Help a beginner with Drosera Filiformis (Florida All Red)

[grafittibob]

I purchased this plant almost exactly a month ago and have yet to successfully acclimate my plant to its new environment. The plant arrived in great condition, but has slowly declined since. At first it was kept indoors in a south facing window and watered from the top (6-8 hours of direct sunlight, using Aquafina water) However, this lead to nearly all of the leaves being burnt. Probably due to a combination of intense sun/heat and lack of humidity.

About two weeks ago I decided to move the plant to a different location which is a north facing window. (2-4 hours direct sun plus about 4 hours indirect.) I also placed the plant into a new pot and have begun using the tray method for watering. The lowered light intensity seemed to help at first, plenty of new leaves sprouting, however, these new leaves have suddenly taken a turn for the worse the past couple of days.

To begin, none of the new leaves have produced much dew at all. One leaf was particularly more dew covered, but has since dried out completely. Secondly, one of the leaves began to grow sideways at which point I noticed that the portion of the leaf closest to the soil was incredibly
thin and frail. Last but not least, I have noticed a few gnats flying around my plants. (I originally purchased my sundew hoping that it would keep gnats off my flytrap.) But now my sundew is so dry that gnats can land on the leaves without being stuck at all! It isn't being swarmed by gnats, but more often than not I will see a single gnat buzzing around or munching on my flytrap.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to preserve my plant's health?
In case anyone is curious, I live in Memphis TN. The average temp has been 70F at night and 80-90F during the day. Any help is greatly appreciated. There is a link below to a few pictures of the plant. The first picture was taken this afternoon when I came home to find one of the new leaves drooping!

http://m.imgur.com/a/L7bv8

 

[Cthulhu138]

The glaring problem is the water you're using. Carnivorous plants can't deal with the minerals in standard bottled water. They need rain water, distilled or RO water.

 

[grafittibob]

The glaring problem is the water you're using. Carnivorous plants can't deal with the minerals in standard bottled water. They need rain water, distilled or RO water.

I, perhaps mistakenly, thought that Aquafina would be ok for my plants.
No added minerals, and it is purified by reverse osmosis.

 

[Cthulhu138]

Your plants could also use a lot more light. Why not grow these outside ?

 

[grafittibob]

How much light exactly? My first location seemed to have plenty of sun. I had thought about moving the plants back, but with a sheer cloth curtain to keep the leaves from burning again.

I have also considered moving my plants outdoors, but perhaps only the sundew. However, I am a bit hesitant to leave my plants outside to face the elements. My apartment complex isn't exactly ideal for growing outdoors for a number of reasons. Anyways, my flytrap seems content indoors minus the gnat chewings. Ideally, I would have my own greenhouse full of plants, or maybe a lighted terrarium. Until then, I only have a windowsill at my disposal.

 

[hcarlton]

D. filiformis FL All Red can easily be grown inside under proper lighting, but this is possibly up to 12 hours + of strong artificial light, or 6-8 hours direct sun; lighting is definitely an issue from the pics. And as noted the bottled water is probably one issue, as they don't generally consider salts to be "minerals," and are often used to add flavor to the water or "soften" it. Also, I have found these plants to prefer rather well aerated soil, with a fair amount of perlite or more favorably sand added to the mix or else they tend to go downhill.

 

[grafittibob]

D. filiformis FL All Red can easily be grown inside under proper lighting, but this is possibly up to 12 hours + of strong artificial light, or 6-8 hours direct sun; lighting is definitely an issue from the pics. And as noted the bottled water is probably one issue, as they don't generally consider salts to be "minerals," and are often used to add flavor to the water or "soften" it. Also, I have found these plants to prefer rather well aerated soil, with a fair amount of perlite or more favorably sand added to the mix or else they tend to go downhill.

Lots of good info there. Thanks!
Makes sense that a FL all red would like sandy soil.
Any advice on the easiest/most cost effective way to water my plants?

I also found this quality report on Aquafina water.
http://www.aquafina.com/pdf/bottledWaterInformation_en.pdf
Thoughts?

 

[nimbulan]

Lots of good info there. Thanks!
Makes sense that a FL all red would like sandy soil.
Any advice on the easiest/most cost effective way to water my plants?

I also found this quality report on Aquafina water.
http://www.aquafina.com/pdf/bottledWaterInformation_en.pdf
Thoughts?

Judging by that water quality report the water should be fine, but I can't say for sure. Even if it is, that's a very expensive way to obtain pure water. Gallon jugs of distilled water are commonly available at grocery stores for the same price or even less than 20 Oz of bottled water. Just make sure there aren't any added minerals listed on the label.

As for the plant, what you described makes me wonder if the plant was kept in lower light conditions wherever you bought it from and just needs to be adjusted to direct sun. Once it's adjusted, I wouldn't worry about exposing it to the elements, they are used to growing out in the open after all. Animals knocking over or digging in pots and severe winter weather are the main concerns.

 

[bluemax]

I notice that sodium is not listed as an element tested for in Aquafina. When my rain barrels aren't producing, like this year, I can get purified r.o. water at my grocery store from their vending machine for about 35 cents US a gallon. All you need is a container.

 

[CPJerrod]

I live in Memphis too. I grow a few of those outside. We have the perfect weather for filiformis. We also have water that is less than 50ppm TDS. People here have been growing CPs using our tap water for decades without issues.

So skip the aquafina and use your tap. And grow it outside if possible, though a good window sil should be ok too. Though the temp drop you get from growing them outside makes my Florida all-reds dew up heavily (and they get to feed on all of those juicy bugs outside).

 

[Knuckles]

The analysis of Aquafina looks good. Aquafina is fine to use for CPs & saltwater aquariums and does not have added minerals or salts.

1st off, do your pots have drainage holes to suck in water from your tray? I have the same type of pots lying around & mine do not have drainage making tray method pointless. There's another thread that just started on getting rid of fungus gnats which may be another problem & will only do harm to a weakened plant. Besides those 2 points I would add some supplemental artificial light & it should recover just fine. Good luck

 

[Not a Number]

If it's drinking water check the nutrition label for how much sodium is in it. The plain bottled waters appear to have 0 sodium while the flavored ones have from about 30mg to 180mg per serving (12 or 16oz).

 

[DragonsEye]

Even the plain water has added sodium ... Just not at levels they are required to register. Early on, bottled water companies discovered that truly pure water tasted "flat" or "stale" to most people. Now whether those levels are significant from the dros's standpoint, I do not know.

 

[Not a Number]

How much is "not enough to register"? A TDS of <200 ppm? <100 ppm? <50? A TDS of < 100ppm is considered safe by many growers. <50 by almost all.

The information about adding salt because of "flat taste" is at least 16 years old. The "tastes" of the American public have changed with the anti-sodium health consciousness and nutrition labeling.

Simple enough, take the water to a pet store that sells fresh water fish and have them test the water - pH, TDS, ammonia, phosphates, nitrite and nitrates. Most will do it for free.

However as pointed out before, the cost of buying drinking water vs "distilled" or "filtered by Reverse Osmosis" water can be prohibitive. Often they are exactly the same thing - notice how RO filters will add deionization and carbon filtration for "great taste". Read the labels Distilled water - Distilled by Reverse Osmosis. Drinking water - filtered by Reverse Osmosis. Filtered water - Filtered by Reverse Osmosis. The difference in price is more in packaging than anything else.

I buy my water from the Glacier vending machines. The TDS is consistently around 2ppm. The highest one time was 10ppm. Their website touts "Great taste!" or "Great tasting" every where you look. So do the machines themselves.

http://glacierwater.com/
This is the graphic used on the Glacier vending machines:

Step 3 - Reverse Osmosis - for salts and impurities
Step 4 - Post Carbon Filter - improves taste of water

The nutrition label on the machine also says 0 sodium. I watched the tech service one of the machines. There is no container for salt or salt water in the machines.

A TDS of 50ppm (parts per million) would be 49.9429500 mg per liter of water. 1ppm = 0.9988590 mg/l. The USDA recommended Sodium intake is 2,400 mg per day which would work out to a TDS of 2402.7415272 ppm.

 

[CPJerrod]

I've lived all over the city of Memphis, and even in the most remote parts of the county (Eads), and all of our water is very low tds. Just skip the aquafina and use our tap water.

I also agree that it needs more sun as well, as much as you can give it.

 

[SubRosa]

How much is "not enough to register"? A TDS of <200 ppm? <100 ppm? <50? A TDS of < 100ppm is considered safe by many growers. <50 by almost all.

The information about adding salt because of "flat taste" is at least 16 years old. The "tastes" of the American public have changed with the anti-sodium health consciousness and nutrition labeling.

Simple enough, take the water to a pet store that sells fresh water fish and have them test the water - pH, TDS, ammonia, phosphates, nitrite and nitrates. Most will do it for free.

However as pointed out before, the cost of buying drinking water vs "distilled" or "filtered by Reverse Osmosis" water can be prohibitive. Often they are exactly the same thing - notice how RO filters will add deionization and carbon filtration for "great taste". Read the labels Distilled water - Distilled by Reverse Osmosis. Drinking water - filtered by Reverse Osmosis. Filtered water - Filtered by Reverse Osmosis. The difference in price is more in packaging than anything else.

I buy my water from the Glacier vending machines. The TDS is consistently around 2ppm. The highest one time was 10ppm. Their website touts "Great taste!" or "Great tasting" every where you look. So do the machines themselves.

http://glacierwater.com/
This is the graphic used on the Glacier vending machines:

Step 3 - Reverse Osmosis - for salts and impurities
Step 4 - Post Carbon Filter - improves taste of water

The nutrition label on the machine also says 0 sodium. I watched the tech service one of the machines. There is no container for salt or salt water in the machines.

A TDS of 50ppm (parts per million) would be 49.9429500 mg per liter of water. 1ppm = 0.9988590 mg/l. The USDA recommended Sodium intake is 2,400 mg per day which would work out to a TDS of 2402.7415272 ppm.

I've worked in the aquarium trade for well over 30 years and have never seen a place that tested tds. Better places will test for GH and KH which can be helpful.

 

[grafittibob]

I live in Memphis too. I grow a few of those outside. We have the perfect weather for filiformis. We also have water that is less than 50ppm TDS. People here have been growing CPs using our tap water for decades without issues.

So skip the aquafina and use your tap. And grow it outside if possible, though a good window sil should be ok too. Though the temp drop you get from growing them outside makes my Florida all-reds dew up heavily (and they get to feed on all of those juicy bugs outside).

Greetings fellow Memphian!

Thanks for the heads up. I know our water is pure, but I wasn't sure if it was pure enough for CPs.

Thanks to everyone else for their insight too.
I moved my drosera outside to a slightly shaded spot for now. Also planning on mixing some sand with the peat this evening.
Hopefully it will be able to recover soon.