Should I try and separate this tangled mess?

[Zath]

This is my D. Spatulata, looking much better after a week or so in the terrarium, and now I can more clearly see where new growth is coming from. The thing came in a little 2" seedling pot which definitely seems a bit small, but before I consider re-potting, I'd like to know how to go about this without killing either plant.

I'm not familiar enough with sundews to be able to tell if this is multiple plants, or just one.

Top-down:
D. spatulata 6-14-14 by the_bugman_cometh, on Flickr

And the side(ish) view:
D. spatulata 6-14-14 (2) by the_bugman_cometh, on Flickr

In the bottom pic you can see (I hope) the growth that I'm talking about. It seems to be coming out sideways, lol.

I'm not looking for propagation tips, just maybe some advice on how to separate them, remove most or all of the lfs, and be gentle about it.

 

[Bio]

You have at least 4 plants there, and to separate them, which isn't necessary by the way, you should remove the moss and just try to gently pull them apart. If they are ready, they will freely pull away.

 

[PsychoSarah]

The individual plants grow bigger if you do separate them. Sphagnum moss like that can be kinda difficult with transplanting though, as roots tangle in it in more difficult ways than say, sphagnum peat moss would.

 

[Whimgrinder]

I've always found clumps of rosette type Drosera far more attractive than single plants, so I would advocate leaving the plants as they are.

 

[Kevin P]

I've always found clumps of rosette type Drosera far more attractive than single plants, so I would advocate leaving the plants as they are.

I agree! Rather than dividing I'd just move the lot of them to a larger pot and let them go wild.

One of my spatulata pots, for reference.

 

[Whimgrinder]

And a nice colony of D. aliceae

Why separate them?!

 

[Zath]

@ Kevin P

Holy cow! Is that really spatulata? I'm assuming a "red" form? I've got to have one of those now, if only to be able to look at something like that every day. That's beautiful!

@ Everyone else

Noted, I'll not try and separate them, as such, but I would dearly like to get them in some proper media, not just an ugly pile of lfs. Sometime next week I'll work on re-potting them. I've got some 4" pots in that should do nicely for awhile.

I'm assuming that spatulata needs no encouragement to propagate, a la D. capensis?

 

[Whimgrinder]

"encouragement"!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA! Oh dear. Noooo encouragement needed, no. Although it is not quite as invasive as capensis.

 

[Keith]

LOL I say separate them a bit in a larger pot so they have room to open up and really soak in sun maybe an inch and a half on center or two. Competing plants seem to tend to stay smaller. Also its spatulata, so good luck killing it....keep it warm, sun/plenty of light, tough as nails!

 

[Keith]

Very nice alice BTW!

And a nice colony of D. aliceae

Why separate them?!

 

[Kevin P]

It is - D. spatulata "Kanto", at least that's how the seeds were labelled (via the ICPS seed bank). They trend *very* red compared to the other spatulata varieties I currently have growing.

As for a proper media, I grow most all of mine in a mix of chopped LFS and sand (generally shoot for a mix of around 40/60). However that clump is growing in, as you said, just an ugly pile of LFS (started them in it as leaf cuttings about a year ago). They seem to be trucking along just fine, and I'm too lazy to try and dig them all out of it now. :grin:

@Whimgrinder: Nice aliciae indeed! I started some from seed recently, but they're still just specks in a pot at this point.

@ Kevin P

Holy cow! Is that really spatulata? I'm assuming a "red" form? I've got to have one of those now, if only to be able to look at something like that every day. That's beautiful!

@ Everyone else

Noted, I'll not try and separate them, as such, but I would dearly like to get them in some proper media, not just an ugly pile of lfs. Sometime next week I'll work on re-potting them. I've got some 4" pots in that should do nicely for awhile.

I'm assuming that spatulata needs no encouragement to propagate, a la D. capensis?

 

[Tanukimo]

Are you removing the LFS for purely aesthetic reasons? If you are not, I would just leave the plants there unless you plan on separating the clump, because it would be pretty difficult to remove the LFS without doing that. And there is nothing wrong with using
LFS as a growing medium.

If you do decide to separate the plants, you may find that some plants have tangled roots, in which case you should take extra care in separating them or just leave them together. I found that out when I was transplanting some Drosera venusta. Personally I don't like to have too many plants crammed in a pot, because it can be difficult to see smaller ones in between plants and when feeding I need to remember which plants I have already fed, but that is just my preference.

 

[PsychoSarah]

I keep plants separated in case if future giveaways and perhaps trades. Plus, makes controlling the spread of fungal infections and trimming easier.

 

[jimscott]

I agree! Rather than dividing I'd just move the lot of them to a larger pot and let them go wild.

One of my spatulata pots, for reference.

Egads, that's beautiful!

 

[jimscott]

I keep plants separated in case if future giveaways and perhaps trades. Plus, makes controlling the spread of fungal infections and trimming easier.

I agree with this approach. I did this all the time. D. spatulata naturally clumps and I removed the baby plants from the perimeter and replanted in other pots, easily.

 

[PsychoSarah]

Oh gosh, clumping with my VFT colony can make trimming such a pain in the butt, have to do crazy maneuvers with the scissors to get at the dead leaves without cutting the new growth during the growing season. Which is why I did a couple of divisions before it "woke up" this year.

 

[Robster_24]

I agree! Rather than dividing I'd just move the lot of them to a larger pot and let them go wild.

One of my spatulata pots, for reference.

MAN! all your Drosera are sooo spectacularly red! what lights do you use?!

 

[Kevin P]

MAN! all your Drosera are sooo spectacularly red! what lights do you use?!

That pot hasn't been fed in ages, so that helps! The lights are nothing too special - two dual-lamp 48" T8 fixtures per plant shelf, with 6500k / 2750 lumen bulbs. The plants sit between roughly 3 and 6 inches of the lights, and get 15 hours under them a day. Those with a natural tendency towards redder hues tend to go very red indeed, particularly if they aren't fed often, but I have other spatulata varieties that don't. I love the red ones though, so I try to find whatever excuse I can to show them off :grin:

This is the same variety ("Kanto"), but better fed. The plants in the pic I shared earlier in the thread were propagated by leaf cutting from these plants (my first generation of them, started from seed a couple of years back).