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D. adelae

I have two recovering D. adelae from Lowe's they've been sitting out on my porch in a water tray for several weeks now and have been getting lots of sun and rain. All of last week the temp has been in the upper 80's with a humidity of 70% or more. And I was delighted to see young green leaves with bright red tentacles (or do we call them hairs?) and a little bit of dew on them. So now that I have this healthy looking part can I cut off the old stuff underneath? The old leaves are brownish looking and limp with dried up tentacles. If it is better to remove these old leaves, is there any kind of trick to clipping them? (I'd hate to hurt them since they've recovered some from the store.) If I leave them on will it drain energy from the plant or is there a risk to the rest of the plant from the old stuff?
 
We call them "tentacles" or "stalked glands". The term "hair/s" is reserved for the details of the leaves, petioles and flower scapes.

There is always some concern with old leaves harboring insects or becoming moldy and infecting the plant. If there are a lot of them you can remove them as you see fit, taking care not to damage stem or roots in the process. I generally do this "housekeeping" when I repot my plants, but it can be done any time with care by removing the root ball from the pot. I remove the lowest brown leaves on my sundews, working my way toward the newer growth with a gentle tug, they should come right away. Try not to disturb the root ball, and replace it in the pot when you're done.

Alternatively, you can do the same thing without removing the plant if you have fine sissors and a good eye.

I grow this species in live LFS, and the moss always grows over the old brown leaves, so this is not an issue with me. Sphagnum seems to discourage any mold, and D. aldelae never have any problems for me if grown like this.

Hope this helps.
 
I hope you do good with your D. adelae.
I'm having a heck of a time growing sundews. My 1st D. adelae I kept in direct sun all day. Killed it.
I bought another. For 3 weeks it's been growing in a shaded area with lots of dew on the leaves. I looked close at it this weekend and there almost no dew on the leaves. It's been overcast and raining off and on for a while, so humidity is good. I'm starting to think it's going to die also. Does D. adelae require lower temperatures?
I have a butterwort in the same location as my sundew which is growing great.
I think I'm not suppost to grow sundews. Any step by step advice on growing the D. adelae sundew?
 
My Adelae was getting a lot of sun and seemed to die off, after we started have rain and clouds it started to come back to life..

The center of the stalk turned into a brounish ball that looked dead but the rain and less sun made it come back to life and now have some tentacels with dew
 
It is a woodland species, and generally grows best in lower light in wet and cool conditions. This one I grow in a terrarium pretty much year round. I tried it outdoors, but the rosettes were smaller, less dewey although getting a fine deep coloration that the light grown plants never get. I keep mine at the ends of my light tubes, where the light is dimmest. Under these conditions the rosettes really leaf out well. Both compainion species D. schizandra and D. prolifera likewise prefer these conditions.
 
My Adalae is growing in my seedling tank inside and it seems to be thriving in there. Since I recieved it several weeks ago, it has steadily been producing new leaves with HUGE ammounts of dew. I had been planning on moving it outside after it got a little bigger, but now I think I may just leave it right where it is.
smile.gif


Steve
 
Steve,

One of the big rules in CP cultivation is if its doing well, leave it be! I can't tell you how many times I have blown it by trying to make things a little bit better. I save that protocol for plants that are ailing :)
 
elgecko, I wish I could explain to you why mine are doing well, but it mystifes me. I'm sort of inverse of you though, I've lost two butterworts already. With mine after bringing them home from the store I set them in a window for a week (I think it was north facing.) Then I moved them outside into a tray of water, but it has rained practically every day here. They seemed to struggle the first week then for a bit didn't seem to do anything at all, but now it it is new green growth and looking good.

Since mine seems to be doing well I don't want to move it, but how much sun is too much? I like the red that the new growth has, but would hate to cook them. Also if they don't go dormant how does their care instructions change for the winter season?

Sorry I'm asking so much, but I want to make sure my sundews are well cared for. And thank you for all your help so far.
 
What I had planned on doing with my sundews (if they make it) and butterworts for the winter was to move them inside my house. I'm going to place them in my kitchen which has a sliding glass door to the deck, south facing I believe. The room has some areas were it recieves direct sun for a large portion of the day, and other areas which has bright indirect light.
I'm thinking of bringing my D. adelae inside the kitchen some where in a fish bowl and see if it recovers.
I had a scare at first with my butterworts. I placed them outside on the deck with the VFT's and Pitcher plants, in direct sun all day. The next day I looked at the butterwort and several leaves were burnt. That's when I moved it into it's shaded position.
 
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When I got home from work today, I moved my D. adelae inside the house.
It did not have any dew on any of the leaves.
mad.gif
I hope it recovers, it's my 2nd try with D. adelae.
 
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