What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Drosophyllum winter problem

Dear All,

Im totally new here, but after reading the post, i really found a lot of good tips about CPs, and i can see, that its an extremely cool community :)
Actually, i am living in Portugal, and growing some CPs as well, but my favourite is the pt dewy pine for sure :)

I germinated the seed in july, and it was growing really fast and heathy until now.
From the end of november, the downer leaves were starting to dry, and this problem is getting close to the top of the plant.
Here are 2 pics from january, and the present state of my drosophyllum.
dros_jan1.jpg

dros2.jpg


I really dont have the foggiest idea what happened, until now it was everything all right, but now it seems that the plant is going to die :-(

Do you have any ideas? Thanks for the answers!
 
looks overwatered to me as well...they need their soil to be on the dry side..
 
Well, it can be! Portuguese cp growers adviced me to give water (after they saw the pictures). I gave some, and now it looks worst, so i think the same, it can be the problem of too much water, but before that i almost didnt give any for 1 month....
The soil must be fully dry, or can be a little bit moist?

Thanks for the fast posts!
 
:welcome:

How big is that pot it's in? And what's your media mix?

Andrew
 
good call on that too andrew, the media doesnt exactly look drosophyllum friendly....
 
How rude of me, WELCOME to tf! As per mentioned above, a friend of mine grows it, and the substrate looks dry and he only waters every week or two seems to me... good luck!
 
:welcome:

How big is that pot it's in? And what's your media mix?

Andrew

The pot has a diamater of 12cm approx. The soil has peat moss/perlite/pine needles 2:1:1 mixture.
 
Wow, I'd say there is your problem. Now I am very new to growing these (you can see my topic here :) but I've done a lot of reading.

12 centimeter is about 4 3/4" and that's waaaaay too small. And that mix is way too wet as well. After my reading I ended up going with 1 part sand, 1 perlite, 1 vermiculite, 1/2 part pumice, and 1/4 part peat. You can see that mix is by far dryer. To go along with that, I've used an inner terra cotta pot of 6" (15.24 cm) inside of a 12" (30.5 cm) terra cotta pot, These sit in 1" (2.5 cm) of water.

I'm not sure what my suggestion would be at this point since these things are said to HATE any root disturbance. But honestly I don't see how the plant will live long term in that pot/mix. If it were ME I think I would have the best chance at success by finding a terracotta pot about the same size as your plastic one, soaking that pot over night. Then the next day, turn the whole media ball over in your hand, remove that plastic pot, put the terracotta pot in its place and turn back upright. Then have a larger terracotta pot ready and a mix similar to the above to fill the outter pot with and pot the smaller pot inside the outer pot (see my topic for pictures of this).

If you decide to try and ride it out, I think I would NEVER water that media, and only lightly lightly mist the plant, maybe try it every 3 days or so. From what I've read, in the summer time there is zero ground moisture for these plants in their natural habitat. And it is said they get all of their water from morning dew that falls on the plant. But, whatever you decide to do, please keep us up to date and GOOD LUCK!

Andrew
 
  • #10
Welcome to TF! I haven't gotten this species right yet! I have erred on the side of TOO dry, as well as one too many transplants. Adnedarn knows what he is doing!
 
  • #11
I raised one to bloom, then I, too, over-watered it. I am hoping my seeds germinate.

I hate to say it, but it looks like your plant is on it's way out. :(
 
  • #12
Wow, I'd say there is your problem. Now I am very new to growing these (you can see my topic here :) but I've done a lot of reading.

12 centimeter is about 4 3/4" and that's waaaaay too small. And that mix is way too wet as well. After my reading I ended up going with 1 part sand, 1 perlite, 1 vermiculite, 1/2 part pumice, and 1/4 part peat. You can see that mix is by far dryer. To go along with that, I've used an inner terra cotta pot of 6" (15.24 cm) inside of a 12" (30.5 cm) terra cotta pot, These sit in 1" (2.5 cm) of water.

I'm not sure what my suggestion would be at this point since these things are said to HATE any root disturbance. But honestly I don't see how the plant will live long term in that pot/mix. If it were ME I think I would have the best chance at success by finding a terracotta pot about the same size as your plastic one, soaking that pot over night. Then the next day, turn the whole media ball over in your hand, remove that plastic pot, put the terracotta pot in its place and turn back upright. Then have a larger terracotta pot ready and a mix similar to the above to fill the outter pot with and pot the smaller pot inside the outer pot (see my topic for pictures of this).

If you decide to try and ride it out, I think I would NEVER water that media, and only lightly lightly mist the plant, maybe try it every 3 days or so. From what I've read, in the summer time there is zero ground moisture for these plants in their natural habitat. And it is said they get all of their water from morning dew that falls on the plant. But, whatever you decide to do, please keep us up to date and GOOD LUCK!

Andrew

Thanks a lot for the long answer and tips!
For now, the state of the plant went worst, it broke in the middle :-( so i dont have the chance even to repot it...
Next time i will pay more attention to the soil and watering. By the way, do you know anyone who is changing/selling Drosophyllum seeds here?

I read the same, and i had luck to see the plant in a natural habitat. It was summer ,and the soil was extremely dry. They live maximum some kms from the ocean, because the fog that is condensated in the morning, they use to water themselves.
 
  • #13
Sorry to hear that :( That is really cool that you have seen the plant in nature, did you happen to take any pictures you could share? I don't know of anyone that has seeds for trade that can ship to Portugal, sorry :(
 
  • #14
Yes, i toke some pictures, Im going to open a new topic for that.
 
Back
Top