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1st timer and a cape sundew on the way and may need help to recover it from its trip.

  • Thread starter Ominous187
  • Start date
like the title says. new and i ordered a cape sundew. i ordered it from 9greenbox b4 i found out their shipping methods leave the poor things mostly dead most of the time or i would have tried elsewhere. any tips that will help recover it once it gets here if it needs it? will most likely be in the dark for a week give or take a day or 2 and bounced around and i think i seen they toss in extra wet moss for its trip which may cause some rot if left. some of the pics shown the poor thing out of the dirt or most of the leaves are black/brown from the tip. what would be the best way to deal with that? trim it below the dead part or near the base?

also what would i need for lights? think i have a fluorescent or drop light to use for an available light source atm for when i cant get access to the sun till i can get something better, any type of bulbs I can use for either? and repotting tips would be helpful, i bought a grower kit awhile ago from dunecraft carnivorous creations, come with seeds, a terrarium, rocks, 2 germination disks and so on so i would like to put it in that asap. ty for your time any advice you can offer.
 
When it arrives, gently rinse it with distilled water and pot it up. A good mix is one part sand or perlite and one part peat moss. Make sure your ingredients do not contain added fertilizer.

Bag it up for a week or two to help it acclimate to its new environment.

Water it by the tray method with distilled water or collected rain water.

Browse the Drosera section of this Forum to learn more or visit http://www.growsundews.com for more information.

Good growing,
Mike
 
I wouldnt be too worried. A week in shipping isn't too long. I've had plants get hung up in transit long than that. Drosera will almost always look kind of ratty after transit. Like said earlier just cut away any black growth and gradually acclimate it to your humidity.

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When it arrives, gently rinse it with distilled water and pot it up. A good mix is one part sand or perlite and one part peat moss. Make sure your ingredients do not contain added fertilizer.

Bag it up for a week or two to help it acclimate to its new environment.

Water it by the tray method with distilled water or collected rain water.

Browse the Drosera section of this Forum to learn more or visit http://www.growsundews.com for more information.

Good growing,
Mike

ty for the fast reply. i guess i will wait to transfer it to its terrarium if watering it from the bottom will help it more as i cant do that with the terrarium' says it will be in a 3" pot. if I'm able to fit it inside the terrarium with lid and water tray should I do that instead of the bag? if not what kind of bag should i put over it? guessing clear maybe ziplock not closed?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Carnivor...=online&wl12=11034850&wl13=&veh=sem#read-more thats info on the kit i have

this is the light i'm thinking of getting, https://www.amazon.com/Sunblaster-O...utput+T5+fluorescent+tubes+will+full+spectrum

also is the gemination disks the kit came with good? i do have perlite just not sand yet unless pocketsand counts? lol and what type of sand?

for food has anyone tried dehydrated blood worms? heard adding a lil water and making lil meatballs from them and give a few to the plant making sure its not too big to rot your plant and it can give a good boost to it as its really high in protein and nitrogen.
 
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ty for the fast reply. i guess i will wait to transfer it to its terrarium if watering it from the bottom will help it more as i cant do that with the terrarium' says it will be in a 3" pot. if I'm able to fit it inside the terrarium with lid and water tray should I do that instead of the bag? if not what kind of bag should i put over it? guessing clear maybe ziplock not closed?

The terrarium is not necessary once it's acclimated. I prefer leaving mine in pots. It makes it easier to work with them. I use any clear plastic bag laying around, usually a one gallon ziploc. I do zip it shut for the first week.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Carnivoro...=sem#read-more thats info on the kit i have

this is the light i'm thinking of getting, https://www.amazon.com/Sunblaster-Ou...+full+spectrum


That light should work well. Just keep an eye on temps. T5s can produce a fair amount of heat.

also is the gemination disks the kit came with good? i do have perlite just not sand yet unless pocketsand counts? lol and what type of sand?


Swimming pool filter sand is usually good. You want a pure silica sand.


for food has anyone tried dehydrated blood worms? heard adding a lil water and making lil meatballs from them and give a few to the plant making sure its not too big to rot your plant and it can give a good boost to it as its really high in protein and nitrogen.

Blood worms work well. My rule of thumb is never feed a leaf with food more than 25% of its size.

These statements are my opinion only.

Good growing,
Mike
 
Another soil option is long fibered Sphagnum moss, or LFSM for short. you can get boards of it from amazon, which only need to be rehydrated to expand, etc. It looks pretty good as a top dressing too, and keeps in the moisture. It is pretty neat, and you can break of pieces of the board as you need it. I ordered my first plant off of amazon ( not from greenbox, but another one)- it came buried under an inch or so of soil. interestingly enough, the only sign of life was a flower stalk that came up after a few days. I repotted it almost immediately.
There's some good info here as well
- http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/sundews.html
- http://www.growsundews.com/sundews/Drosera_capensis.html
Good Luck!
 
ty all for the replies =) i think i have just about everything i need, just not really sure as to what to get for a light source for when i cant be around to make sure it gets the light it needs. i have an old Toshiba projection tv, one where you can turn the screen into a 2000ºF solar beam lol. i turned it into a grow box after i gutted and cleaned it and waterproofed the inside. could be turned into a hydroponics box also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFw7U7V1Hok. thats the same tv i have in this vid and it shows the inside and you can get the idea. i think it would be cool to hook all the stuff up to the tv control box. power turns it all on and off, vol and ch button will adjust stuff and so on. i just need someone that would knows how lol and its just an idea. there are reflictive mirrors and stuff in there as well to help wit more light.

anyways. thats what i have atm. should be good enough to keep moisture and temp but just wondering what would be the best kinda lighting for such a thing? fluorescent or some kinda clamp one? would a t8 bulb still be good for that? not sure which one gives off more heat than others.

again, ty all for your help and time on this. when it comes to this stuff i'm greener than the plants i'm trying to grow lol
 
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My D capensis have been super easy to grow so far. Mine came as freebies in a Sarracenia pot.

I live in California, so I was told to put them outside in the sun. I have a house with a big yard, so that worked great.

My Sundews are growing and my main capensis is unfurling it’s second flower stalk.

8a5dbce3443756dbd76339fd51b9d004.jpg


You can see D binata peeking out from under capensis.

When I got them home
5f78bc314901aba59e35093523babbb2.jpg


There are tiny ‘dews hiding in the moss also.

Mine got repotted like 3 Times in the first week as I was being a nervous new owner.

Now, they get sun every day. They sit in trays of RO water. And I did a little MaxSea diluted Fertilizer once.

I haven’t tried them indoors yet. I hope yours does well for you. It should. They are very hardy.
My only indoor CP is a new Nep and I’m using an LED spotlight style bulb. CFLs should work also.

I normally grow water weeds...so this is new to me as well.
520e0e94595e29c709cf855e58834956.jpg



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  • #10
my plant came today =) just a lil thing. i will get some pics soon.

clipped away the dead leaves, gave it a lil bit of water, distilled. and hope the sun is out tomorrow for it. dont have lights yet. the plant came way sooner than expected. it's in a 3inch pot so how mch water would you say is needed? i gave it very lil till i can an idea of whats needed. how is this for a light? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MYXEM9J if this will work how far away would you suggest i keep it for this plant? its in a 3 inch pot and its very tiny. this is another also. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071DBM8N2/ref=psdc_14252941_t4_B01MYXEM9J. again ty so much for the help
 
  • #11
I would just sit the pot in a saucer of distilled water. 1-2” deep.

My dews seem very happy with that.
The day I brought my first CPs home.
5e2a9110a2744822581eaba77f5b934a.jpg


This week my main D capensis is unfurling a new flower stalk. And yes that is D binata peeking out under its skirts.
16cb5e516bc0d4a2e0d357aaa5427f2d.jpg





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  • #12
No idea on the lights. So far my Droseras are all outside in sun.

I have a baby Nep under a spotlight style LED for now. I’m shopping on Amazon for lights as well.


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