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!
Tuberous Sundew Seedlings
. I have a few questions. Should I give them any special attention apart from the normal Drosera care and when should they go dormant? 
You want to keep them as well fed as possible. The bigger they are when they go dormant the larger the tuber and the better chance of survival through dormancy. And beware that a premature hot spell (7 days or longer) could cause them to go dormant before they are ready. I've lost many a winter grower seedling due to 80 degree weather in Jan or Feb. The former D. peltata complex is much more forgiving about moisture conditions during dormancy than many of the other tuberous species. Some people get away with keeping the soil moist all year round.
Peltata dormancy isn't actually necessary, they are one of the most tropical (if not the) tuberous drosera out there, they are native from Victoria Au to India, and here in north QLD I grow many of mine (also my lunata) year round with temps from 8c in winter nights to 40c summer days, I find they like less sun than most drosera and more humidity, I feed my plants betta pellets and they flower 2-4 times a year, some of my tubers are 1cm and up across, and my plants are over 30cm, some over 40cm tall, however if you want.
My seedlings mature rather fast, and I have both tropical and temperate varieties, don't over feed them or they WILL mould and rot, and a fluctuating water table works well, but never to high (even though wild plants here are flooded for a few months of the year), so if your worried about dormancy you can skip it, unlike most other tuberous drosera whom need it.
My seedlings mature rather fast, and I have both tropical and temperate varieties, don't over feed them or they WILL mould and rot, and a fluctuating water table works well, but never to high (even though wild plants here are flooded for a few months of the year), so if your worried about dormancy you can skip it, unlike most other tuberous drosera whom need it.
I think it may depend on where the plants originated. The form of peltata I have will rot out if kept moist during dormancy. I've experimented with this several times with the same result. I always keep the main colony dry and have tried small groups of tubers in other pots with varying degrees of moisture, all have rotted. Unfortunately my plants did not come with location data to possibly confirm this. Another possibility may be that I have one of the forms formerly known as peltata. I know that the complex was revised and broken up into different species fairly recently.
It was broken up, the first step is to see if the plant has a basal rosset, e.g. lunata doesn't, but peltata does, the two plants lapse in range, and even grow together, however in my expeirnce lunata is much more resistant to heat and rot, but both can grow year round.
I should also add that you shouldnt let them go dormant until they have enough energy stored, fish food, tiny crickets and fruit flies work well, but in small amounts.
I should also add that you shouldnt let them go dormant until they have enough energy stored, fish food, tiny crickets and fruit flies work well, but in small amounts.
Morphological evaluation of the Drosera peltata complex (Droseraceae)
Robert Gibson, Barry J. Conn and Jeremy J. Bruhl
Australian Systematic Botany, 2012, 25, 49–80
http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/SB11030
Drosera lunata Buch.-Ham ex DC. Prodromus Systematis
Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 1: 319 (1824);
Tuberous herb, usually olive-green; tuber ovoid, up to 9mm
diameter by 5mm tall; surface white to red, often in a papery
sheath; vertical stolon 2–6 cm long. Stem erect, usually simple,
sometimes shortly branched, 9–50 cm long, glabrous. Leaves,
often in a flat basal rosette and cauline; basal leaves 3–27, the
lamina ovate to elliptic, 1.5–5mm long by 3–7mm wide on a
linear petiole 4–14mm long, by up to 0.8mm wide; cauline
leaves alternate, the lamina crescentic, 0.7–3mm long by
1–4.5mm wide, with acute angles, on petiole 1–16mm long.
Inflorescence a 1-sided raceme 1–10-flowered; peduncle
usually 0.5–3 cm long; pedicels 1–12mm long. Sepals ovate,
elliptic, rhombic or ovate, 1.4–4.2mm long by 0.6–1.8mmwide,
glabrous with the margin entire to serrulate, or denticulate, to
partially to fully fimbriate with hairs up to 0.6mm long. Petals
obovate to cuneate, 1–6mm long by 1–3.2mm wide, white or
rarely pink. Styles 3, 0.4–1mm long, divided into a total of
~15–30 cylindrical segments. Seeds 0.3–0.6mm long by
0.3mm maximum diameter, ovoid with a shallowly reticulated
surface. Flowering throughout the year.
Habitat
This species occurs over a great altitudinal range, from sea
level in subtropical locations, to elevations of at least 3600m
altitude in tropical mountains (Hara 1966; Balakrishnan 1981;
Zhang 1982; Grierson and Long 1984; Naithani 1984; Larsen
1987; Amaratunga 1988); with one herbarium specimen
(R. Strachey s.n., anno 1867, K), possibly collected from
around 6000-m altitude at Jagersar, Uttarakhand, in the Indian
Himalayas.
Notes
This morphologically variable species can be a short, self-supporting
plant (often with a well developed basal rosette) or
can form slender plants up to 70 cm tall that are supported by
surrounding plants. This species can grow any time of year
when soil moisture conditions are optimum for growth.
Bracteole shape and margin and sepal margin are highly
variable, with the latter varying from entire to denticulate to
partially or fully fimbriate. Plants have been collected in flower
in every month of the year across the range. Unlike most
tuberous Drosera species, plants of D. lunata often grow in
summer and flower in autumn, at least partly in response to the
recurring wet season.
Robert Gibson, Barry J. Conn and Jeremy J. Bruhl
Australian Systematic Botany, 2012, 25, 49–80
http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/SB11030
Drosera lunata Buch.-Ham ex DC. Prodromus Systematis
Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 1: 319 (1824);
Tuberous herb, usually olive-green; tuber ovoid, up to 9mm
diameter by 5mm tall; surface white to red, often in a papery
sheath; vertical stolon 2–6 cm long. Stem erect, usually simple,
sometimes shortly branched, 9–50 cm long, glabrous. Leaves,
often in a flat basal rosette and cauline; basal leaves 3–27, the
lamina ovate to elliptic, 1.5–5mm long by 3–7mm wide on a
linear petiole 4–14mm long, by up to 0.8mm wide; cauline
leaves alternate, the lamina crescentic, 0.7–3mm long by
1–4.5mm wide, with acute angles, on petiole 1–16mm long.
Inflorescence a 1-sided raceme 1–10-flowered; peduncle
usually 0.5–3 cm long; pedicels 1–12mm long. Sepals ovate,
elliptic, rhombic or ovate, 1.4–4.2mm long by 0.6–1.8mmwide,
glabrous with the margin entire to serrulate, or denticulate, to
partially to fully fimbriate with hairs up to 0.6mm long. Petals
obovate to cuneate, 1–6mm long by 1–3.2mm wide, white or
rarely pink. Styles 3, 0.4–1mm long, divided into a total of
~15–30 cylindrical segments. Seeds 0.3–0.6mm long by
0.3mm maximum diameter, ovoid with a shallowly reticulated
surface. Flowering throughout the year.
Habitat
This species occurs over a great altitudinal range, from sea
level in subtropical locations, to elevations of at least 3600m
altitude in tropical mountains (Hara 1966; Balakrishnan 1981;
Zhang 1982; Grierson and Long 1984; Naithani 1984; Larsen
1987; Amaratunga 1988); with one herbarium specimen
(R. Strachey s.n., anno 1867, K), possibly collected from
around 6000-m altitude at Jagersar, Uttarakhand, in the Indian
Himalayas.
Notes
This morphologically variable species can be a short, self-supporting
plant (often with a well developed basal rosette) or
can form slender plants up to 70 cm tall that are supported by
surrounding plants. This species can grow any time of year
when soil moisture conditions are optimum for growth.
Bracteole shape and margin and sepal margin are highly
variable, with the latter varying from entire to denticulate to
partially or fully fimbriate. Plants have been collected in flower
in every month of the year across the range. Unlike most
tuberous Drosera species, plants of D. lunata often grow in
summer and flower in autumn, at least partly in response to the
recurring wet season.
Last edited:
