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Drosera Regia Issues

My 2-3 year old Drosera Regia (purchased as a baby of about 2 Inches) was just moved outside since it’s warmed up and also because the plant does not seem to be thriving indoors. It is in a 6 inch pot of quality LFS, and the plant has been kept consistently moist with rain or distilled water. If dewy, it gets hydrated bloodworms about once a month. It has been receiving morning direct light and bright indirect light all day both indoors and out. About 5-6 weeks ago, since it appeared to be waking up, I put 4 osmocote pellets in the soil. The stem is spindly and bare because I have removed the black leaves as they have died, and the leaves have never grown longer than 2 or so inches. Babies appear to be growing on their own in the soil, which is fabulous, but I must be doing something very wrong. Please help! (Sorry, I can’t figure out how to directly add photos) https://photos.app.goo.gl/5PCAAtA1VfWhYbju9
 
Anyone think I should bury the stem in LFS? I’ve only seen Regia’s grow straight out of substrate, not take on such a baby-tree look. Then again, I’ve only had hands-on experience with this particular King. [emoji1]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I recently posted photos of my D. regia plants on IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAY78soFbaw/ I don't think I've ever seen a D. regia do what yours is, but if I were to take what I know about other plants I would say it needs more light. It looks like it is reaching big time to find lights if you look at the distance between each leaf. I don't think I'd bury the stem. I think just get it to some better light, acclimating slowly... I don't know what the main plant will do, but at least you have some coming up from the roots that should be able to grow a better stem since they're so young.
Good luck!
Andrew
 
OOOerr it does look a bit poorly doesn't it, I would endorse what Andrew has said and suggest that maybe the water level should be kept about 1-2"rather than any deeper as that stops oxygen to the roots.
Cheers
Steve
 
Has the plant ever been allowed to go dormant? Mine have every year since 1988.

 
I recently posted photos of my D. regia plants on IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAY78soFbaw/ I don't think I've ever seen a D. regia do what yours is, but if I were to take what I know about other plants I would say it needs more light. It looks like it is reaching big time to find lights if you look at the distance between each leaf. I don't think I'd bury the stem. I think just get it to some better light, acclimating slowly... I don't know what the main plant will do, but at least you have some coming up from the roots that should be able to grow a better stem since they're so young.
Good luck!
Andrew

I will definitely provide it with more light and do my best to acclimate it slowly. Your D. Regias look great. 👍 Thanks!

- - - Updated - - -

OOOerr it does look a bit poorly doesn't it, I would endorse what Andrew has said and suggest that maybe the water level should be kept about 1-2"rather than any deeper as that stops oxygen to the roots.
Cheers
Steve

Thank you for pointing that out, Steve. I’ll lower the water level in addition to giving it more light.
 
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Has the plant ever been allowed to go dormant? Mine have every year since 1988.

Wow Fred, your D. Regias are incredible! You really know how to make a gal jealous...

My plant seemed to go semi-dormant this year, if that’s possible. It lost dew and got smaller, but never formed a real hibernacula. Then when the lighting changed, it did it’s best to perk up and sprouted the “little princes,” to announce it was back for another round of trying. Perhaps I didn’t handle the situation properly, what do you do with your Regias during dormancy? Thanks for your help!
 
The plants die back to these winter buds.

D. regia hibernaculum.jpg

Drosera regia winter bud.jpg

I just treat them like any other dormant cp.

New growth can start from January onwards.

Note that I am in the UK.
 
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Yes, it looks to me like the plants lacked light for a period in there growth. I've seen this happen many times when repotting Drosera that has think roots and tends to sprout off shoots. What happens is the offshoot may start inches below the surface and has to grow a long stem to reach the surface.

This can happen during regular growth or with root cuttings.

You can do one of two things:

1. Cover the bare stem portion up to near the growth point with media i.e. raise the level of the media. If one or two of the growth points get covered that's okay as the points will eventually grow up to the surface.

2. "Decapitate" the plant - just where the black root starts turning brown and tapers off at the top. Just cover the now "headless" root with media. Pot the head covering the bare stem. The headless root will start new growth points and/or offshoots. The "head" (with leaves) will grow a new root. If you're not confident enough to do this just do (1).

Drosera regia is a lot tougher and resilient than the get credit for. I couldn't tell you how many times I thought I killed them and they bounced back.

Here are mine. They're in 1 gallon stock nursery pots, 60-40 perlite-peat mix. The block pots are clone R1 and the brown is clone C. I repotted clone C last quarter last year and clone R1 either in Dec or January. The bale of peat moss I bought earlier is bad for much of my Drosera and a different brand (which is the one I usually buy) seems okay. The leaves were growing distorted and the R1 was down to the growth points which were turning black and only three left. The R1 is actually putting up a flower - first time in 10-12 years. Probably due to the prolonged and somewhat colder (for Los Angeles) winter. The R1 in the foreground was just repotted yesterday. I had put it in LFS to recover rather than the peat mix. LFS is not the ideal media, at least for me. Root is at least 1/4" and 12" long.

lEVe3rN.jpg
 
  • #10
Yes, it looks to me like the plants lacked light for a period in there growth. I've seen this happen many times when repotting Drosera that has think roots and tends to sprout off shoots. What happens is the offshoot may start inches below the surface and has to grow a long stem to reach the surface.

This can happen during regular growth or with root cuttings.

You can do one of two things:

1. Cover the bare stem portion up to near the growth point with media i.e. raise the level of the media. If one or two of the growth points get covered that's okay as the points will eventually grow up to the surface.

2. "Decapitate" the plant - just where the black root starts turning brown and tapers off at the top. Just cover the now "headless" root with media. Pot the head covering the bare stem. The headless root will start new growth points and/or offshoots. The "head" (with leaves) will grow a new root. If you're not confident enough to do this just do (1).

Drosera regia is a lot tougher and resilient than the get credit for. I couldn't tell you how many times I thought I killed them and they bounced back.

Here are mine. They're in 1 gallon stock nursery pots, 60-40 perlite-peat mix. The block pots are clone R1 and the brown is clone C. I repotted clone C last quarter last year and clone R1 either in Dec or January. The bale of peat moss I bought earlier is bad for much of my Drosera and a different brand (which is the one I usually buy) seems okay. The leaves were growing distorted and the R1 was down to the growth points which were turning black and only three left. The R1 is actually putting up a flower - first time in 10-12 years. Probably due to the prolonged and somewhat colder (for Los Angeles) winter. The R1 in the foreground was just repotted yesterday. I had put it in LFS to recover rather than the peat mix. LFS is not the ideal media, at least for me. Root is at least 1/4" and 12" long.

lEVe3rN.jpg

Thank you Not a Number! I previously posted a response but it never showed up... I am afraid of putting the Regia into greater shock since it’s only been outside for like 5 weeks, and we’ve had some incredibly wackadoo weather. On the other hand, doing something dramatic could improve it’s health, OR on the other hand’s hand, such a thing could send it careening into rapid decline! It just feels like I’m decapitating the King, after all he’s been through. Someone, please tell me if I’m being overprotective. Thank you all!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
  • #11
You can remove the media in one piece from the pot. Split the mass between the two plants without disturbing the roots then put the one in a deeper pot and cover the bare stem.

Like I said, D. regia is more robust than people give it credit for.

Here's the smaller Clone R1 which was repotted twice within 5 months. The media was changed completely cleaning off any of the old media from the roots. This picture was taken less than 7 days from the earlier picture post above. You can see how much it has perked simply from repotting from LFS to peat and perlite:
h0M9HDn.jpg


Here's a closer picture of the other pot of Clone R1 showing the distorted leaves from the bad peat moss. If the one plant doesn't start growing normal leaves - off with its head!
x4Y3A7Y.jpg


Finally here is the flower bud:
AmLDj9C.jpg
 
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  • #12
You can remove the media in one piece from the pot. Split the mass between the two plants without disturbing the roots then put the one in a deeper pot and cover the bare stem.

Like I said, D. regia is more robust than people give it credit for.

Here's the smaller Clone C which was repotted twice within 5 months. The media was changed completely cleaning off any of the old media from the roots. This picture was taken less than 7 days from the earlier picture post above. You can see how much it has perked simply from repotting from LFS to peat and perlite:


Here's a closer picture of the other pot of Clone C showing the distorted leaves from the bad peat moss. If the one plant doesn't start growing normal leaves - off with its head!

Thank you Not a Number. I believe you, and everyone here, and will give it a new start. And if it dies a horrible death, then I’ll have someone else to blame 😉. Will be sharing my results, too. Thank you to all of you, I really appreciate you and this forum!
 
  • #13
My mistake, those should be Clone R1. Got Clone C on my mind because I put one up in the auction.
 
  • #14
Update on my D. Regia:
I followed all of your advice, fellow CP lovers and split up my sad little guys... and look at them now! Thank you all so much for your excellent advice! They never went dormant even though they were living outside, most likely because this winter was a monkey’s wedding: warm then very cold some days, dark and foggy then hot and sunny for two hours then rain falling for 30 minutes on another day, you get the idea. They’re not gigantic or flowering, but they are doing significantly better, due to you, wise and good people - thanks again!ACA749F7-5F78-4A74-AE78-EF9203F58636.jpegBEA7BE1D-843B-4B41-A2C5-06D404F84FC9.jpegA85C5A47-C337-4BAB-A00D-72BEB44F2A25.jpeg
 
  • #15
Looks great, good job!
 
  • #16
They look great! Love a happy ending.
 
  • #17
My 2-3 year old Drosera Regia (purchased as a baby of about 2 Inches) was just moved outside since it’s warmed up and also because the plant does not seem to be thriving indoors. It is in a 6 inch pot of quality LFS, and the plant has been kept consistently moist with rain or distilled water. If dewy, it gets hydrated bloodworms about once a month. It has been receiving morning direct light and bright indirect light all day both indoors and out. About 5-6 weeks ago, since it appeared to be waking up, I put 4 osmocote pellets in the soil. The stem is spindly and bare because I have removed the black leaves as they have died, and the leaves have never grown longer than 2 or so inches. Babies appear to be growing on their own in the soil, which is fabulous, but I must be doing something very wrong. Please help! (Sorry, I can’t figure out how to directly add photos) Drosera Regia
I’m no expert but in my opinion that definitely looks to be too wet. I was thinking about planting mine in LFS/pearlite but I’m glad I didn’t for this very reason. I would slow the medium to dry a bit more before watering.
I’ve struggled with D Regia in the past as well and the one I have right now is far from perfect I know the leaves should definitely be more erect rather than flopping over. As far as watering goes I don’t water it that often and tend to keep it a little on the drier side
 

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