sometime next year. Maybe if your adelae takes off you could try your hand at propagating it to make more little adelae.

Hi Equilibrium and CP Friends,

Here's latest picture of D. adelae. It is happy with pure LFS.

Equilibrium - Thanks for link. I will try it when it grows little bigger.

Connie

Good for you Connie! It looks very healthy now.

Do you have any other carnivorous plants that you grow that you could share photos of here or in a new thread?

Sure! I will post the pictures of my grow list in a new thread.

Connie

It still is growing bigger than before and has nice dew. It has two plantlets.

Connie

Very nice!

Congratulations Connie!