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Fertilizing Drosera

I guess I use to much fertilizer, but I always get negative results when I fertilize my Drosera. I was using a 150ppm urea-free orchid fertilizer sprayed on the leaves, but it resulted in deformed leaves. I recently tried some beta pellets, but that appears to have been a bit much as well. Is there a sweet spot when fertilizing Drosera? Here is Drosera venusta displaying The typical damage I am referring to.
 

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I crumble high-protein flake fish food and lightly dust them. I try to not concentrate any food on a particular leaf.
 
I've never fed them, perhaps that's why they're so healthy
 
It sounds to me that the fertilizers/food is not the issue at hand here. I use Maxsea 16-16-16 mixed at full strength on my Drosera and have never observed any ill effects from it, quite the opposite actually. I've also used various fish foods in the past that had no adverse effects on any of the plants.

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Photos of your plants would also help here.
 
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I use crushed beta pellets to feed seedlings with no problems, exempting minor mold issues with the occasional too-large particle. I've also tried spraying adult plants with a dilute 50ppm 20-14-13 no-urea orchid fertilizer solution several times, with no noted difference in growth. It sounds like your fertilizing techniques might be a bit more concentrated than what the plants would appreciate.
 
I seem to get mold with the tiny flakes of the crushed freeze dried blood worms i use so i been looking to get some maxsea or some freezedried fruitflies to try on them, but these crazy rainy cold days are keeping me from getting anywhere at the moment...grrr.
Since its cold the little dews aren't catching much of anything so id like to give them a little to munch on instead of leaving them without anything. I've noticed i don't have to feed my dews much they still grow and multiply happily but its fun to show company and friends kids and who ever...the things they catch and how they wrap around the prey :)
 
It sounds to me that the fertilizers/food is not the issue at hand here. I use Maxsea 16-16-16 mixed at full strength on my Drosera and have never observed any ill effects from it, quite the opposite actually. I've also used various fish foods in the past that had no adverse effects on any of the plants.

Edit:
Photos of your plants would also help here.

Interesting. Do you have very strong lighting? mine are 2-6 inches from 4 4' T8 lights.Maybe I'm using too much fertilizer for my lighting situation? Although, I know some of my Drosera (especially capensis) put out deformed leaves if it was kept too wet. Maybe that was the real issue. It is in almost entirely peat, leavened with a little pumice.
 
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Interesting. Do you have very strong lighting? mine are 2-6 inches from 4 4' T8 lights.Maybe I'm using too much fertilizer for my lighting situation? Although, I know some of my Drosera (especially capensis) put out deformed leaves if it was kept too wet. Maybe that was the real issue. It is in almost entirely peat, leavened with a little pumice.

Have you considered that you may be burning your plants ? D.capensis will be somewhat quick to react to excessive heat. I notice a slight but obvious decline in mine during the hottest months of the year. I grow most of my Drosera 12"-18" under 4 T5 bulbs, a combo of either two 10,000k cools and two 3,000k warms or two 6,500k cools and two 3,000k warms. My media varies depending on species.
 
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I too crush up a beta pellet and lightly sprinkle a TINY bit on one or two leaves. about once a month if I remember.
 
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I think I know why your plants are burning ;) macro nutrients. Read your fertilizers, does it have anything else in it besides nitrogen potassium and phosphorus? Yes? Then don't use it.

You want orchid fertilizer, Shultz works nicely, there are many other types I personally mix my own and use hormones for babies, like gba3, cytokines, naa, IBA, all depends what stage.

DNF is another brand one can use , there's a "veg fortifier" that has 14-60-14 I have used it 1/2 strength at 610ppm no problems..I wouldn't suggest that, always start at 1/4 or even 1/8 strength and work your way up.
 
  • #11
Some guidelines for fertilizing CPs, Drosera in particular.

Hanrahan, Bob (1986) Simplistic CP Fertilization Facts. Carniv. Pl. Newslett. 15(2):53 (PDF)

Try a lower concentration. You may be having photo-toxicity issues too. Try fertilizing very early in the morning or early evening. If they are outdoors or in a greenhouse there is plenty of micro fauna (springtails etc.) but additional fertilization about twice a month does not hurt. I would not fertilize more than twice a month until you see how the plants react over a few months.
 
  • #12
Cthulhu138: That isn't something I had considered as the cause of this leaf damage, but I will think of it. The damage looks most comparable to aphid damage. I keep a close eye on temps in my grow space with an infrared thermometer. The day times are around 83, but there is a significant drop at night. Around 20 degrees. My capensis looks excellent right now, but d. venusta is holding few leaves at a time. I'll include some photos of the plants and space.

Eithan: Ok, now there's something I had never considered. I believe you mean micronutrients, but yes, my fertilizer does contain iron, copper, boron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, and zinc. It works well with my pinguicula, but they are quite different.

Nan: ah, there's another thing. I was fertilizing worth a heavy misting once a week. Perhaps just too much. I noticed they would sometimes stop growing for a day or too after a misting.
 
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Aha no there's micro and macro nutrients , the metals are what's burning your dews. I've seen it time and time again they hate iron they hate zinc and they really don't like copper. Calcium is the big one that kills plants, even people who use rain water or low ppm tap water ( like me ) should consider flushing once a month or every 2 months. Don't feed as often and feed with less, change up your food to an orchid food with no additives and you will be cooking with fire in no time.
 
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