Adelea soil

[Spectabilis73]

Hi. I'm new to the Discussion Forums.

At the begining of the summer,I got a small pot of Drosera adelea from osh. About a month ago, they outgrew the pot, so I transplanted them to 4 in. pots with a spagnum peat/long fibered spagnum/vermiculite/perlite mix,(Spelling?) and for the past month, I haven't seen much growth in them. Are the pots too big? Is the soil mix wrong? Or is this normal? Thanks.
John

 

[Leo]

With Adelaes, I've had success with a 1/2 peat and 1/2 sand, as well as 1/2 peat and 1/2 perlite. Right now, I'm experimenting with growing it in just LFS, and I'd say this looks even better.

I don't know if you're mix is good or bad, and I've never added vermiculite to any of my drosera mixes. Perhaps simpler mixes may benefit your plant(s).

On a related note, since I have about 30 plantlets that spawned from my original, I tried experimenting growing them in a variety of lighting conditions, and I've found that Adelaes do best in very shady conditions with humidity. In more light, yes they get nice red coloration, but seem to have shorter life span.

 

[Leo]

PS - I don't think the pots being too big is a problem, as long as you can keep the medium permanently moist.

Leo

 

[Vic Brown]

I'd repot them without the vermiculite. Vermiculite will reduce the acidity of the soil.

Vic

 

[Spectabilis73]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Leo @ Sep. 25 2002,7:15)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">PS - I don't think the pots being too big is a problem, as long as you can keep the medium permanently moist.

Leo[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
ok thanks. I've been leting the soil dry out, so do I keep them on the tray system? With an inch of water or so?


John

 

[Spectabilis73]

Quote[/b] (Vic Brown @ Sep. 25 2002,7:42)]I'd repot them without the vermiculite. Vermiculite will reduce the acidity of the soil.

Vic

Vic,
     O.K. I'll do that. When I got the adelea, I noticed that they used pure spagnum. would the change of soil make them grow slower for a while,and how tall do the plants get before they flower? Thanks.

                                              John

 

[Joseph Clemens]

Some of the best ones I ever grew weren't planted in anything. Once upon a lazy moment, while separating some Drosera adelae plants to pot up separately I left them in the shallow tray of water I was using to keeping them from drying out during their move. I noticed that they grew quite well simply lying in a shallow tray of water so I just continued to make sure that the tray was kept full of water. They grew, multiplied, bloomed, and continue to grow very well as semi-aquatics.

 

[Snapper]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (PinguiculaMan @ Sep. 25 2002,10:50)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Some of the best ones I ever grew weren't planted in anything. Once upon a lazy moment, while separating some Drosera adelae plants to pot up separately I left them in the shallow tray of water I was using to keeping them from drying out during their move. I noticed that they grew quite well simply lying in a shallow tray of water so I just continued to make sure that the tray was kept full of water. They grew, multiplied, bloomed, and continue to grow very well as semi-aquatics.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
wow, I'm going to give mine more water then.

 

[Leo]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Spectabilis73 @ Sep. 25 2002,12:23)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">ok thanks. I've been leting the soil dry out, so do I keep them on the tray system? With an inch of water or so?


John[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Yup, as in Joseph's testimony, these plants like it wet. And yes, I use the tray method for all my d adelae. That way, there's no guess work. These plants are like weeds - hard to kill unless you dry em out or something, and multiply like crazy - not to mention they catch little bugs like crazy too.

 

[Spectabilis73]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (PinguiculaMan @ Sep. 25 2002,10:50)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Some of the best ones I ever grew weren't planted in anything. Once upon a lazy moment, while separating some Drosera adelae plants to pot up separately I left them in the shallow tray of water I was using to keeping them from drying out during their move. I noticed that they grew quite well simply lying in a shallow tray of water so I just continued to make sure that the tray was kept full of water. They grew, multiplied, bloomed, and continue to grow very well as semi-aquatics.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
thanks I'll try that with one of them. Is there a risk of losing them, though? thanks
John

 

[Spectabilis73]

I've been wondering, how tall does the stem get before it flowers? It seems like the stem will grow to a foot or something. lol
John

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

Scapes on adelae are about 6-8 inches tall on my plants.

 

[Joseph Clemens]

Flower scapes on mine are generally less than 5 inches long. They usually remain in bloom for 6 months or more.

 

[jlechtm]

I came to the topic looking for soil mixes for the Queensland Australia Drosera and found this! I started the same experiment (peat/sand/perlite vs. lf sphagnum and perlite) for D. adelae, D. shizandra and D. prolifera last night. Any bets on how its going to go?

Any differences between the three species in anyone's experience as to growing media preference?

 

[mijako10]

Pure LFS works great for me.

 

[Spectabilis73]

wow, you sure brought this one up from the grave... lol
as for your question, my D. shizandra did well in the same pots as one of my adeleas... unfortunately it died in a freeze, as did most of my dews
wow, i just noticed that was one of the first posts i made! (my 3rd i think)