Feed your sundews- incredibly fast growth and flowers (DUW)

[jimscott]

Does anyone here spritz the leaves after feeding or do you leave all of the digesting and stimulation up to the plants?

That's what I've been told to do.

 

[Not a Number]

Misting lightly after feeding when using dried foods helps insure complete digestion. Some species such as Drosera anglica don't seem to produce huge droplets of dew and bits of undigested dried food quickly grow mold or fungus. It also helps to remove any left over bits after a few days.

The problem with using cheap betta pellets is that they are made in China. With all the problems with food products of Chinese origin for humans and pets I don't trust the stuff. You'd probably be safer off paying the premium prices for the stuff manufactured in Japan.

 

[Baylorguy]

NAN and Jim -

I guess I can give it a shot. I worry mostly about my mexican pings. I finally have a steady cultivation technique down after losing most of my collection a few months ago to rot. I have to admit, I am a bit gun shy when someone tells me to mist my pings!

I'll give it a try (lightly mist them of course).

 

[CPlantaholic]

Actually, the brand of Betta Fish food pellets I use are called BETA Bites, made in the USA.
I tend to use small enough pieces that even my D. anglica has no remaining food left in its trap after a week.

 

[Crissytal]

If it makes you feel any better, some of my Pings get top watered and I am NOT careful about getting the leaves wet. They get a nice shower every time I water them. I guess I grow mine dry enough now they don't care. Besides in the wild they don't have little umbrellas to shield them .

Just my two cents,
Crystal

 

[Baylorguy]

Crystal, a good point I know I am over paranoid. It's really quite sad. The turning point for me was when I switched to a mostly mineral based media (lots and lots of vermiculte, APS, sand, perlite and a bit of peat).The peat is probably what rotted them a few months ago. I am going to start implementing mist.

 

[Crissytal]

I had the same issues as you Baylorguy. I had to switch to pure APS. I've tried mixing it like you describe, but like it the best pure. It has worked wonders for me. If you would have asked me how difficult I thought growing Pinguicula were six months ago, I would have said impossible.

Drosera on the other hand, I can grow most of them however wet I want in heavy peat mixtures.

Too keep from being totally off topic, I agree. Misting the leaves of both dews and pings after feeding makes a difference. It helps to saturate the food so all they have to do is digest it. I don't believe any harm would come to your plants (pings or dews) with misting as long as they are healthy to begin with.

Good luck!
Crystal

 

[Not a Number]

The bottle I have says "Made in China" plain as day on the label:

There's a day and night difference in the quality of the Japanese made stuff. The Japanese brands have uniform pellet size and none of them are stuck together for one thing. I was using these to feed my Sarracenia seedlings but the different size pellets and being stuck together meant I had so spend time sifting through them for pellets that would fit in the Sarracenia.

Then all the crap started happening with toxic substances in Chinese food products so I stopped using it. Back to flightless fruit flies, and non-Chinese products.

 

[CPlantaholic]

That's funny. Way different label than mine. No wizards on mine either . And it says Made in USA in writing similar to that on yours. Now that I think about it, I bought the bottle about 7 years ago when I had a Beta fish for 2 weeks. Is your bottle fairly recent? I'm assuming during this time, they could've been trying to cut profits.

 

[Halt]

Mines U.S as well.

 

[Baylorguy]

Haha, I totally would not have seen the wizard if CP didn't point him out. Maybe that is why NAN has such healthy plants.

 

[Not a Number]

Yeah, I bought it about a year ago from a local Mom and Pop pet store that I like to patronize. Maybe it's counterfeit.

BTW - the wizard says "So easy - it's Magic!"

http://hbhpet.com/consumer/products...page=flypage.tpl&product_id=17&category_id=10

 

[jimscott]

LOL! Either take a picture right before feeding or several days hence. They look dirty with pulverized whatever all over their leaves!

 

[CPlantaholic]

yeah, looks like you have the latest bottle with their new cartoon fish logo and cheezy pun on the front.
That's funny they threw a random wizard on the back just to say that
Everything else is manufactured in China and Japan- might as well outsource Beta Bites there too.

 

[Halt]

White mold normal? :/

 

[CPlantaholic]

I get white mold when the portion of food I give the leaf is too much for it to handle and it is in too high of humidity. I normally just take off the moldy chunk with tweezers. Some people use isopropyl alcohol to kill off the fungus. I'd recommend smaller pieces of food. I now grind my pellets into a powder, pick a little up with a tweezer, and wipe some on the leaves.

 

[jimscott]

Some people also sprinkle cinnamon on the affected areas. I would just take a pair of tweezers and manually remove the cottony growths.

 

[DrWurm]

Alright, as a result of this thread I went out and picked up some betta food and fed my dews and neps. We'll see what happens...

 

[CPlantaholic]

I'm glad I was able to convince someone! lol
you won't be disappointed. make sure to post your success story after a few months

 

[jfoley]

You convinced me too. I went out and got wingless fruit flies the other day.