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Is this a good environment?

Hi everyone. I have a little D. capensis 'Alba' seedling which, when it gets older, I would like to grow it on a windowsill. There is this little room in my house which the previous owners sorta messed up. Basically, the room is 50% windows, one half facing north, the other half facing west. The owners before painted over the windows and boarded them up. I want to somehow fix it up a bit, so it's like a little indoor greenhouse. Would my D. capensis recieve enough light in there?

-Ben
 
North facing windows get the least amount of light (in the northern hemisphere), but as long as you cleared all the paint from the windows, it should receive enough light.
 
I also said that there was west facing windows, but whatever. Ok, I'll take what you say and in about 4-5 months my plant should be big enough for a window sill.

-Ben
 
West-facing windows get hot, that's one potential problem. Otherwise it should be pretty good. North windows don't get direct light, but I've heard they work well with some plants, for some reason I don't totally understand. The light is more consistent throughout the year because of the angle of the sun in winter or something strange like that... In any case, it's worth a try, especially if the space isn't going to good use. D. capensis doesn't really need as much light as some other CPs, they just respond very well to high light. You just might need to make some shade/humidity provisions in the future.
~Joe
 
Ok, well, I suppose I'll just have to see how much light actually comes through, because already there's a north-facing window in that room that's un-covered, and it lets in a lot of light. Anywho, I was wondering if it possibly hurts my little dew if I feed it once a week or so? I just want it to grow up nice and big.

-Ben
 
Actually, I had mine thriving at the SW window sills all year long, even when the temps were in the low 90's. They are a tropical sundew, so they can take the heat...but they love the light.
 
Yeah, I thought so. And I have a question: one of my D. capensis is putting up a flower stalk, and I've only had the plant for a month. Does the flowering process harm the plant? Because I do want to see the little flowers.....

-Ben
 
I've noticed that it looks a bit haggard after flowering, but unlike a dormant-deprived VFT, it shouldn't die. If you want, you can snip it and wait half a year for another one, when it is stronger.
 
I'm not sure if it'll flower again though. But, I would assume it would only flower if it's strong? Because, I have been feeding it a TON of food, so that's prolly why it's flowering.

-Ben
 
  • #10
Don't worry... it'll flower again! I'd bet your bottom dollar on that!
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  • #11
OK, so when do I cut it off? When it's a couple inches tall? Because I do want to get some nice pics of it. (I think the buds & stalk are rather attractive in their own way.)

-Ben
 
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