Drosera filiformis 'all red'

[cephalotus88]

For anyone attempting to care for this Drosera, here of some pointers. HUMIDITY- is really important to this species. After an aphid outbreak on my Drosera collection, my plants were badly weakened and sickly looking. I made the mistake of placing the now aphid free plants (lady bugs, thank you all) on my windowsill for some sun. The filiformis 'All red' took the hardest blow, as all new growing points "burned" away and the plant ceased growth.

Temps/Light Level-Even though this plant's other types (filiformis ssp. trayci and filiformis filiformis) are temperate, this form likes it tropical

. Keep it warm and the lights should be bright. It grows best in the condtion of other tropical drosera, especially "multifida Extrema".

I now have my mangaled plant in my tropical terrarium, where other recovering heat wave and aphid attacked plants are recovering. New points are growing, but not to thier full redness. Good luck to anyone with this plant-Zach

 

[Pyro]

Hey Zach,

How long does it take this plant to develope its red colour? Is it something I should see on leaves as they develope or will the leaves become red with time?

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

Last year the plants from seed were all red right from the start. This season, they look like typical D. filiformis. Some of my rosettes never really fleshed out, remaining short. I question whether this plant is really tropical because of this. The plants which formed hibernacula are growing robustly, although lacking in red coloration. The flower however is a deeper pink than the typical. I thought it was the lack of strong sunlight: even my Sarracenia which usually are deeply colored by now remain predominantly green. I will hopefully be able to start another generation from seed this winter, and I hope to see to red coloration more in evidence. I also plan on giving the plants a true dormancy.

Zach, my plants are growing outdoors in the same conditions as all my other Drosera species, and they remain dewey and fairly happy. Probably the change in conditions is to blame for your plants waning. My plants from seed never have had any problem with the ambient humidity I have given them.

 

[Lauderdale]

I have a filiformis red which took about a month to recuperate from repotting but is now doing fine outside here in S.FL. I noticed that it and my five other types of D. are very sensitive to humidity as far as amount of "dew". Mid afternoon, when humidity level is 55%...not much dew...in fact very close to dry. After a night of 80/85% HL the morning sun makes each little dew droplet look like tiny jewels.
Tamlin, is filiformis native to North Florida?

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

Hi Jan,

Drosera filiformis var tracyi is native to Northern Florida.

 

[Pyro]

William,

I have the 'red' from you outside with my typical filiformis and my 'FL Giant' form and it is just as green as the others. It gets full sun all day long so I don't know what to make of it

 

[cephalotus88]

Wow, thats quite odd. Tamlin, are you saying these plants can survive a dormancy? Peter D'Amato and I chatted about this plant at CC, and he really wanted me to understand they don't like cold lol. The red pigment is probably effected by light levels, as like capensis 'Red' and all the other 'Red' drosera's. Pyro, that is quite odd that it is green despite a lot of light. I have D.rotundfolia outdoors with my Sarracenia and they are redder then blood

This plant, D.filiformis 'Red' is quite a puzzling Drosera.

-Zach

 

[Vic Brown]

I have several young plants of D. filiformis var. filiformis 'all red' grown from seed from the ICPS Seed Bank, sown in March this year. Their laminas have a reddish hue, but are still basically green. The main difference seems to be that not only are the glands red, the stalks are too, whereas the stalks are green on my other D. filiformis var filiformis plants. My D. capensis 'red' growing in full sun close to these plants has fully red lamina, so they are getting a lot of light. Unusually for the UK, we have been experiencing very warm and sunny weather for most of the Summer, but no doubt still much lower than that in Florida.

Vic

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

Zach,

My plants tried to go dormant this winter. Several did form hibernacula, not as tight as the typical but they were there. The plants stopped growing and the outer lamina withered leaving a core of partially unfurled leaves. Others continued to grow through the winter, but started to try to go dormant middle spring when they should have been bursting into growth. The ones that ceased growth over the winter are thriving, and are reddening up well, although its hard to see the lamina for the number of insects! The ones that grew over the winter still have not fully expanded. So, yes, it is a mysterious plant. This winter I will encourage them to go as dormant as possible, and I am curious to see if their vigor has improved come next spring if I can survive yet another Oswego winter.

 

[Lauderdale]

Thanks for the info Tamlin but where is Oswego?

 

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

Oswego is about 5 miles from Pluto, about 2 hours from the frozen depths of Hades.

(Upstate NY, on the shore of Lake Ontario mid-way between Syracuse and Rochester)