Drosophyllum Lusitanicum succession photos

[Fred P]

Thought I would share some pics of 3 DL seeds from germination to nice sized plants this year. Enjoy.

(Dec ’09) 3 seeds sown and the first seed germinated

(Jan ’10) All 3 seeds now germinated and growing

(Feb ’10)

(Apr ’10) Started to take them outside for the afternoons

(May ’10) Outside full time and starting to catch a lot of insects

(July ’10) After transplanting them in July they really started to take off!! I think all the hype about them disliking to be transplanted has been blown out of proportion IMO.

(Aug ’10) Photo taken Aug 1st

 

[lizasaur]

Woweeeee! Great work!!!
Thanks so much for sharing!!

 

[Lucanidae]

Wow, that's amazing!
Great work!

 

[Brokken]

Nice work Fred. It's especially rewarding when you bring up those plants from seed. I got mine as a small plant and in one season it's managed to grow a lot. I too don't think that it's as fragile as people make it out to be.

 

[jimscott]

Nice work! A few weeks ago I sowed some seeds in a planter "for grins and chuckles". Two days ago I saw this:

....at least I think it's a D. lusitanicum....

 

[Fred P]

Update.....
I lost the two big ones over the winter….I believe they got too wet for too long. The small one lived however and looks like this today. I have it outside in the blazing sun/heat and water it daily. It’s in a 6” inch pot and I’ve been praying the soil every two weeks with a half solution of orchid fertilizer 16-16-16 and it seems to love it. No flowers yet but lots of bugs.

 

[MICKEY]

the plant is nice why are you fertilizing it if it is catching SO MANY BUGS IT DON'T NEED IT

 

[Wolfn]

the plant is nice why are you fertilizing it if it is catching SO MANY BUGS IT DON'T NEED IT

I agree. I read in multiple carnivorous plant cultivation books that when it comes to feeding plants, you either use fertilizer or insects, not both. There is such thing as over-feeding.

 

[SDCPs]

Nice, Fred. I too have lost quite a few. I have 7 large ones, are one really big one. Sad to see so many die. 5-6 more are hanging in there.

But they are spectacular when large! I've ditched the smaller 10" pots because that's where all my losses (except one) are. 14" pots seem to work much better for me. Decomposing Granite is the best medium...with a little peat.

Do you keep yours well-watered all summer? If you let them dry out for a bit they seem to go into a dormancy mode and then they are prone to rot. Once in this mode they expect to be kept drier. The thing I don't know is if plants not given "dormancy" die after flowering. If not, keeping them watered year-round is definately better, although a plant given proper "dormancy" is fun to watch...and worry about. I have one planted in the ground around here that is just emerging. Whew. Didn't know if it'd survive!

EDIT: by well-watered I mean dewy pine standards, as in no tray, and kept so they are looking happy, not a moist medium.