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pygme Drosera

schloaty

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The only pygmies I've grown to this point are scorpioides. I've had no trouble with them, but from what I hear, they are these easiest (no dormancy required).

I was gifted a small pot of a pygme hybrid (don't remember the parrents, and there was no label....puchella x something maybe? I know I butchered that spelling), and I want to make sure I'm not backwards here.

Pygmies are winter growers with a summer dormancy, right? They like to sleep when it's hot & dry? Just want to be sure....
 
depends on the species/hybrid..............i grew some wet year round for several years before they croaked(for unrelated reasons, think big crash) there are some that need a drier dormancy but not all will. unfortunatly i dont remember which i had. need to get somemore. i think they are kinda like the Mexi Pings, some ppl have alot of luck not paying attention to "The Rules"
smile_n_32.gif
 
right...but they dont need it i dont think. if you keep them wet year round they wont go into it.. but then they wont produge gammae(correct me if im wrong). i have a single pygmy and so far its doing ok. tiny little boogers though
smile.gif

Alex

PS: its pulchella
 
ooo...so they do need one
 
like i said i t depends on the species. pygmy's were one of my first CP's i recieved the gemmae about a month after finding this forum. this was while Tamlin was still doing his big giveaway and i asked for some of the really easy species/hybrids. i threw them all in a large pot and hoped for the best. the pot did fine, even produced gemmae for me several times being kept constantly wet year round. but like i said these were beginers species and not some of the rarer stuff that would likely need the drier period. the pot would still be going good if my one plant stand hadnt collapsed. so i guess i need to find more of the lil guys.
 
ok. so is D. pulchella an easy one?
 
i believe thats one of the ones i had.............cant promice though
 
nitidula
occidentalis
pygmaea
pulchella
I've grown these (and some of their hybrids) for three years without a dormancy. They never seem to die out... I just keep getting larger and larger colonies.
 
As far as I know, this "dormancy" is really just an extreme dry period in which plants will tend to die off in. Then in winter, they are pounded with rain. I've never heard of any pygmies needing a dormancy, just that in winter, to get them to make gemmae, they can either be exposed to cooler temps, or a shorter photoperiod.

-Ben
 
  • #10
My pygmys (D.scorpioides, nitidula, palacea, pulchella) have been doing fine for 3 years without a dry dormancy and have produced gemmae. I can't speak for the other species.
 
  • #11
so what would be the best way to give a dormancy to pygmies?
Alex
 
  • #13
[b said:
Quote[/b] (chloroplast @ Oct. 23 2006,4:59)]My pygmys (D.scorpioides, nitidula, palacea, pulchella) have been doing fine for 3 years without a dry dormancy and have produced gemmae.  I can't speak for the other species.
I have had them now for over 2 years and my expereince has been similar to that of Chloroplast's....although I seem to have problems with the D. scorpioides dying off a bit in the summer. Please click the link that Seandew provided for more insights.

In general, I have found pigmy drosera to be easy plants to cultivate, especially the nitidulas.
 
  • #14
Thanks everyone for all the responses! I guess I'll just grow them in the greenhouse and leave them pretty much alone. Cool. I just have to move them to a larger, deeper pot (still in the sales pot), but otherwise I'll let them take care of themselves.
smile.gif
 
  • #15
Hi Dave,

All the mentioned species in this thread are easy growers, tending to slow down after the spring flowering after the winter gemmae season - the little buggers get plumb worn out - but no real marked dormancy per se. Other species have a definite dormany over the summer months where overwatering and poor air circulation will do them in. Some summer sensitive species include Drosera pyncoblasta, leiloblastus, hyperostigma, citrina, mannii, microphylla, and many others. The best plan with these sensitives is to grow in as deep a pot as possible, and watering from the bottom, the aim being a nearly totally dry surface , yet with moisiture available to the long deep roots which easily rot of the medium gets too wet or too dry. Leave the pots in the tray only for 5 or 10mins so the mix can absorb some water, but not so long as to wet the surface. The addition of a fan greatly improved my mortality rate, abd I found lower light levels benificial at this time vs the full sin they normally love.

The mentioned D. pulchella hybrid is likely either D. pulchella x nitidula if the styles are clublike and red, or D. pulchella x ericksoniae if the flowers are pink with white styles. Both are in wide circulation and easy species.
 
  • #16
in line with how to grow pygmies, I have a little pot of D x Badgerup growing in my room under growlights that used to be on for 14 hours and now i have it set to be on for 12 hours. Is this enough to trigger gemmae production (as in the plants think its "fall"?) Should I set the light period to 10 hours instead?
 
  • #17
The jury is still out on just how light sensitive this group of Drosera are, and it seems to vary from species to species. One grower who never got gemmae production told me he did after blocking the light of a streetlamp. Another grower said she got gemmae even under a driveway lamp that stayed on all night. Then there are species that routinely make summer gemmae, just to be different I guess. So all generalizations are false, includimg this one! I would cut the light to 10 hrs or less since I have noticed this facilitates gemmae production in most species, and aim strongly for this period to be uninterupted darkness. The mechanism that is responsible for gemmae production is likely related to flowering in short day plants. Like a clock this molecular trigger is reset when any light hits it.
 
  • #18
I have some Nitidula x puchella that i have been growing in a window for about a year now and experiences natural change in light and recieves no extra light at all.




 
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