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D. neocaledonica

I recently obtained a small plant but it hasn't been doing much for me. It seems to be very picky about humidity. Is there anyone here that has grown it succesfully? Any tips?
Thanks,
David
 
I found this to be a rather difficult to establish species, but once I got the conditions right it prospered and flowered for me.  My plant is in pure milled live LFS in a full sized pot.  Water was about 4 cm under the medium surface, achieved by putting the pot in a jardeniere arrangement and keeping the water topped off to that level.  Water reserves were changed weekly.  I grew it outdoors in the warm months.  It seems to require a lot of light for good typical growth.  I got the plant to establish by providing constantly humid (near 100%) humidity in a terrarium environment, and acclimated slowly to outdoor conditions once humidity was over 60%. The plant is sensitive to low humidity until it establishes as you have observed. If you dont have a terrarium, try a dome or plastic bag.  This species although related closely to D. spatulata is rather a unique looking Sundew and very beautiful when well grown.
 
Mine is in pure new zealand LFS sitting in 2-3" water which is allowed to nearly dry off before being replenished. It is 4" under 160W cool white fluorescent lighting (14h photoperiod). I got it as a seedling, so I placed a sandwitch bag (with some holes punched in it) around the container for added humidity. The bag is still on and the plant is growing well. Hope this helps.
 
Mine is in roughly the same conditions as chloroplast, but I never bothered with bags or anything. It's in highland conditions close under fluorescent tubes, but otherwise open air. It's in evenly mixed peat and sand. It has done well, and is now flowering. Anyone know if it self-polinates?

ed85b017.jpg


PS: That's P. lusitanica that found it's way in via wayward seed. P lusitanica will grow happily with any cp, it seems.

Capslock
 
Mine didn't self pollinate. I have never heard of any seed of this species, and I looked for it fairly hard. My plant was self sterile and hand polination didn't work either. It propagates very readily from leaf cuttings placed on damp peat.
 
Sorry I don't have any pics to support it, but both of my 5 year old plants have just finished flowering and both of the flower spikes were all filled with seed. They flower and seed every year without any extra help from me. Under my observation I find this species performs best when grown in cool highland conditions with high relative humidity. It definitely hates the heat. I don't know what triggers the production of seed of fertility of the blooms, but it does happen.

Phil
 
D.neocaledonica produced seeds for me also. Unfortunetly I lost the parent plant and seedlings a while back.
 
robably just my bad kuck then, I expected seed since it is so much like D. spatulata. I also found the humidity wasn't so much of an issue once the plant gets established and it did fine outdoors at 50-70 per cent average humidity. This species survived the drought that took most of my other plants, but seemed happiest in boggy conditions.

Don't know if it's possible, but I would love to see a photo of the seed testa if anyone has one?
 
I have a tiny one, it does nothing at all. Its like 3/4 of an inch with green, dull leaves and won't change at all.

Oh yeah.. so as tamlin said he grows it in live moss, perhaps i should transplant.

edit again: AFter thinking about this it's really bothering me. sorry to intrude on this topic, but really-- what can I do for it? Its in very humid conditions,.. semi wet, I have no idea what soil- never transplanted it.
 
  • #10
It took me a couple of years to get my plant to do anything but sit there.
 
  • #11
Finally got a picture of an open flower:

b2bfa162.jpg


Capslock
 
  • #12
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Tamlin Dawnstar @ June 09 2006,11:59)]Don't know if it's possible, but I would love to see a photo of the seed testa if anyone has one?
Hi Tamlin:
Although the picture is not clear, hope you like that and discover more.
caledonica2.jpg

caledonica.jpg
 
  • #13
Yes, that is certainly the flower of D. neocaldonica, the styles are quite unique and unmistakable.

Thanks for the seed photos! They are as I expected very similar to D. spatulata. Good work Sam, it was nice of you to take the time to do that.
 
  • #14
Thanks Tamlin!
I hope that I can buy a better instrument for research on future!
smile_m_32.gif
 
  • #15
Can not really add much here as Tamlin, Capslock and Phil said most of it however I can say that given a slow enough change over the plant can adapt to lower humidity and higher temps. It took me almost a year to harden off a TC batch of these but after that they did and are continuing to do very well. I had them in the crawlspace for a time with my highlanders but recently moved them inside to my Genlisea tank because of lack of space. They have done fine in there even with temps of 75+ perpetually.
 
  • #16
Right you are Pyro, this is a real bear to get established but once it takes the plant is really no more fussy than D. rotundifolia. This one needs to be outside I think, it has never prospered for me indoors even with lots of lights above it. It really is a fascinating plant. I can also add that it is quite drought tolerant, one of the few Drosera that survived last years brutal drought here, but grew best as a semi aquatic for me.
 
  • #17
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Tamlin Dawnstar @ June 20 2006,9:38)]This one needs to be outside I think
Maybe in you neck of the woods but I think Atlanta heat might croak it here...
 
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