D. rotundifolia

[Cynic81]

A few weeks ago, I managed to rescue a small D. Rotundifolia, about the diameter of a quarter, from a pot of S. Flava overgrown with moss that was not sphagnum (I would've saved the Flava, but this was at a garden center and I was broke). Anyway, I repotted it into a 50/50 sphagnum sand mix, and it currently resides under a 1750 lumen CF bulb being watered on the tray method in a terrarium. It seems to be doing well, and is putting out three new leaves. My only concern is that I had to give it's roots a fairly decent thrashing to get rid of the moss covered bit of soil I brought it home in. Any general adivce on growing this plant? Is my setup okay? Thanks in advance

 

[Christian Dietz]

Hi,

Drosera rotundifolia needs a dormancy during the winter months. In this time it should be kept cool and also tolerates freezes. It will die back and form a hibernacula (is this the correct english word?). I have mine outside the whole year. Until now i had no problems with freeze. We had some with lower temperatures than -20°C here in Germany last year.

I would also recommend you to place them outside, if it is possible. Humidity is not that important in my opinion. It should get along with the given humidity outside. It is a very easy plant, if you give it cool dormany in winter.

Christian

 

[goldtrap2690]

good luck with this plant , its seems every time i try to cultivate it i fail , btw what type of moss was on the plants if you know .

 

[schloaty]

I'm with Christian. These guys aren't all that concerned about humidity...They do, however, like sun. Since you don't have it in sun at the moment, I would introduce it to direct sun slowly (let it tan

). If you experience true winter where you live, it should be fine outside year-round. Also, in my experience, this species is fairly hearty, so I think yours should be fine. I wouldn't worry about messing up the roots too much, as mine never seem to have much in the way of roots, and they never seem much the worse for ware when I repot them.

 

[Cynic81]

Trust me, I'd love to be able to put the little guy (not to mention the rest of my CP collection) outside in fulll sun, but since I'm living in a high rise dorm in downtown Richmond, that's going to be pretty impossible. The most I can manage is putting it on my windowsill, whihc faces east and gets at least 5-6 hours of direct sun. Would that be enough for it? And I know all about dormancy: I plan to stick it in the fridge with the rest of my plants come thanksgiving. BTW, how do I go about acclimitizing (spelling?) my plants to the fridge so I don't shock them?

 

[schloaty]

5 or 6 hours of sun sounds alright. I assume the rest of the day (in the window) they get nice, bright conditions. This is about what mine get, and they're doing just fine.

Hmmm...acclimating to the fridge...well, since I don't really have to use a fridge (nice, cold attick), I can't really help you there, sorry.

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

If you can't find a way to keep it really cold over the winter after it forms a hibernacula (you used the proper English term Christian&#33

then I strongly suggest you find a way to limit the photoperiod to under 11 hrs. daylength for the winter months. I have never had success in overwintering D. rotundifolia in warm conditions, possibly as a result of having too long a photoperiod. I would just pop it in the fridge in a ziplock bag keeping the medium just moist enough not to dry out completely (the roots do not take up water during dormancy).