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D.adelae - just my weird "theories"

Cindy

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Theory 1
D.adelae grows, grows, grows...then, it dies suddenly and do the possum thingy of sending out numerous plantlets from its roots.

I think D.adelae is a "colonizer". It is genetically coded to spread and colonize other areas. It spends part of its life growing numerous long roots. Then the mother plant decides to give up its life so that the roots can form plantlets.

So this is what I will be doing...I am going to remove some roots from time to time. Since that wouldn't hurt the main plant, I hope instead that it will be end up growing larger and not "play possum".  
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Theory 2
Since the climate here is so different from the rest of the world and I've only succeeded to grow D.adelae in pure perlite, I have decided to treat the plant like any of my lowland nep. Very loosely packed perlite/LFS mix, top watering and letting it dry out before the next watering.
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Experts, please critique!!!
 
I've got about 4-5 Adelae plants recovering and sending lots of new growth up. I use 50/50 pete/perlite, with a top dressing of LFS. Then give them light. Easy.
 
hey! my climate is the same as yours.

i keep them in semi shaded to full sun and they are kept in 1 part peat moss to 1 part perlite. does very well here!
 
ok, so my climate is same as both of yours (clayton and cindy). I am a newbie and I ordered only 1 plant...
what is the possum thingie and how long is the average plant's lifespan?
Thanks
 
I think the first theory's right, i've been experiencing the dying-reincarnation-dying-reincarnation cycle over and over again. Now mine's a healthy little thing, grown from the mother's roots.
BTW, How can we get D.adele seeds?
 
I've read that D. adelae doesn't set seed very often...or even at all...
 
Somewhere I read a post by Pinguiculaman that said in effect that that it's poor conditions, (or at least less than optimal) that lead to the "playing 'possum" thing, but I can't figure out where he wrote it. He doesn't experience what we experience - at least not anymore.
 
Your theory makes sense.  My D. adelae grew smaller and smaller.  Meanwhile, numerous offshoots began sprouting from long horizontal roots.  The main plant eventually flowered.  

Perhaps in cultivation the process of producing offshoots drains the mother plant of energy.  It will be interesting to see if removing the offshoots restores the vigor of the mother plant.

Brian
 
Brian, how did you get them to flower? I just get endless leaf after endless leaf after....
 
  • #10
I waved my my magic wand and said "Flower".

Seriously, I didn't do anything. The plant flowered on it's own shortly after I received it. I had it in with my highland plants, so maybe the temp. drops at night triggered something, but I doubt it. I also transplanted it into a very large container. I know that some plants will flower because of environmental stress, but I'm not sure if it applies to D. adelae.

Brian
 
  • #11
Yeah, they'll flower because of environmental stress and they'll flower when happy. Go figure....
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Seriously, maybe the day/night differential is the trick. Window sill plants and terraria that aren't temp controlled don't get nearly the day/night differential as being outside would. Talk about theories....
 
  • #12
Lam, the "possum" thingy is when the mother plant die back but send out many little plantlets in return. Honestly, I would rather the mother plant gets larger and larger!
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Jimscott, the temperature drop at night in important for flowering. And length of light exposure too.
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Hmm...I wonder how I can get D.adelae to flower in my weather...so warm!!!
 
  • #13
That day/night thing could also be what is lacking for the Mexican pings that refuse to flower for me. It doesn't seem to affect most of my sundews or Utrics, though.
 
  • #14
Mine would flower but usually would do poorly afterwards.

My D. regia will go great guns, get huge, then start looking bad with leaves blackening. Next thing I know, I have a bunch of offsets. Currently I have 3 crowns recovering and 8 new offsets. So I guess the growth cycle has started again. YAY!

Ya gotta love those plants that reproduce from the roots, thus saving you from dispair.
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