a friend of mine sent me a spatulata. only, i know NOTHING about it. ive read some of the posts already so im beginning to pick a few things up. however, im still kinda confused if droseras have a dormancy period. if they're tropical, then why do they need to go dormant? can't i just grow the plant in a small aquarium with sufficient lighting throughout the year?
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Clint
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This does not have a dormancy period. You can grow it in full sun or in a terrarium with sufficient lighting (keyword here being sufficient).
Some tropical Drosera do have dormancies but don't equate dormancy with cold. Some go dormant when it's too hot and dry. This one can be grown year round. Some, like the petiolaris complex, can go dormant out of the blue or if they get stressed during shipping.
Some tropical Drosera do have dormancies but don't equate dormancy with cold. Some go dormant when it's too hot and dry. This one can be grown year round. Some, like the petiolaris complex, can go dormant out of the blue or if they get stressed during shipping.
jimscott
Tropical Fish Enthusiast
As Clint says, they don't require a dormancy. This is an excellent beginner plant and does very well at a window sill, open tray method. It flowers every year and does not require special pollination to produce viable seeds. It also does asexual reproduction by forming baby plants.
The 6 plants from the left were all grown from the same clump of the original pot. All I did was separate plantlets from the perimeter and start a new pot. That took about 6 months to get this many plants!
The 6 plants from the left were all grown from the same clump of the original pot. All I did was separate plantlets from the perimeter and start a new pot. That took about 6 months to get this many plants!
I bought what was labeled a small Drosera Spatulata over the summer. It is bit over an inch in diameter and lives next to a bright windowsill, along with my other CP's, facing East.
Fall has arrived and the air is cool but I'm still getting quite a bit of sun. I leave my window open during the day so that all my CP's get a bit of breeze. Recently, all of the sticky leaves dried up and turned brown. What is left, are a few green nubby things in the center. From what I've been able to research, this darn thing has gone dormant.
My only guess is that this sundew is NOT a spatulata, or I've just treated it so badly that it hates me and decided to uncharacteristically go dormant. Can someone point me to a sundew that this could be, or post a link of some sundews that are in a state of dormancy so I can compare? I tried using the search function here and have not been able to find a thread that will directly help me with this issue.
Thanks in advance!
Fall has arrived and the air is cool but I'm still getting quite a bit of sun. I leave my window open during the day so that all my CP's get a bit of breeze. Recently, all of the sticky leaves dried up and turned brown. What is left, are a few green nubby things in the center. From what I've been able to research, this darn thing has gone dormant.
My only guess is that this sundew is NOT a spatulata, or I've just treated it so badly that it hates me and decided to uncharacteristically go dormant. Can someone point me to a sundew that this could be, or post a link of some sundews that are in a state of dormancy so I can compare? I tried using the search function here and have not been able to find a thread that will directly help me with this issue.
Thanks in advance!
jimscott
Tropical Fish Enthusiast
Hi Courtney and welcome to TF. D. spatulata indeed does not go dormant. Like any other plant, it can react to something that went past its comfort zone. Could be an abrupt change in tenperature or humidity or accidental poisonung of the soil or water. And depending upon the health of the given plant at the time, the slightest thing can set it over the edge.
I would suggest posting a picture, but the "before" pic would be the most useful and likely not existing. Where did you get it? Lowes? Home Depot? Online. You can click on the my Photobucket links below and see if anything looks close enough.
http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/jimscott/?start=all
http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/straus_2006/?start=all
I would suggest posting a picture, but the "before" pic would be the most useful and likely not existing. Where did you get it? Lowes? Home Depot? Online. You can click on the my Photobucket links below and see if anything looks close enough.
http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/jimscott/?start=all
http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/straus_2006/?start=all
That looks a lot like my Drosera Spathulata that I received from a different vendor. By the way, we are not allowed to mention CP vendors on here. If you see this before a mod does, you should just edit that out. Oh and I am pretty sure they supplied you with a correctly labeled species, they're pretty consistent at doing so.
jimscott
Tropical Fish Enthusiast
That really does look like a D. spatulata. I'd bet anyone's bottom dollar on that! If you need a replacemant, just give a hollar. The plants in the plastic container were at a lab in which I worked. They had a SE window sill. They did well enough but remained green. In contrast, this is what they could look like in full sun:
Same plant, under artificial lighting:
Same plant, under artificial lighting:
I just ordered my first spatulata and usps messed up on the delivery:-(
D. spatulata often goes through periods of semi-dormancy where growth slows down.
Oh dear.
I figured out what was wrong with my spatulata, but it's too late. It's dead.
I have a horrid infestation of aphids! I did not see them until they killed off 3 more sundews and started in on ones that were big enough to show off the white casings. I was able to scrape off little greenish black dots that I am pretty sure are aphids. All my sundews are getting ratty on the edges and dying. The ones holding on have some deformed leaves and no dew.
I'm going to take the plunge and spray them with orthene. Hope this works. I feel terrible, like these are my pets and I let them down.
Sigh.
I figured out what was wrong with my spatulata, but it's too late. It's dead.
I have a horrid infestation of aphids! I did not see them until they killed off 3 more sundews and started in on ones that were big enough to show off the white casings. I was able to scrape off little greenish black dots that I am pretty sure are aphids. All my sundews are getting ratty on the edges and dying. The ones holding on have some deformed leaves and no dew.
I'm going to take the plunge and spray them with orthene. Hope this works. I feel terrible, like these are my pets and I let them down.
Sigh.
Immersing them in water for a couple days would probably be better than spraying them.
If they are very tiny they may even be spider mites, which come in many colors besides red. An organophosphate like Orthene may even make them worse. Not to mention also that Drosera often react badly to sprays.
Spider mites would be about the size of the period on the end of this sentence.
If they are very tiny they may even be spider mites, which come in many colors besides red. An organophosphate like Orthene may even make them worse. Not to mention also that Drosera often react badly to sprays.
Spider mites would be about the size of the period on the end of this sentence.
jimscott
Tropical Fish Enthusiast
I doubt that there is a serious hobbyist out there that hasn't killed most, if not all of their plants - especially within the first year. Chalk it up to being a learning curve. A lot of us can also provide relacements if you can't find any locally.
BTW, I have had aphids infest D. spatulata, adelae, and capensis, at different times and each tim got rid of them by simply immersing them in water for a couple days. They look like "drowned rats" for awhile but ultimately recovered. It's the aphids that died.
BTW, I have had aphids infest D. spatulata, adelae, and capensis, at different times and each tim got rid of them by simply immersing them in water for a couple days. They look like "drowned rats" for awhile but ultimately recovered. It's the aphids that died.
Leave them be for now. They may or may not recover. Only time will tell.
They're alive!
After about a month of old leaves turning brown and no new growth, my sundews are starting to come back. As you may recall, I ended up spraying them with a systemic insecticide when I discovered I was infested with aphids. It took a while, but the plants have all grown new leaves and they don't look deformed. I still have to wait and see if they produce dew.
If the aphids come back, I will just end up digging them out of the planter and immersing them in water instead. However, I am quite pleased that new growth is emerging even though most would bet that the plants would die.
After about a month of old leaves turning brown and no new growth, my sundews are starting to come back. As you may recall, I ended up spraying them with a systemic insecticide when I discovered I was infested with aphids. It took a while, but the plants have all grown new leaves and they don't look deformed. I still have to wait and see if they produce dew.
If the aphids come back, I will just end up digging them out of the planter and immersing them in water instead. However, I am quite pleased that new growth is emerging even though most would bet that the plants would die.
glad to hear that!
i would keep most plants in a 3" pot if i were you, Drosera dont need too much root space, that way they are ready to be dunked if the time calls ;\
i just recently dunked my D. Capensis for mites, turns out they were just soil mites....
damn im retarded xD but anyways good luck
i would keep most plants in a 3" pot if i were you, Drosera dont need too much root space, that way they are ready to be dunked if the time calls ;\
i just recently dunked my D. Capensis for mites, turns out they were just soil mites....
damn im retarded xD but anyways good luck
jimscott
Tropical Fish Enthusiast
Congrats on the recovery! I've had my plants outside at different times and it seems that the sundews tended to attract the aphids. But without fail, immersing the plant has always rid the pests and the plants weren't harmed - just looked rough for a couple weeks.