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How to Separate Tuberous Drosera?

seedjar

Let's positive thinking!
So, I've always been wary of unpotting my tuberous 'dews, because I don't want to lose the little tubers amidst the aggregate in my media. But the growth points in my pots are getting really crowded - can I separate them now, as they're just starting to show new growth? I think most of the things I've seen say to do it at the end of the dormancy period, but I can never tell when mine are about to wake up. Last year my D. gigantea had at least three main stems that flowered and a bunch of little side shoots that came and went - I'm sure there's got to be a bunch of little baby tubers in there. Any tips? I looked in the usual places online and found disappointingly little information.
Thanks,
~Joe
 
I wouldn't recommend re-potting whilst growing. Wait for dormancy, then re-pot. D. gigantaea has really large tubers, you'd have no trouble finding them. The other species, well, maybe. Try de-potting by following the dried stem down to the tubers.
 
:/
That's what I figured. Dang! It would be really nice to get them parted out to see how many I've got. Hard to believe the D. gigantea tubers will be very big at all - the stems all emerge from the same inch-diameter spot in the middle of the pots. But there's way too many of them to just be side shoots from the same tuber. At least, I think...
~Joe
 
I have separated tubers a million times. Best time to do it is about a month before they start regrowing.

Be careful with gigantea, it often times has a ful stolon held in "status" even in the middle of dormancy.
 
How do you mean? Mine seem to throw up a bunch of asparagus-looking shoots right when the others emerge, but the other species are all on the verge of dormancy before the gigantea even seems to hint at making fully developed leaves, let alone getting genuinely tall.
~Joe
 
With gigantea life is a crap shoot. I have had gigantea grow for 3 seasons straight without a dormancy (and summers in Atl are not anything close to cool.) I have had them cycle on and off unlike anything I have ever seen. Best bet is to wait for them go down, wait two months and then tip the pot, but be careful cause in all likelihood there will be an active or "stasus" stolon in there. I do not think I have ever tipped a gigantea pot (and at one point I had 9 of the things) and not seen a tuber with a stolon on it.
 
So, if there's a stolon emerging, should i put everything back in the pot and leave it alone? I'm not really sure what the concern is. Are these the stolons that spread out to form a new tuber, or are you referring to inactive growth points?
~Joe
 
If there is a stolon emerging you can still separate the tubers, you just have to be careful to not break the stolon.

And by stolon I mean the upward growth point. The spreading appendages that give rise to new tubers are known as "droppers" ;)
 
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