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Petiolaris Set-up

S

Slurm

I am getting back into growing CPs after a few years break of mostly focusing on succulents. While I was "gone", petiolaris sundews suddenly became inexpensive and accessible to the average grower. I want to be able to provide a good set up for them. I am planning on growing them in small, squat, plasitc terreriums (so that lights can be placed close to them). I need to bring my outdoor tropicals in for the winter, so I need to make a bid growlight purchase. What type/brand/combination of growlights should I buy for growing petiolaris dews (as well as other rosetted sundews and mexican pings). A lot of growers seem to have great luck with petiolaris complex sundews. Is there a "magic combination" when it comes to growlight set-up and distance from lights? My house gets warm in the summer but is a rather consant 68 in the winter. What sort of heating device should I get to keep the plants from sulking all winter?
 
Umm well a aqurium heater in a glass jar maybe and for lighting maybe 2 lamp sockets with a cord using warm lights produces alot of heat.
Taking shelfs then wairing light sockets would work nicely if you kept the closet warm and humid
 
I am also in the process of setting up a Petiolaris Complex home. My wife bought me fluoresecnt fixtures that accommodates two Grolites apiece. We'll see how that works. I bought a submercible heater and plan to either have it reside in the "tray" that the plants are in or in a large Prego spaghetti sauce jar of water. Many folks use fishtanks that are semi-enclosed, to promote humidity. Perhaps RL... or pingman or Chuck or Travis or... will see this topic.
 
Well I am seriously considering a 10 gallon setup for 2 easy wolly dews.
 
My set ups is in 20 gal long aquarium on its side. I use about 76 watts of cfl's. The plants are raised on pots to be about 5 inches from the lights (through glass). In the summer, it will regulary reach over 110 degrees in the tank as the west sun hits the tank. In the winter, i use a heating cable to keep the tank bout 80 degrees.
Last winter almost all of the group went dormant.

Here are pics of my set up with winter heat cable:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minicatt/sets/72157600203879327/detail/

Peter
 
I've been considering petiolaris too. They went dormant in the winter? Don't you mean the summer? I'm planning on using a 10 gallon on a south facing sill, with growlights, sphagnum on the bottom, and a reptile heating rock buried in the sphagnum to make it nice and warm :banana2:
 
no, petiolaris group typicially go dormant in the winter. Tuberous drosera go dormant in the summer.
Peter
 
Does anyine have a picture of a petiolaris plant going dormant? I'm wondering if my paradoxa is doing so. There are several new leaves standing straight up, like a fist, with no indication of branching out and opening. Below them are the older leaves, nice and dewy.
 
Yep, definitely dormant

My D. dilatato-petiolaris (my only wooly) looked like this for the 1st 2 months I had it. I got it in May. In early July, once the room it was in had heated up to 80+ degrees (crappy insulation), it started to grow. It is doing fine but looks kind of bad because my grow-lights suck.

Where can I get a terrarium heating cable?
 
  • #10
Any pet store will carry the reptile heating cables. or google it online.....
Peter.
 
  • #12
Do petiolaris Drosera do best sitting in water? I have considered doing this, but I don't know if it is a good idea because the high heat and humidity in the set-up will most likely promote the growth of all kinds of nasty stuff. I grow non-terrerium plants, such as mexican pings in water trays, and although it works well, algae and other stuff can be a problem and can cause plants to rot.
 
  • #13
Some people say water the n let dry out then some say keep in tray unless dormant. I don't know ???
 
  • #14
Peter, what do you do for one that is experiencing the beginning of dormancy? What temps and light and water level?
 
  • #15
Keep the temps above 70 degrees. I keep the medium moist but not sitting in water. I actually find D. paradoxa hard to get out of dormancy! The others like the woolies and D. falconeri seem easier to me!
In fact, i let a paradoxa get too dry one time and the plant is dead.

Peter
 
  • #16
D. paradoxa - Lol! Hence the name! Not sure what this plant wants to do. Now I see 4 leaves bending outward, as if they are going to fully open, "business as usual". I have the whole Petiolaris complex (3 plants so far) in a tub with a submercible heater. Temps are barely over 70 right now. My wife is going to get me a 5.5 gallon tank - for aesthetic reasons!
 
  • #17
You can keep paradoxa wet while in dormancy. Done it numerous times with mine when they go "dormant". This is the only one I would advocate that for however.

Slurm,

For your tank it is probably easier/safer to use the heat cable like Pingman suggested or make a false bottom and drop a fully submersible aquarium heater into the reservoir you create that way. THe risk of a jar based setup is great because the water dries up faster than you realize...
 
  • #18
The temp is up to ~80 and I had to leave for work. I'll be tweaking it until things top out at about 90. I'll probably do some semblence of a false bottom, to keep the water from evaporating too quickly on that Petiolaris / B. liniflora setup.
 
  • #19
Does the paradoxa in this picture look as if it is going dormant?

DCP_1841.jpg
 
  • #20
Center right?

Yeah, looks like it
 
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