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Drosera paradoxa flower cutting

MrFlyTrap2

OMG h8 pings
My Drosera paradoxa hasn't stopped flowering since I've got it this summer. (Thanks pingman for the trade!) The plant seems to be well, okay; but tired. I'd be tired too if I had 5 flower stalks coming out of me. (One stalk is 14") If I cut the stalks do you think the plant would end up producing more leaves instead?

I was also growing this while having it sit in very shallow water, about a 1/4". I'm thinking of growing it stand alone and just watering it with my nepenthes instead (idea from another paradoxa thread) for a while to see if growth changes at all.

Thanks for the input!

(P.s. just noticed it's growing another buddy next to it)
 
Mine also formed plantlets from the roots and created a colony of plants, in a ddition to that which germinated from seed:

AR000102.jpg


They are prolific flowerers but didn't seem to be weakened by the production. You may want to contact the forum member with the 5150 in his forum name. He wants to trade pollen.

Strausplants0211.jpg
 
Cutting the spikes will not stop the plant from producing more. It is just something the plant does once it hits a certain size/age. I suspect it has to do with the nature of the plant and its native environment.

In the wild these plants basically grow as annuals because of the conditions. So they are "programmed" to bloom as much as possible as long as possible to produce as much seed as they can. In cultivation they are not put in a position where they are going to die because of the soil drying out but they retain the 'bloom until you can't' program.

I have had a plant with 9 active spikes that had been constantly blooming for 13 months and it was still doing fine. I got sick of all the spikes popping out the top of the tank so I cut them. Already has 3 more...
 
Do you all sit your paradoxa in trays of 2-3" of water?

I used to tray water but allow the water to dry up before topping up. During the hot months, my paradoxa went dormant and died eventually. ???
 
Cindy, if you search the Drosera forum for my thread ('How I grow Petiolaris') you will get an idea of how I grow mine but the short version is 3cm water only adding more when the level has been below pot for a few days (I grow on a raised grid.) I do not force dormancy on the plants by withholding water, instead I wait till the plant enters dormancy on its own and then I elevate it further so that when I add water the dormant pots sit in no more than 3mm.
 
Thanks for the info!

I read up on a few more posts, got a 10x13" pyrex cake pan and put a 50W tank heater in it. Filled it with RO water then added Silica Sand in the dish so I could adjust the height of the plant sitting in water. Something gives me the idea I havn't been keeping this plant warm enough.

You guys don't see any harm in keeping other sundews in heated water as well do you?
 
Thanks, Pyro. :)
 
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