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Cultivation of pygmy drosera help.

I've been moving around for the time(since I moved to hawaii) I've stopped collecting CPs(I still maintain some).
I will be moving to a place(humid,night 50 F drops,cloudy,trpical highland rain forest) Etc) where a N. Hamata or any ultra highlander could grow.
But will pygmy drosera do well there,provided that I have some supplemental lighting? i'm just curious since I'm trying to get back into this hobby.
This move will be temporary,I'm not sure how long so that is why I don't have tons of CPs.
 
i grow them under bright lights where it never gets over 80 during the day and never below 45. i keep them wet all the time but never waterlogged. it doesnt get very humid its usually around 40-60% but they probly could take higher humidity.
hope this helps
 
Okay cool.
I had these in Oregon and it got cool but since it rains 130+ inches growlights are my only option.
Not growing these recently has made me forget their tolerances.
 
D. scorpioides will handle those temps fine. I've woken up a couple of mornings in the past, to discover mine had a bit of snow on them. I don't know if any other pygmies are that tough as I usually bring them in when the temps get to 38°F.
 
Change of plan(this shows how my life is in a blender)
I'm going to be living in a lowland area that is way to hot for pygmies.
Big reason why i have not bought CPs since I've been moving.
Hawaii has huge climate variations within just 20 miles,
so my highlanders could die if I move to a lowland area.
My life will stabilize soon. Like 6 months !
 
I'm thinking that Hawaii and a lot of Australia share a very similar climate - hot and humid. Although there is more variation in Australia - hotter and drier, as well as colder.
 
My best results under twin flourescents (1 coolwhite/1 grolux) was by keeping the rosettes *nearly touching the bulbs* which kept them thrifty and intensely colored. This was in the colder months when temps in the 40F range was optimal and they were in tray water, most in 50/50 peat/silica sand.

Summering outdoors and flowering abundantly, watering was reduced overall. For summer dormant sensitive species (most of the more rare species are in this category) I used to summer them under lights after natural photoperiod initiated dormancy. These species in a mix with higher sand to 70 oer cent, watered by immersing the pot in water for 10 mins. or so, aiming at a nearly dry surface but moisture available to prevent root dessication. A fan was also employed to increase air circulation. Nutrition is advisable if you grow only under lights, use blood worm meal or finely crushed fish food and mist lightly after feeding. Outdoor plants take care of themselves.

Humidity is probably not an issue, although air circulation with higher humidity is probably optimal, and cooler temps will add vigor during the wet active growth period when gemmae are formed. Sow gemmae asap in the appropriate mix kept close to the lights and gently mist daily.

Best wishes for success with these stellar plants!
 
I have trouble with D. scorpiides and D. dichrosepa when summer came. I lost of the latter and some of the former. Some of the scorpioides also appeared dead but then greenery emerged later on. Not sure whether keeping them outside from May-October helped or hurt them. They probably experienced too much rain at times. I go back in forth in my approach - inside or out for the warmer months. I got the impression that they need day/night temp differential that indoorsdoesn't provide. But all the nitidulas, palacaeas, pulchellas,... didn't dieback.
 
  • #10
Some of the scorpioides also appeared dead but then greenery emerged later on.
Sounds like they actually went fully dormant on you. Mine have gone dormant on me this year as apposed to the usual slow down in growth they have done in the past. Something I've noticed with my scorpioides is that if I direct the roots they send out back into the pot to anchor in the soil, the plant keeps growing. Whereas, if I just let them hang over the sides of the pot, the plants eventually begin to die. Anyone else had this happen?
 
  • #11
So that was relatively normal behavior. I don't trust dormancy with Australian sundews.
 
  • #12
So that was relatively normal behavior. I don't trust dormancy with Australian sundews.
Me neither. It would be easier if they all went dormant at the same time, but they didn't. I couldn't cut back too much on my watering since only some of them were dormant. The majority were going strong. I compromised by keeping the soil moist but not wet and letting it dry out a little between waterings. Some of the dormant ones stayed permanently dormant and others made it through fine. No apparent rhyme nor reason as to which ones made it and which ones didn't as they were often next to each other.
 
  • #13
I've had the same experience with them and when it comes to Petiolaris Complex, dormancy just plain = death. I've had better luck with D. adelae.
 
  • #14
Steve: I meant to ask you... are 'white flower' & 'red flower' from the stock of plants that came to you as Vic Brown and Cephalotus88?
 
  • #15
The 'white flower' I got from Cephalotus88 and the 'pink flower' I got from Vic Brown. I received both as plain D. scorpioides. As to whether the 'pink flower' is the actual 'pink flower' I don't know. All plants were grown from the gemmae I received back in Dec. of 2002.
 
  • #16
Prolific little buggers, aren't they! As I recall, the ones fro Vic Brown were slower on the uptake.
 
  • #17
The pink is not realy pink ...it's more of a whitish pink...depends on the light intensity too...but that's the real scorpioides pink form
 
  • #18
Not the most revealing picture but here's one from that batch, taken in 2004:

D_scorpiodes_Vic_Brown.jpg
 
  • #19
So my plants finally did the Gemmae thing, after I moved the floodlamp away from them, which instantly dropped the temperatures on them by about 10-15 degrees and the photoperiod to, well, abysmal levels.

I say "did the Gemmae thing" but I don't think that sums it up quite enough. I had like 8 "pulchella x nitidula", if all these gemmae sprout I'm going to have something like 60+. I had 1 D. scorpioides, if these strike, I'm going to have about 10.

I hate to think about next year. Maybe I'll start trading away gemmae at that point.

jimscott>> Is that a D. multifida extrema?
 
  • #20
Nope, just a plain old binata, also supplied by BCK, way back when.
 
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