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Gemmae, I presume?

  • Thread starter DragonsEye
  • Start date

DragonsEye

carnivorous plants of the world -- unite!
So I've had my Drosera pulchella for two or three years now and this is the first time they're producing what appears to be gemmae. So 3 Qs"?:

Drosera pulchella gemmae production.jpg

1) Am I correct these are gemmae?

2) How do I know when they are ready for "harvest"?

3) What is the simplest way to harvest them? A wet toothpick, perhaps?

 
Yep, looks like you've got yourself some gemmae!

When I used to grow D. scorpioides I got a fair number of gemmae off of them. It's hard to know when to harvest them so you just need to get a feel for it. Just eyeballing your pic, the sundew on the top left looks like it has more harvestable gemmae than the one on the bottom left.

Generally, I'd lay the pot down on its side carefully, then put a piece of paper down under the pot. Then I'd take a half-unfolded paper clip and kind of poke/scoop at the crown of gemmae starting from the outer edges of the crown. If I recall correctly, gemmae have a sort of natural coiled spring mechanism under them which lets them pop off and propagate when the time comes. So, those that dislodge pretty easily when poked are good to go. Leave whatever gemmae don't come off and try again later.

Good luck!
 
I would add that the harvest timing is not critical. If they are still there after 4 or 6 weeks it is probably time to remove them. They seem to be pretty durable and I've used everything from tweezers to my finger tip to do the job. For what it's worth, in my collection they seem to form when the photoperiod drops below 10 hours.
 
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Thanks for the input, folks!
 
Congratulations!

I've been reading about gemmae today.

I hope one day to have some of these lovey little creatures. Practicing with what i have now to learn the ropes..
 
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