What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

How do I get huge dew?

I have a bunch of sundews, they are in a tank with temps 60-90 F and high humidity. two florescent tubes on 16hr photoperiod.
My sundews are not producing alot of dew like many of the pics i have seen- and my slackii is producing almost none.
A while ago I moved a couple plants outside and they made more dew than normal.
does anyone know the defining factor here? do they need cooler temps/more air circulation, more light?
 
more light...in most cases this is the cause...humidity can also play a role in dew production
 
Light is definitely the defining factor. The plants should be as close as possible to the lights.
 
light is the deciding factor........sundews will produce dew in extreamly low humidity if they get good light.........

also with very few exception sundews need good air circulation.....they grow fine in a tray set up and low humidity so long as their roots stay damp-wet........as a newbie i killed lots more sundews to low air circulation by locking them up in a terrarium than to any other cause....
 
so, I have a tank with a bunch of sundews in it. right now they really dont get too much circulation -lowland conditions almost. Should I remover the cover - seems like it would lose a lot of light.
should I put a fan in with them? or should I just put circulation holes in the cover?
 
"A picture is worth a thousand words". These are in a closet, under s fluorescent shoplite:

IMG_0194.jpg


And these are on a rack, next to sliding glass doors:

DCP_1842.jpg
 
Turn the tank on its side. Lights go on what is now the top.

If you have tropical species that like the warmth and high humidity you can get some plexiglass to close off some of the opening.

Or prop the cover open slightly to improve air circulation.
 
You'll get more light if you don't have glass between the plants and the bulbs/tubes. Also, you don't need the tank at all; the only sundews I can think of that typically need terrarium culture would be the petiolaris-complex 'dews. Even then, you probably don't need a tight-fitting lid. All of my tropical sundews grow in pretty much ambient household conditions - humidity 25-65%, temps 60 to 80F. My D. petiolaris and lanata are the two exceptions to that; they live in an open tank adjacent to my lowland Neps and receive a little extra radiant heat as a result. (I try not to let them get any lower than 70F.) A large bulk of my tropical sundews are actually still outside right now for summer; humidity rarely goes over 40% during the day and the nighttime low is about 45 or 50F. They're all doing fine - I've even managed to get root cuttings to bud under these conditions.
~Joe
 
yeah light is important, but its actually humidity that determines the size of the dew. Under lower humidity the dew drops will be smaller but it will have a lot more hold, with an increase in humidity the dew should become larger but have less hold.
 
  • #10
yeah light is important, but its actually humidity that determines the size of the dew. Under lower humidity the dew drops will be smaller but it will have a lot more hold, with an increase in humidity the dew should become larger but have less hold.

Not to be a cynical, but is that something you've observed or is that something you've read, or is it something theorized? The reason why I asked is that these plants were all at window sills, open tray, in air conditioned rooms, where the moisture in the air was continually sucked out.


Drosera_capensis.jpg



Drosera_anglica_intermedia.jpg


AF003101.jpg


AF002901.jpg


AF002801.jpg


AF002701.jpg


These weren't in AC but the room was hot and dry when these pics were taken:

AR000102.jpg


AF000201.jpg
 
  • #11
yeah light is important, but its actually humidity that determines the size of the dew. Under lower humidity the dew drops will be smaller but it will have a lot more hold, with an increase in humidity the dew should become larger but have less hold.

uhhhhhhhhhhh.................no....................ive got experience to prove me right, what yah got? ive got capensis and binata growing in a room that has 15% humidity and lower, both plants are plenty big enough that the micro climate of the soil surface has no influence on the leaves 6-10 inches away from the soil.......yet they are dripping with dew cause they sit in a south facing picture window.......now im guessing since your in Oregon, you never have to worry bout low humidity.....now couple that with the fact you aint been growing that long....and why should we take your word ofver Jim's and mine.....ive grown dews in everything from a saturated environment in a terrarium to humidity so low day in and day out it makes your skin crack if you aint used to it.......i can say with 100% certainty that dew production is 99% the result of how much light yah give the plants and not much else.........
 
  • #12
So, I wanted to grow my highland nep. burbidgeae with the sundews, in high humidity and drops down to around 55 at night but do you think that they should just be in separate areas?
Also, if the plants are really close to the lights (4-6 inches), won't the heat burn them if there isnt any glass?
 
  • #13
I haven't grown this particular Nep but I would keep them in separate environments. 4-6" is generally a good distance from plant to artificial light and there shouldn't be any heat generated by the light, assuming you are using fluorescent lighting. Which sundews do you have? Some are tropical. Some are sub-tropical. Some are temperate. Depending upon what they need is the best determinant as to whether they can be kept together.
 
  • #14
If those fluorescent tubes are hot to the touch, something's wrong. In my ideal setup, every plant would be exactly one millimeter from the light at all times, provided they had room to produce new leaves.
 
  • #15
the sundews are subtropical are sub tropical. I really liked the shelf idea where the plants are just on a shelf with a light over them (no tank) but I was wondering if there is enough humidity for highland nepenthes this way.
 
  • #16
Hmmm - I glanced through the replies and think I need to disagree w/ the responses (or at least qualify them as possibly being overly simplistic).

Typically a healthy Drosera will produce significant quantities of dew. If they didn't do that in nature, they'd be unable to perform their function and be at a disadvantage to their brethren. The replies that I noticed (such as strong light, air circulation, humidity, etc) can all contribute to the plant's health but may not be the determining factor in how healthy a plant is. Since many dews grow in open sunny areas, strong light is often a factor in their health but some plants may need add'l factors like high temps or high humidity or possibly even the correct combinations of these or other factors.

To state that changing any one factor is the holy grail for determining dew production for D. arcturi, D. lanata, D. linearis, D. schizandra, D. regia, etc would seem to be misleading. Finding the specific requirements to fit each plant's needs is what we try to do in growing them. Dew production is one characteristic than often provides us an insight into a plant's health / 'happiness'.
 
  • #17
I see...
are 40 watt T12 tubes sufficient for my plants? do I want T12 or 8,? or do I need to get compact lighting?
 
  • #18
the sundews are subtropical are sub tropical. I really liked the shelf idea where the plants are just on a shelf with a light over them (no tank) but I was wondering if there is enough humidity for highland nepenthes this way.

Many highland nepenthes can be easily adjusted to lower than natural humidity. What species (drosera and nepenthes) are you trying to grow?
 
  • #19
Many highland nepenthes can be easily adjusted to lower than natural humidity. What species (drosera and nepenthes) are you trying to grow?

drosera: hilaris, aliceae, venusta, hamiltonii, slackii, admirabilis
Nepenthes: burbidgeae... dont have any more highland, but anything that's not ultra high.
 
  • #20
your nep should do fine in you can provide a night time temperature drop for it.

As for the dews, i did a little research, D. hamiltonii has a reputation for being pretty hard to make dewy. So don't be surprised if that one always looks a little pathetic.
 
Back
Top