D. madagascariensis flower

[Drosera36]

Yesterday, I noticed a funny little "ball" in the crown of my D. madagascariensis plant. Today, after it has grown a bit, it is clearly a flower stalk emerging. I am very excited since this is the first flower it has ever made and I've only had it since January. I was wondering if there are any things that I should do? Like, do the flowers self-pollinate? Or do I have to pollinate it by myself? And, how tall will the stalk get? Soon some seed should hopefully become available for anyone who wants some.

-Ben

 

[rattler]

IIRC its self-fertile and pollenating just like most South African species.

 

[mabudon]

Yep, you just gotta enjoy it, and once most of the pods turn brown and start to split, chop the stalk off and let it dry out (in an envelope or something so as not to lose the seeds)

For some reason mine flowers and never makes seeds, but rattler is correct, they are supposed to self-seed, mine just didn't get the memo

 

[jimscott]

Mine are taking forever to actually bloom.... or maybe they did and I missed it?

 

[Drosera36]

Ok, thanks for the info guys. I've never actually seen any pictures of an open D. madagascariensis flower, so it will be cool to actually see a real one. I think the flower stalk will be fully developed in the next 2 weeks. I was also wondering how tall the stalks get? I don't want them to be so tall that they come out of the terrarium.

jimscott, don't worry, your plants will flower for you eventually. Ya just gotta fatten them up a bit with bugs.

-Ben

 

[mabudon]

hey Ben- bad news, if yours are anything like mine the stalks get pretty durn tall, like way taller than one foot (tho I just gave away the one I had flowering, now that I look over at my plants....)
But on the bright side, the stalk doesn't necessarily from straight up, so it might snake about the tank a bit, don't worry about it, if it wants to make flowers, it will find a way

 

[rattler]

they get fairly tall. as far as seeds. it doesnt seem to produce near as many as the other closely related species. maybe ifyou attempt to pollonate it you will get a higher seed count. never tried. been half tempted to try and hybridize it

 

[Drosera36]

Okey doke, I guess I'll just let the flower stalk trail around in the terrarium. I was just wondering, but would D. madagascariensis be considered a "rare" plant?

-Ben

 

[rattler]

no its fairly easy to get ahold of, not as common as capensis but not rare either

 

[Drosera36]

Time for pics! Cept the flower hasn't opened yet, it's just really tall.

I know, not the best pic of the plant, but I was in a hurry.

-Ben

 

[jimscott]

Congatulations, Ben! Yours did better than mine. Mine never flowered.

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

Always had trouble getting mine to flower, and when it did I had no seed. I hope you have better success. Nice plant!

 

[rattler]

mine is a regular bloomer, not quite as bad as capensis but ive got a new stalk every few months, main difference ive found between it and the other common Southern Africa species is that it has fewer seeds.

oh and interesting note, do yah want to know where mine has been growing for the last 18 months? in a cell of a 4 pack like you buy bedding plants in. water level is quite often near the soil surface. never gotten around to transplanting it. perhaps this plant REALLY enjoys cramped very, very wet conditions?

 

[Drosera36]

My plant isn't really cramped, and it wasn't in very good condition when I got it from Equilibrio Carnivorous Plants. It was in a 2-inch pot with algae-infested peat/perlite. I didn't have much room for it, nor room for a water dish, so it got very dry. Then, I had more room, repotted it into a peat/perlite mix (the perlite was washed REALLY well) and then it grew several inches taller. Later, when I went to a bog near my house, I took a handful of live LFS. I then put it into my D. madagascariensis's pot. It has been alive ever since I got it, sometime in March. I have heard of plants doing better with live LFS, and so maybe that's what made it flower.

-Ben

 

[jimscott]

As we speak, I am getting a second chance. Another stalk is budding. Maybe some hand-pollinating this time?