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D.Adelae growing deformed leaves.

One of the sundew's that I bought from Lowes is starting to grow deformed looking leaves. I took some pictures of it but I dont have the best camera so you might not be able to see the deformed parts that great. I checked the plant with a magnifying glass to see if I could tell if there were any pest on the plant or in the soil and I couldnt see anything.

I water all my plants with rain water and distilled water using the water tray method and the temps on my grow shelf is in the low 80's during the hottest part of the day and in the 70's the rest of the time. The humidity is around 50% during the day and around 70% at night. My shelf sits infront of a south-west window and under four (40-watt fluorescent lights).

My other plants that I got from Lowes are doing alot better and are constantly sending up new normal looking growth. Has anyone seen this type of leaf deformity before or know what might cause such a thing.

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Maybe too much lighting, D. adelae is more of a shade plant likes diffuses light.
 
It'd be red if it was too much light. It's probably some kind of mineral build up since adelaes are very sensitive to that. You might also check it again for pests. Also if it starts growing normal leaves again it might have been pests that just left on their own.
 
Aphids make deformed leaves on VFTs, so that might it, but I can't be sure.
 
i can't quite tell from the picture, but are there some small, "thin hill" formations coming out of either the side or the middle of the leaf? (sorry that's the best description i could give). when i first got my Adelae from Lowes, the leaves kind of looked like yours but it had those weird things popping out of the leaves. It turns out that the bumps turned into small plantlets so i snipped off the leaf and new plants popped up all over.
i wouldn't be too concerned about it, though. as long as the leaves don't start turning brown, i wouldn't be too concerned about a mineral buildup.
 
Your humidity is alright even though your plant look dewless. So do keep an eye on the plant. If it continues to put out deformed and smaller leaves, it will come to a point when it does not grow anymore. Then the older leaves will turn brown and you'll be left with just the centre. But not to worry too much because the plant can be easily regenerated from its roots.

I have no idea why that happens but it does with one clone of mine but not another. It has growth spurts and then it will suddenly die down for no apparent reason. Most of the time, I will leave it in the pot and new plants will appear after 3-4 weeks. Sometimes I take root cuttings.

My own plants are flapping in the wind at the balcony and sometimes the humidity can drop as low as 38%. They also receive direct sunlight for some part of the day. Having said that, I live in tropical South East Asia which is on average still much more humid than most places.
 
Thanks everybody for the replies. I will definitely keep an eye on this plant and keep checking it for any pest that might be there. I will keep you posted on any updates
 
Buy a magnifying glass and look for aphids. It's also good for spotting germinated seedlings.
 
looks to me like a repotted adelae....im surprised it didnt wilt away and regrow itself. how long have you had this plant?

mine does the samething except i have mine in the mini bog in full sun light and ive had mine about 4 months.

~billy
 
  • #10
Buy a magnifying glass and look for aphids. It's also good for spotting germinated seedlings.
Aphids was the first thing I thought of because I had heard that they cause the plants to deform and I have checked it with a magnifying glass and I cant find anything on the leaves or in the soil.


looks to me like a repotted adelae....im surprised it didnt wilt away and regrow itself. how long have you had this plant?

mine does the samething except i have mine in the mini bog in full sun light and ive had mine about 4 months.

~billy

Ive had this plant for over 2 months. It was in one of those small 1 or 2 inch pots when i first bought it. I didnt transplant it I just repotted it using the (Gentle Method) by moving the soil and the plant into a 4 inch pot without disturbing the roots.
 
  • #11
The plant is green and producing new leaves. That tells me 2 things: it could use a little more light and it is at least alive. I think you should tweak the light a little and just give it time to adjust.
 
  • #12
The plant is green and producing new leaves. That tells me 2 things: it could use a little more light and it is at least alive. I think you should tweak the light a little and just give it time to adjust.

I have the four fluorescent lights about 10 inches from the plants and on 14 hours a day so I will move the light down to 6 inches from the plant and set my timer to 16 hours a day. Hopefully that will help.
 
  • #13
yeah, after looking at the pics more closely, i remember 1 of my Adelae did that when I first bought it. In my case, it turned out it didn't have enough light, and it was not humid enough. After I gave it more humidity, even the deformed leaves got more dew on them. A few weeks later, the plant produced new leaves that had red on the tentacles and they were no longer deformed. I don't know what variety of bulb you have, but 1 cheap 4 foot walmart bulb and a more expensive ott-lite bulb. I gradually increased the light, but my plant is now sitting only 2.5- 3 inches away from the bulbs and was placed under a clear plastic cup for humidity. Many people have had trouble with keeping the plant inside something like this, and I think its because their temperatures are higher than what they are where I live (80-90 F normally). Good luck w/ your plant.
 
  • #14
yeah, after looking at the pics more closely, i remember 1 of my Adelae did that when I first bought it. In my case, it turned out it didn't have enough light, and it was not humid enough. After I gave it more humidity, even the deformed leaves got more dew on them. A few weeks later, the plant produced new leaves that had red on the tentacles and they were no longer deformed. I don't know what variety of bulb you have, but 1 cheap 4 foot walmart bulb and a more expensive ott-lite bulb. I gradually increased the light, but my plant is now sitting only 2.5- 3 inches away from the bulbs and was placed under a clear plastic cup for humidity. Many people have had trouble with keeping the plant inside something like this, and I think its because their temperatures are higher than what they are where I live (80-90 F normally). Good luck w/ your plant.

I use four 48-inch 40-watt daylight fluorescent T12 bulbs plus it gets some light from the window aswell.

It has a new leaf coming up now and so far its not looking deformed yet but I should know for sure in a couple of days.
 
  • #15
I think 16 hours is a bit much. Not sure exactly where in Australia / proximity to the Equator they are, but 12 hours should be a good beginning point, and 4-6" away is standard for CP's.
 
  • #16
sorry in advance about highjacking this thread
jimscott,
i have my lights on for around 18 hours a day w/ Adelae and the rest of my plants. It's by a southwest facing window, but there are trees blocking most of the light coming in. Adult plants that I've bought seem to take it just fine, but the seedlings I have seem to take FOREVER to grow. I mean, aside from a few out of my 100 capensis, most seem to have not grown in the past month. I don't know if this is because of the extensive photoperiod or if I'm just doing something wrong. my D. intermedia Cuba is flowering now after 5 months from seed but it is only 1.5 cm across. LMK if you think light is the prob.
Thanks,
Aaron
 
  • #17
I can appreciate trees blocking the sun. I had that when had my plants in a window of a supply building that was owned by the lab in which I worked. My current setup is a 4 tier rack that has an overhang that prevents the sun from coming in, now that the sun is too high in the horizon. My concern is that now that we are in summer solstice, we are getting ~15 hours of photoperiod. Sundews started from seeds and growing to maturity is kinda like "watching paint dry". It takes a good year anyways, for most of them.

Do the plants seem happy? Are they dew-laden? Are they red, pink, or green? "If it aint broke, don't fix it". Let the plants tell you what they need.
 
  • #18
i'll pm ya jim, cuz I'm gonna go WAY off topic here (;
 
  • #19
D.Adelae growing deformed leaves. UPDATE!

2 weeks ago I got my rebate check from old uncle sam so I decided I needed a better grow rack and more lights. I went to Lowes and bought one of those 5-Tier wire shelving units and a couple of T8 lights.

This was My shelf before:
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This is my new grow rack:
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I put my D.Adelae on the bottom shelf under the new T8 lights because it didnt seem like the windowsill was working for it all that well. It has been under those new lights for a little over 2 weeks now and it is showing a big improvement.

Heres what it looks like now:
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Now all I need is more plants to fill up those big shelfs. Too bad we dont get 2 rebate checks..
 
  • #20
Looking good! I would put that purp there outside.
 
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