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First 2 sundews! Questions?

I just got my first 2 sundews a few days ago! They are doing well and already have new leaves unfolding. I am just starting to see big dew drops on the leaves. They are under intense light sitting in a little tray of water. They are beautiful! I may feed them soon.
I love this spatulata! It has two flower stalks and a third one forming. It bloomed 3 times here already!
sundew1.jpg

Should I repot and divide this capensis? I think it is three separate plants, one of which may be alba. One leave is still dieing even though others are growing well.
sundew2.jpg
 
i would leave the capensis toegether for now. let it establish itself and bulk up before dividing. :)

and you are using low mineral content water right?
 
distilled water mylesg. I have been researching on these things for a while now! I have t5 and t8 bulbs above them with foil wrapped around em all. They are growing faster than I thought. These pictures were from when I first got them. I will post newer pictures soon.
 
i didnt mean to bring your research into question, its just scary how many people just assume any water is good water for all plants! :)

look forward to your new pics!
 
JUST BE CAREFUL you don't cook them with the t5's they produce a lot of heat, ro water is a lot cheaper and just as good
 
Foil wrapped around... the lights? The plants?
 
I have a thermometer in there to make sure the temps dont get to high. What exactly is RO water? I have foil surrounding the lights and plants to get more light.
 
RO is a process where water is pushed through membranes which filter out the dissolved solids leaving it with a tds ppm of almost zero (can vary a bit but is always lower than 50). so it works just as well for carnivorous plants as distilled :)
 
RO=reverse osmosis. It is a process where water is pushed through filters, which takes out the dissolved solids living it clear water, always under 55 tds or so. It works in the same manner as distilled water for cps.
 
  • #10
Here are some updated pictures. I will repost the older ones so you can easily see how much they have grown, the spatulata especially! I am amazed by these plants.
Before:
sundew1.jpg

After
sundew4.jpg


Before:
sundew2.jpg

After:
sundew3.jpg
 
  • #11
I think it's safe to say you have both the typical and alba capensis there. however, is the alba growing faster and dewier than the typical? My plants are doing the same thing if that's the case. Maybe warmer weather, and the alba tolerates it better????
 
  • #12
I am wondering the same thing! The alba is growing a lot better and has a lot more dew. I didn't even order/want an alba and now its doing better than the typical... At least the spatulata is doing well. That one is my favorite.
 
  • #13
I think it's safe to say you have both the typical and alba capensis there. however, is the alba growing faster and dewier than the typical? My plants are doing the same thing if that's the case. Maybe warmer weather, and the alba tolerates it better????

its been this way since forever :p
when it comes to vigorous growth
alba>typicals>reds>

and in my experience typicals and reds need more light then albas, when i had my alba and typicals under the same conditions my typical would be alot more dry, and would turn brown on the tips of the leaves, or wouldn't grow hairs sometimes, It went back to normal after I upped the lighting, but then the alba started to slowly decline after getting the extrae hours of sunlight
growing them together can get annoying when you just want two dewy strong plants, not one good one and one mediocre , In my opinion its best to grow them pretty close to the lights in an indoor setup if you want both plants to look healthy, or give them a few hours of shade in mid day sun if growing outdoors, My alba never had any trouble with intense artificial light, just sunlight, and my typicals are light soakers , so thats the best way I could keep them both happy while being in the same pot....close to the fluorescent lights
and believe it or not the lighting has alot to do with dew production, most ppl see dry leaves and immediately think its humidity or something but there is a number of drosera that wont produce dew unless in strong light, capensis for one wont even produce tentacles if the lighting is too low

hope this rambling helps
gl!
 
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  • #14
Interesting... my alba get more sun light than the typicals, and the typicals are already getting dry tips and smaller summer growth. interesting that everyone has these same finds, make you wonder why the alba is so hardy.
 
  • #15
I have a t8 bulb and a t5 bulb around 8 inches above the two plants with foil wrapped around it. For more light intensity, I'm going to buy two more t8 fixtures to put in there. The temperature is 78 and Im thinking about adding a fan.

I'm going buy lig fixtures tomorrow. Should I buy two t8 fixtures or two t5 fixtures? I know t5's are stronger but they are a lot hotter.
 
  • #16
I have a t8 bulb and a t5 bulb around 8 inches above the two plants with foil wrapped around it. For more light intensity, I'm going to buy two more t8 fixtures to put in there. The temperature is 78 and Im thinking about adding a fan.

I'm going buy lig fixtures tomorrow. Should I buy two t8 fixtures or two t5 fixtures? I know t5's are stronger but they are a lot hotter.

I use both only because i have an extra t8 setup and have room for it, but id suggest t5s
amazing how much brighter they are in comparison
Ill add pics on the bottom
the t5 bright and skinny white bulbs and the large dim t8s which are brand new bulbs btw, when seeing them side by side the t5s out shine the t8s so much that the t8s dont even look like they are on
the t5s are 54 watts and the t8s are 48 watts
both the highest watts i could find for 4ft florescent setups
like you said though, they can be almost cold when you touch the t8s but the t5s get a little hotter, you wouldnt want any plants to touch the t5 bulbs or theyd get burnt, you can lay a t8 literally ontop of a plant all day and it wont get burnt
so it really just depends on the persons preference if they want to have the fixture really close to the plant or not
bdulhl.jpg

^had to dim the picture a bit to make the t5's visible
28s90s1.jpg


you can see i keep the t5s about 8 inchs away from the plants but still get great color ( the plants on the very bottom usually sit up on the blue tray, i had them down there for feeding)
http://i39.tinypic.com/34gssw6.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/2uh01ky.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/30tqt01.jpg
^a few pics of some of the drosera that got color since i put them in there
so if i were you I would just go with t5s and keep them a bit farther away from the plants, reflective box's help alot too
gl with finding your lights!
 
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  • #17
Here is my new set up! I have two 2ft long t5's side by side on my book shelf with foil. I am still worried it isn't enough light. Does it look okay?
s2.jpg


I also found this humidity box/seed starter to plant some sundew seeds in. I know I will end up having to transplant because the pots are pretty small but aren't most young sundew plants?
s.jpg


I also found some canadian peat moss. I will mix this with some pool filter sand and the seeds will go in this.
s3.jpg

Would it be possible for me to plant the seeds in pure peat moss or do I have to mix with sand or perlite?
 
  • #18
Here is my new set up! I have two 2ft long t5's side by side on my book shelf with foil. I am still worried it isn't enough light. Does it look okay?
s2.jpg


I also found this humidity box/seed starter to plant some sundew seeds in. I know I will end up having to transplant because the pots are pretty small but aren't most young sundew plants?
s.jpg


I also found some canadian peat moss. I will mix this with some pool filter sand and the seeds will go in this.
s3.jpg

Would it be possible for me to plant the seeds in pure peat moss or do I have to mix with sand or perlite?

it is possible to use pure peatmoss, aslong as thats what it is, pure peat moss... no fertilizers or random bark from unknown plants
from what i can see on the bag it looks fine, search it head to toe and see if it says there is any fertilizer in it, cuz if so i you cant use it w.o killing your plants
so make sure its 100% sphagnum peatmoss , just be sure to rinse the peat moss with distilled water first to make sure no fungus grows from it, and the sand and perlite are only used to help balance out the water amount in the soil because peat moss holds around 20x its weight in water, so its easy to over water and not know it because it traps water inside it, the perlite and sand help release some of that water so to speak
just make sure you have goon drainage on the pot and youl be fine, those are all southafrican sundews and are extremely hard to kill,
and yea! that setup looks perfect, the lighting is more then enough for those 3 plants and if you start to see the hairs of any of them turn white(besides the alba) then just move them closer to the lights and they will get more color, I wouldnt worry too much about the "heat" from the t5 buls, you can have them quite close to the plants just be sure they dont touch
I used to keep my plants about 4 inchs from the light and they never got too hot

and last thing, if you want to collect the seeds from those flowers make sure they dont get burnt on the light, you can tuck them off to the side if possible
everything looks good tho
gj man!
 
  • #19
You can also buy distilled water by the gallon at Walmart or collect rainwater in plastic tubs.
 
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