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Leaf cutting with capensis

I tried taking a couple of leaves off my capensis and dropped it into a cup of RO water.  It's been nearly 3 weeks now and one of the leaves developed a fuzzy, webbing around it that looks like mould/fungus.  There doesn't seem to be any developement in the other leaf.

Can someone tell me usually how long of a process this is?  How does this compare to just making the cutting and placing it in the medium?

Thanks  
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Hi CChang,

I never used the 'traditional' way to make cutting of sundews, but I did a lot with your technique. It usually take more than a month to see results, and your leaves should be clean befor introducing them in pure water, since it can encourage algae growth.

I usually have great success with sundews and utricularia species such as U.longifolia, but some species don't work at all or almost, as D.aliciae and D.capensis 'red' (why only the red? I don't know!). I have some batch of cutting which developped the same 'grey mould', but i cannot why either... All i know is that isn't a good sign for cuttings, since this phenomenon usually lead to very few working cuttings to none.

Do you pot are open to air? it could be a source of contaminants...
 
cchang,
I would try again using a different method, such as this:
place capensis cuttings on a pot/tray of moist, pure peatmoss.  Give it good light and good ventilation while maintaining high humidity, if you can.  This method should prevent most mold infestations.  I have used this method successfully on other drosera as well.  Best of luck to you.
 
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>This is how I do nearly all of my Drosera leaf cuttings. One thing among many, that I particularly like about this technique is that the plants will keep like this for a very long time until I am ready to pot them up. This lets me make more plants using trimmings I would ordinarily discard, those created when repotting plants. Also, it creates new plants well before I have space to grow them.

The list of plants that I have successfully propagated this way include, but is not limited to:

Drosera adelae
Drosera aliciae
Drosera anglica
Drosera binata
 - - - - - - -all forms (even flower stalks will produce plantlets)
Drosera burkeana
Drosera capensis
Drosera capillaris
Drosera collinsiae
Drosera dielsiana
Drosera filiformis
 - - - - - - all forms
Drosera glabripes
Drosera hamiltonii
Drosera natalensis
Drosera neocaledonica
Drosera nidiformis
Drosera regia
Drosera roraimae
Drosera rotundifolia

 </span>

d_capensis_all_red_water_propagation.jpg
 
I did not cover up the top.  Have you guys also tried dipping the cutting into Superthrive or a rooting hormone?

I think I'll try it again now that my D. capensis has more petioles that are larger in size.  This time, with a cover.

BTW Tom, I dropped a SASE in the mail for you yesterday.
Thanks again!  
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<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>I never cover the top, the plants need all the oxygen they can get in order to continue growing.</span>
 
PinguiculaMan,

Do you ever get mold or fungal growth? How do you prevent that? My cutting samples are pretty small and they float to the top.
 
I just want to make sure if I under stand correctly PinguiculaMan.

1- You just take a cutting from a Drosera. Does not matter what part of the plant? Is their a minimum size of cutting?
2- Place it into a glass of distilled water.
3- Do you place the glass in a terrarium ?
I grow under compact fluorescents, I take it give them as much light as possible?

Sorry about all the questions but this will be my first time trying this form of propagation.
 
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>I have sometimes had filamentous algae start to grow. It is easy to remove with a stainless steel screen sieve and fine forceps. I pour the contents through the screen, the algae stick to the screen and I pluck the plant parts off to replace in fresh clean water. Repeat if necessary.

No, I have never had any mold or fungus problems. Most of them are seriously inhibited in these conditions.

What part of the plant?  -- I have not done this with roots or non-photosynthetic parts.

Place it into a glass of distilled water?  --  Yes, but be sure to keep the water level up at all times.

Do you place the glass in a terrarium?  --   No, I do not now, nor have I ever used terraria.

I grow under cool-white fluorescent lights. With this technique, as long as they are kept where the air temperatures are moderate they can be given full direct sunlight and this seems to enhance the process.</span>
 
  • #10
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>cchang,

Sorry to take so long to answer your question.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Do you ever get mold or fungal growth?  How do you prevent that?  My cutting samples are pretty small and they float to the top.

Do you ever get mold or fungal growth?
  ----None that I notice.

How do you prevent that?
  ----I assume this technique creates the absence of a suitable environment for the little nasties.

My cutting samples are pretty small and they float to the top.
  ----Floating on the top can work just fine too.</span>
 
  • #11
To complete your list Joseph, I would add these one, which I have a lot of success with:

Drosera dielsiana
Drosera intermedia
Drosera tokaiensis
Utricularia longifolia
Various Utricularia species using flowers scapes (growth notice at the base of them)

But on my side, I only had poor results with D.aliciae unfortunatly... On my side, leaving the pot closed give me good results. I am not visiting my pot often, so I prefer this way, it avoid me to have to deal with total dryness and/or some particules getting in the water.

The only down side of this technique for me is that if you wait too long before repotting them, the plantlets take a while to harder and are pretty fragile, especially in the D. binata forms/hybrids cases.
 
  • #12
Pingman cool pic! You mean D.regia roots easily for you?! How do you introduce them to soil with this method?
 
  • #13
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>I have found that D. regia are very reluctant to produce plantlets on their leaves, the few times it was successful were after a very long wait. Root cuttings seem much easier.

Fill a pot with media, poke a hole, stick it in. Put all into ziploc plastic bag and close to multiple fluorescent lights until plant is growing vigorously. Remove from bag gradually and not until it has its own root system.

An alternative is to put them in peat/sand mud until they are growing well (see photo). The pot in the tray is to permit watering without disturbing the media(mud):</span>

d_regia_root_cutting_tray.jpg
 
  • #14
Wow... that's a neat trick! I'll think I'll give that a try with some other Drosera seeds I got.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]
The pot in the tray is to permit watering without disturbing the media(mud)
 
  • #15
OK, I'm trying this. I have D. slackii and D. capensis now in a glass of water. I'll probably try a D. venusta too, as I've had success with leaf cutting of this (on peat/sand) in the past. Cool.

Capslock
 
  • #16
I want to try this with a D. venusta. Has anyone had success with this method on that plant? Also can I put other species in the same cup of water?

Thanks
Steve
 
  • #17
Steve,
I'm trying with mine right now, with no good result yet. Is your plant big enough to do this yet? If so, you're doing something right with it!

Capslock
 
  • #18
Hey Max,
Thanks for the heads up. Yeah I think its big enough to try with now. Did you get the PM I sent you a couple days ago with the pic? Im assuming not since you are asking lol. Here it is for all to see.
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D. venusta (cutting started late July 2003).
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Enjoy
Steve
 
  • #19
Wow, that looks great, Steve! The D. venusta remains my favorite 'dew. It glistens like no other. Oh, and no, I didn't get the PM. ??
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Capslock
 
  • #20
Even half-dead D. venusta leaves strike well in water. Fresh, dewy leaves often produce three or more plants.
 
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