Picture of varsity of Drosera plants

Hi!

My friend gave me the varsity of Drosera plants in the purple tray.

Connie

Very very very nice.

I think we could use some help from Phil here.

The D. capillaris is a southeastern native of the US. That plant is actually a temperate species and it was my understanding it needs a quasi dormancy. Lots of variability amongst capillaris I think. I have these and what I did was move them into a cooler area in the home and I reduced their water. I'll move them back to the area where I keep others sometime this coming February. You might want to check into the benefits (if any) of repotting this plant separately.

The D. intermedia and rotundifolia I have are all from locations far more north than yours such as Massachusetts, Michigan, and Canada. Mine are all out in my garage and all of mine have formed hibernacula. They will stay in my garage until April when I will set them outside. My garage temps are right around 35F right now and they will stay that way for months. Your intermedia is from Cuba and I've never grown any from a location that far south. I'm wondering if this might not be another plant you might want to repot separately.

D. paradoxa is a petiolaris complex and those scare me. I've never grown any of them. I have been toying with the idea of trying to grow a few but the more I read about them, the more I figured I didn't want to put the time into them to do it right. What "right" is seems to be subject to interpretation based on which species one is growing. Yours looks happy so you are doing something very right.

The D. dielsiana, D. aliciae, and D. capensis all originate from S. Africa so they can all probably be grown together happily in the same pot along with the D. spatulata which comes from somewhere in Asia. They all look fat and sassy so again… you must be doing something really right!

What a beautiful gift you received. Such a wonderful variety of plants too!

Well Lauren has pretty much hit the nail on the head with this one. My only few comments are:
1) capillaris needs a partial dormancy.
2) the south Africans need warm days and cool nights and can be grown together in the same pot....along with the spathulata which is very adaptable to wherever it is grown...except in extreme heat.
3) intermedia Cuba is a tropical and needs warm days/nights; no dormancy
4) paradoxa is a petiolaris complex and needs 'hot' temps to do really well. By hot I mean you should keep your eye on any stress the plant exhibits from any cool temps it receives. They do best in temps above 80 degrees F. day and night but can certainly be grown 'softer' than this. Just keep your eyes on the lookout for signs of stress. And give this one the brightest light of all.

That was a generous gift you received and they look very good right now, albeit they are still seedlings. They should be able to be grown all together in the same area for a while but I would definitely try to keep the capillaris a bit cooler and the inter. and paradoxa much warmer.

Hi Equilibrium and Philcula,

Thanks very much. I will keep eye on them. Will they grow bigger (other word: outgrow)?

Connie

Connie,
Your plants are all baby seedlings. They will continue to grow and increase in size. The capensis will eventually require a 4 inch pot all by itself. The remaining species will do nicely in a 2 to 3 inch pot for each one.

Phil

Hi Phil,

When should I transplant the seedlings into individual pot?

Connie

Well, I'll say that you should probably repot the capillaris now. I grow those and you will burn it out trying to grow it year round without a dormancy of some sort. It doesn't need the type of dormancy that northern race species require but it still needs a partial dormancy as mentioned by Phil. Consider moving that plant into another area of your home that is cooler and cut back on the water it is receiving and reduce the light a little. Keep that plant damp but not moist for the next few months and then move it back to the area where you are growing the other plants sometime this coming February/March and increase the light and water at that time.

From what I have read, your paradoxa should be repotted and moved into a warmer area when ever you can afford to move it. Maybe a 10 gallon fish tank (you can pick those up at WalMart for around $9) with both cool white fluorescent and soft white incandescent as well as some sort of a heater to get the tank temps up to over 80F? I've read about and seen some pretty wild set ups for petiolaris complex and one of them actually had an old bird bath heater/de-icer down in the water which elevated the temps in the tank by heating the water which also resulted in high humidity which they are said to really like. They had the set up on a timer for the lighting but left the heater on 24/7. Other people have their plants on heating pads and heating coils. I have never grown petiolaris complex but did a lot of reading because I've got a few people out there trying to get me to take the plunge by trying to grow a few. I'm not quite ready yet. Maybe your Cuban intermedia would benefit from this type of a grow chamber too based on Phil's comments?

If Phil says the capensis is going to need a 4" pot sooner or later, the capensis is going to need a 4" pot maybe when you are disturbing that pot of plants to repot the capillaris and the paradoxa anyway, you might just as well repot that capensis at the same time and space out the remaining plants in the existing pot as well. And while you are in that pot poking around, maybe it would be good to spread apart the dielsiana and the aliciae to give them a little bit more elbow room. Just my thoughts.

My son is growing capensis right now for a science experiment and some of his plants have shot out anywhere from 3-6 new leaves each. Incredible growth in some of his tanks. I can certainly see what Phil means when he says the capensis will need its own 4" pot sooner or later. All of this growth took place in just the last 2 months. For what it's worth, my son's capensis don't seem to be particularly fussy about their lighting source. They seem to be growing equally well under four different types of lights- cool fluorescent/soft white incandescent/expensive grow-bulbs/and natural light from a western exposure window. My son has 5 tanks set up to test different lighting and the capensis are doing great in all but the 5th tank which is black light.

Really cool plants Connie. I wish I had enough guts to try a paradoxa but I've got enough tanks set up in this house as it is with all these science fair experiments and one more might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Best wishes to you.

I sowed a bunch of D. paradoxa seed about 2 months ago and still no germination! Ugh.. Actually I have not gotten any germination on any of the 6 different seed packs I got from the CPS. Not happy

I know at one time you told me what you had ordered from them when you applied for membership but I forgot. What did you get from them?

D. paradoxa, D. regia, Drosophyllum, D. filiformis filiformis (NC), and 2 different seed packs of S. mooreii. The D. paradoxa and regia were sowed upon recieving and still no germination. Drosophyllum was also sowed and no germination. The other 3 got a month of stratifaction and were sowed about 2 weeks ago, so there is still a chance there. I am still holding out a lil hope, for the others, but only a little.

Wolf

Put the Sarrs and the filiformis on a heating pad and get the soil temps up to around 80F. I doubt it is over for those seeds. I've had Sarr seed germinate 6 months after it was sown under ideal conditions so do not toss any of those trays.

It may or may not be over for the paradoxa, regia, and Drosophyllum. I don't know because I don't play with any of those but I would treat the seed as if it was still viable for now.

Oh my gosh, if you pick up a heating pad make sure it doesn't automatically shut off after an hour or two. I forgot about that. I bought a few and there was no way to over ride the auto shut off safety feature. There are heating pads out there currently available that have a constant on feature or an override. You just have to read all that fine print on the packaging. KMart had them and so did Walgreens I believe. They are out there. If you can't find one, let me know and I can send one to you if you are interested.

Thanks for the offer, but the seeds are on a rack and they have fluor lights beneath them, while they don't ever get 'hot' persay they do stay quite warm.