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D. regia

  • Thread starter Pyro
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    regia
  • #21
Ery,
Beware the higher humidity. Sometimes D. regia freak out in humid conditions...

This is another plant (like D. schizandra) that grows well for me all winter and then struggles all summer. I've got some ideas for a highland setup in the basement for this summer... :scratch: :headwall:

Are you sure? My D. Regia has bolted (doubled the size of it's leaves) once I put it in a 50 gal tank. I would think the humidity helped it. It even has less light in the tank and same temperatures than the windowsill.
 
  • #22
I seem to recall that the two regias I had did not appreciate constant high humidity. I had leaves molding up and rotting rather quickly.

And I used a peat/perlite mix, which now I believe was keeping it far too wet. More perlit and some fir-bark for aeration next time I think............ ;)
 
  • #23
Excessive high humidity can potentially lead to problems but it is not an absolute. I think so long as you give the media a chance to "air out" between waterings (which is why I let me trays stand dry for a few days before adding more water) the plants should be okay. It is more that it does not like "wet feet" and most times the high humidity comes about from closing it in a system where it is always resting in water. If it is out of the water table it should be happy. I have not specifically tried putting any of mine in "ultra" humid conditions but I would guess I have ranges from 20% up to 90% and all mine do fine.
 
  • #24
It is more that it does not like "wet feet"

think that explains why i lost mine................
 
  • #25
We live, we learn.
 
  • #26
Are you sure? My D. Regia has bolted (doubled the size of it's leaves) once I put it in a 50 gal tank. I would think the humidity helped it. It even has less light in the tank and same temperatures than the windowsill.
Quick answer - no, I'm not certain. I believe that I've read that D. regia & other SA plants do not appreciate high humidity. However, with CPUK down - I'm unable to even do a search to try & verify my vague recollections. With many plants, especially those with unknown prior growing conditions, I'll give them higher humidity when I recieve them. Then after they've settled in, I'll acclimate them to a lower humidity environment. When I did this to my 1st D. regia - it was dead within 2 weeks.

Pinguicula Man's (aka J. Clemons) propagation methods (very wet & warm conditions) do not support my memories at all.... ??? Here's an excerpt from the description of his propagation method (2004):
I had been trying the conventional methods of "well drained" and kept losing them. I'm sure that in nature they may very well be "well drained" most of the time, but nature will surely give them some time where they are not "well drained". So I did too. . . and surprise, they seem to like that even better, or at least this clone does.

When initially starting root cuttings, stage one; I prepare one of these poly containers with a single layer of moist to wet LFS and place 1/2 inch (1.25cm) root pieces on the surface being careful to give them the most contact with the LFS that I can without covering them. I then firmly secure the cover, and have recently taken to setting them on top of the fluorescent fixtures adjacent to the warmth of the ballast. This seems to accelerate the start of plantlets.
 
  • #27
Pyro -

Another quick question for you. When you say they prefer loose media, what is the media of choice you use? All I have on hand right now is 1 part peat and 1 part perlite, so if it needs something else, I will definitely need to prepare it, as my D. regia will be on its way soon.

Thanks!

phil
 
  • #28
My D. regia, which I have had now for many years, has looked like Pyro's....it got quite large I grew it in my basement and it was grown almost as an aquatic...in LFS always sitting in 3-4" inches of water. The water was dumped periodically to keep it fresh. It is coolish and slightly humid in my basement. Every so often it would have a semi die-back or resting phase...each time growing back larger and creating new growths. At one time I had 15 crowns in the one pot, a number of which I gave away. With its last "die-back, it only grew two new crowns which have just started to really grow. I had brought it upstairs but I believe this plant was happier in my basement so I will be putting it back down there before it starts getting too hot.

Currently the two crowns are probably 6" long but at its largest, its leaves were about a foot long. It was quite a beaut and I hope it will grow back to that size this summer.

The pic is an older pic

D. regia is indeed an impressive sundew. It is one mass o' sticky goo!
 
  • #29
Hmmmm......

So, sounds like regia likes it on the rather "chilly" side then. Yes?
 
  • #30
Excessive high humidity can potentially lead to problems but it is not an absolute. I think so long as you give the media a chance to "air out" between waterings (which is why I let me trays stand dry for a few days before adding more water) the plants should be okay. It is more that it does not like "wet feet" and most times the high humidity comes about from closing it in a system where it is always resting in water. If it is out of the water table it should be happy. I have not specifically tried putting any of mine in "ultra" humid conditions but I would guess I have ranges from 20% up to 90% and all mine do fine.

That makes sense... I guess I'd better get my unhappy "Big Easy" out of the high water table I have it in. It hasn't grown at all since I got it.

My other plant has a low water table.
 
  • #31
Bob Z's D. regia grows very well for him. There are pics from his growlist both here and here. The 2nd url also has a link to a short CPN article [at the bottom] Bob wrote explaining his original growing conditions.
 
  • #32
Thanks RL, I appreciate it. Sounds like it will grow just fine in live sphagnum moss.
 
  • #33
I mentioned earlier in this thread that I placed a young D. regia outside (in San Diego). It's planted in a mix of LFS and perlite (about 70/30) and it's doing great so far, pumping out several dewy leaves. Our weather has been especially chilly here lately, so it'll be interesting to see if it flourishes once we get closer to summer.
 
  • #34
Pyro -

Another quick question for you. When you say they prefer loose media, what is the media of choice you use? All I have on hand right now is 1 part peat and 1 part perlite, so if it needs something else, I will definitely need to prepare it, as my D. regia will be on its way soon.

Thanks!

phil


Hey Phil,

I do not have a media of choice really, I use a number of different ones for this and all of them seem to do well. The one pictured is (IIRC) equal parts PBM/perlite/sand. I have some in straight PBM and some in 2/1 perlite/LFS and some in my tuberous/petiolaris/S. African winter growing Drosera mix.

The one you are getting was in last of those I think (hard to remember as I shipped 4 out at that time... If Ozzy does not repack them and they are in my original bag then look at the roots and you should be able to get a general idea of which media it was)
 
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