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D. adelae recovery

Hi,

I have Really been struggling with my poor D. adelae :poke:
It's really not adapted well, but seems to be growing a lot better now.

IMG_20141107_190343483.jpg

:blush:
 
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Took me a super long time to figure out how to grow them properly. The change that finally made the most difference to me was the media. They benefit greatly from aeration. LFS and perlite, 50/50. I trialed foliar feeds and light intensities too. Shade + aeration was my key to success with D. adelae.
 
Sounds like mine. Maybe mine is over-lit.
 
I second the use of LFS/perlite, or just live lfs. They really seem to like sphagnum in general, probably because of the chunkiness and aeration as previously mentioned.
 
At my parents where D. adelae are native they will grow in anything, and I mean anything, but when I moved to uni I hit a problem to at first, I found the best way is to grow them in an open soil (spag/sand, peat/perlite (both 1:1 ration) or coconut chips for orchids) then a 10cm tall pot and a 2-3cm water tray.

Humidity of 60% and up at first, but they harden to as low as 40% for me happilly, and partial sun, here at uni thats 2-3hours full sun then shade, but at my parents I have them in the bog garden, peat/sand, constantly flooded soil (by 1-2cm) and full sun from 9-4/5pm no protection and they thrive.

They are a funny plant where at first can be a B!t#$ but once you get them climatised to your new area they become a weed, they will even grow in pure water if well fed.
 
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I reduced the temps but so did the humidity as well. It does not seem to mind the humidity drop but is doing better in lower temps.
The temps are now around 77 F where previously the temps would shoot up to 86 F
Humidity is about 50% now.
 
My first good success with Drosera adelae was in La Mesa, California, in the south of San Diego. That was about 1978. I was growing it in one gallon black plastic nursery cans. The media was 100% sphagnum peat moss. They were kept sitting in trays of R.O. purified water, about two inches deep. They were also in full southern California sunshine, year-'round. They were on a concrete patio, very close to my apartment.

Under these conditions all parts of the plants developed a blood red hue. Which some people find quite attractive. The leaves of any individual plants in the gallon pots had leaves that extended beyond the pot edges on all sides, and the pots would quickly fill with offshoots that developed from lower leaves and roots, even sprouting from roots extending out the bottom drain holes.

One thing I learned early on was that Drosera adelae, just like many other Drosera, was prone to attack by whitefly, spider mites, and aphids. So I learned that whenever newer leaves began showing tip burn, and the newest leaves began to appear stunted, it was most likely due to one of these pests. Since I tried to avoid using pesticide chemicals, I found that submerging the plants, carefully and completely for a week or two, would most often eliminate the pests and restore the plants to vigor and health.
 
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