wondering about sundew

[chinski000]

do sundews need dormancy of any sort and are they the most efficient bug catchers of carnivorious plants?

Some sundews need dormancy....others do not.

It all depends on what type you get.

Most people break them down into a couple of types:

Temperate - need dormancy

Tropical - no dormancy

Tuberous - no clue about dormancy

Some people breakdown the sundews further into

Petiolaris
Pygmy

I am not sure about dormancy for these guys.

They are effective bug catchers, but they really only catch small things ( gnats, mozzies :smile:...nothing too big )

Wish I could be more help, but I am still learning about these guys.

[noah]

Yes... there are temperate and tropical droseras. Tuberous droseras have a summer dormancy during which they die back to an underground tuber... you probably won't be growing these until you have more experience with sundews. The easiest to start with would be a simple tropical or temperate drosera... d. capensis, aliciae, binata, capillaris, or spathulata. Capensis is a great beginner sundew, easy to grow, it moves dramatically and can handle larger prey (large flies, even bees).. just keep the light level up on this one. What specific species are you planning on getting? We can give you more information if we know this.

Pygmies and petiolaris drosera have a dormancy, they are temperate sundews like most north american droseras.

Noah

[Martin]

temperate Drosera rotundifolia, intermedia, longifolia, filiformis,....(need cold winter dormancy, frost resistent)

subtropical Drosera capensis, aliciae, spatulata, venusta, slakii,.... (should have a cool winter dormancy, but can be grown year around)
The easiest Drosera

"winter growing Drosera" pauciflora, cistiflora, ... should have an almost(!) dry summer dormancy
difficult !

Queensland Drosera prolifera, adelae, schizandra grow year around under high humidity

most petiolaris Drosera can be grown year around (paradoxa) but some need a dry winter dormancy (falconeri)
raelly difficult !

other "tropical" drosera like neocaledonica, madagascariensis, burmanii, indica .... can be grown year around or are annual
difficult !

Drosera regia can be treatetd like subtropical Drosera but shouldn't be kept to wet during winter

Tuberous Drosera need a dry summer dormancy (at least auriculata can be grown wet year around, but will die back, too)
only a few of them are relativly easy (auriculata, peltata, menziesii,...)


Some of the Pygmae Drosera need a dry summer dormancy, but most of the plants in cultivation don't need it. Some are annual. winter growers.

[CP2k]

Hi Chinski000,
The difficulty of many droseras depend on where you live. I have found that pygmy droseras to be the easiest droseras of all to grow in my area. Each groups of drosera have different requirements. You can get a head start with droseras if you research the conditions where certain groups of droseras grow and try to acquire droseras that can be grown outdoors or in a terrarium in your area.

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

Hey Martin - could you be literally specific with which pygmys require a summer dormancy? I have a number of new species so this is a matter of some concern to me.

CPk2: The latin plural of Drosera is Droserae:-)

[CP2k]

Martin,
The only annual pygmy sundew I can think of is D.glanduligera.

Tamlin,
Thanks for the correction:)

[Martin]

Hi,

in nature, many Pygmae must survive a dry summer period (I can't give you names, because I'm not very interested in Pygmeas, I grow a few of them but that's all)
have a look at at Allen Lowrie's 2nd book.

I cultivation my plants can live longer than 1 year but some of them always die after producing gemmae.

Martin

[Martin]

Here is a link which might be useful for Pygmae Drosera.
It's in French, but you should be able to watch the pictures if you don't speak the language :-)

http://encyclo.free.fr/pages/terrapyg.htm

Martin

[noah]

For pygmy pictures here is a site in english that has many of the varieties:

http://members.fortunecity.com/h7n/

Noah