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King sundew

Got this a couple weeks ago, it's put out two leaves since i've gotten it!

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Show us your king sundew!
 
Not the easiest plant to keep going.
 
I want to get one, but there are two things stopping me:

1) I hear they are a little difficult. They require a very limited growing area (temps, lighting, etc). Further, I hear they will go to the verge of death if they are transplanted. Also, you leaf-cuttings on the plant fail.

2) I don't have the space to grow one. I have a mini-greenhouse on my patio, but it's full and I have nowhere to put a Regia.



I guess once I get a place of my own and have the proper growing area, I can try one.
 
LOL! I've killed a few already!
 
Hehehe, this is my second go around :p It didn't take well to my previous conditions of simply lsm and a bright west facing windowsill. This time I'm using a T5HO 5 inches away, with a peat, perlite, and sand substrate. Crossing my fingers :D
 
I killed a healthy one within 2 weeks :( Their very hard to grow
 
They dont like high humidity or too hot and i suspect too bright will kill them too. The light 5 inchs away doesnt sound right to me. Are you sure thats a good idea?
 
I grow mine (the top leaves) within 1 inch of fluorescent lights (cool T-12 bulbs) and they do really well as long as the temperatures don't exceed 80-85 F range with heat from the lamps included. BUT if it's T5, then a more distant 5 inches sounds safer. Your plant looks very healthy right now. When they get a ton of light, and aren't fed very often, the leaves show some nice red coloration, which you can see in my sig pic. It seems that outdoors, they can handle the 80-85F temps a bit better.

Well, bloke, since you requested...
I just took some new pictures that I haven't been able to upload off my camera yet, but here's an oldie of a 'Big Easy' when I had time to feed it:
Regia_unfurling-hi.JPG

A month or so after this pic, the temps became to warm, and it formed its dormant bud.
After taking root cuttings for some people, and moving it to my cooler basement, the plant has grown well ever since.
However, I haven't had time to feed it since then, so the leaves only reach about 2.5 inches tall.
Feeding D. regia is required if you want to have the largest leaves possible. Once it doesn't get a meal for a while, it will slow down its growth and start producing smaller leaves.

As a side note, they produce an enormous root system, perfect for root cuttings, and repotting is extremely easy as long you don't break off most of the root system, and let them recouperate for a bit by placing them in dmimer light during that time, as well as making sure that the temperature does not get too high (which will kill them even if you aren't repotting them).
Also, Joseph Clemens has proven that leaf cuttings DO work, but obviously root cuttings are the fastest approach.
 
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  • #10
I had 6 plants (small seedlings) and lost 5 :-( My remaining plant is doing great. The leaves are about 2 inches now. It can tolerate dry conditions but doesn't like it too hot. I'll have to see how it does, but so far they grow well in SD. They like the winters...but the summers ??? BTW, my plant is outside. Their leaves are very active when young at least. They fold over even tiny morsels.

Blokeman's plant is probably slightly bigger than mine. Its good to know about the root cuttings, this plant is probably great trading material. I would probably wait a year or two till mine is closer to mature, however.
 
  • #11
Mine did the best outside but living near Buffalo, I had to take it inside, where it declined until it died.
 
  • #12
Looking great, Bloke!
SDCPs- congrats on getting one to pull through from seed! Sounds like you have the hang of them. If you have a warm summer, that is the trickiest part, unless you have a reasonably cool basement (or air conditioning, which my family avoids as much as possible). Depending on how tall of a pot you're using, the roots will usually come shooting out of the drainage holes- even in a 6+ inch pot, which makes it very easy to take root cuttings!
These are my favorite pictures, from BobZ of roots shooting out of an 8-inch pot (He informed me, his Regias are top-watered, 80F max in summer, 50F at night in the summer, so temps are never extreme).
http://users.humboldt.edu/rziemer/zphotos/D_regiaBigEasy2701.JPG
http://users.humboldt.edu/rziemer/zphotos/D_regiaBigEasy2704.JPG

Jim, what temp do you keep it in your house during the winter? Were you feeding your plant throughout this time? Usually winter is the easiest time to grow them for me, at least, since I can take them out from the basement and grow them with most of my other sundews.
 
  • #13
It's just on the grow rack, "room temp", low 70's. I think it was more like the change from direct sunlight to Grow Lite illumination. Feeding? Don't remember but I do characteristically sprinkle pulverized freezed dried bloodworms to the sundews and butterworts. Here's are pictures from last year, when we had a humid night and I let the bugs come into the living room, before taking it outside:

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This was how it looked when I had it outside:

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  • #14
Wow, your plant certainly looked happy outdoors! That's a beautiful pot.
How far away did you keep your Regia from the lights inside?
To get decent coloration, I keep mine (under T-8 or T-12 bulbs) within 2 inches maximum of the lights. Most of the time, they are almost touching the bulbs.
 
  • #15
I have to go with the grow lites. 2-3".
 
  • #16
Yeah, I noticed that they like top watering. But they can stand dry conditions. Mine has dried so that the soil pulled slightly away from the sides of the pot...and it didn't look that bad. A little water set that right...the next day all the leaves were dewy and it looked better than I had ever seen it (probably because it's growing rapidly right now). I keep the plant in almost full sun.

I am growing mine in a 6 inch pot. The media is probably close to 50/50 peat/silica sand. I grow it like I do because it lives naturally in an area (I believe) that gets dry in Africa...and I don't think LFSM grows there. Here is a link on D. regia in the wild Those plants are gorgeous!

How will I know if its too hot for the plant? Will the plant just die, or will it show some warning?
 
  • #17
leaves start turning black at the tips. they don't do well in full sun here at my place. finding that it appears to be related to UV light. At 3500 feet here in Hawaii lots of UV. Will probably be different in San Diego from what i remember of my visit there......
 
  • #18
Here's a friend of mine's regia, if i recall it was at or just over 2 feet.
im not sure of his potting mix, i can call him and ask, but his is grown in highland conditions with temps of 80-90 in the day and 50 at night
DSC03535.jpg
 
  • #19
Anyone else who was enjoying a snack suddenly choke? :-))

LOL. What an amazing plant... how long has he been growing that monster, SK?
 
  • #20
havent a clue, hes had that plant since i first met him lol....so probably quite a few years
 
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