Ast. questions on my D adelae

[Nflytrap]

The sundew is doing quite well now. Clouds of big dew droplets, the terror to any bug which ends up on the leaf. However, recently, I decided to try a drop or 2 of milk. The milk has turned clear, and the leaf is still dissolving it. Hard to tell if the plant is growing faster or not. Has anyoen else tried this?

Also, is this time of year okay to start D adelae leaf cuttings. A couple of old dewless leaves are flopped on the LFS sphagnum(no, not Live Fresh Sphagnum

) and I've been thinking of using one for leaf cuttings. Any suggestions on procedures? Should I grow the new plant in the same pot?

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

I have little advice. I have never used milk, and generally my plants are not fed since they are in terraria and mold is an issue for me in those conditions from the remains of prey.

I don't do leaf cuttings of this species. My plants reproduce very well from the roots which make their way to the surface. I have all the plants I could ever want from this.

Generally, I place leaf cuttings on a bed of sodden live sphagnum, placing it in the same position as it grew in, and pressing it down so that there is maximum contact with the medium. I keep this in good light and very humid condition, avoiding full sun which might cook the leaves. Others have good success with floating the leaves in pure water and in high light conditions.

 

[vft guy in SJ]

Ive never tried milk, but I have read that cheese works well. My own experiment with cheese was somewhat less than exemplary though. I fed a leaf of my baby adelae what I thought was a small hunk of cheese, which it immediately dissolved into a gooey liquidy mass that ran straight to the center of the plant and hardened into a shell that prevented new growth from emerging properly. Several days of dripping water onto the shell every couple hours finally softened it enough to allow the plant to recover and I only lost 3 leaves (2 that were stunted by the shell and the original I fed the cheese to). So now I dont feed my plants anymore. They catch whatever small gnats they get on their own and seem to be perfectly happy with that.

Steve

 

[adnedarn]

Yup, I've used whole milk...   As long as you don't put too much...   All the milk does disappear and I've seen no residue or mold growth except from where I put too much milk on.   I usually don't even use a whole drop.  I have the drop dangling and dab the leaf.  What stays is what it gets.  I haven't done it enough to notice if it helps or not.  I have done that to most of my dews with no negative experiences.
Andrew

Note: My plants are grown where they get plenty of fresh air!

 

[Nflytrap]

The milk I used was low fat milk. It seems less likely to fungus then, say, insects. So far, they have all dissapeared without a trace.

 

[Copper]

I have also used whole milk with good result. I have tried the cheese, but will not repeat its use. What a mess.

 

[pond boy]

Tried it on my d.capensis "wide leaf" worked good!