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D.Peltata

I am interested in growing a D.Peltata, because when i used to live in Western Australia i could walk around to the back of my house and search a small bit of land that had not yet had houses built on it and i used to observe D.Peltata in the wild-but before i left i witnessed the whole area become a subdivision-and all the little peltatas got dug up!!!!!
The variety i am talking about is the one that has "leaves"shaped like gum nuts,they even look like them with the tentacles looking like the flower petals. Anyway i know this species is a tuberous doresa,and requires to be kept moist in summer and wet in winter. I know it lives underground in summer and comes up in winter. I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice on growing this species of doresa,either from personal experiance or information they have read about them. I would like to attempt to grow them from seed sometime and was wondering if i could get any pointers to get me started. Thanks in advance.
 
I'm growing Drosera peltata for only some months but I have some years experience with Drosera auriculata which was once thought to be a subspezies of Dr. peltata and is very familar with this spezies.

Sow seed in autumn on the surface and don't cover them as with all drosera. Keep them on a cool (!) an bright place and the seed will germinate very easy without any special treatment.
(Drosera auriculata is a "weed" in my collection as it produces almost as many young plants as Dr. capensis or spatulata)

The plant will grow a basal rosette first, which looks a bit like a small Dr. rotundifolia (ok, there are differnces but the shape is similar). Keep the plants on a very bright place (as with most Drosera) because it is winter and sun is very rare. The plant will eventually start to build an errect stem until spring, mostly 1-3"big. (I had some Dr. auriculata seedlings, growing in my darlingtonia pot (it is a weed ;o) ) and the plants reached 10" from autum to spring and even made some flowers. But this is NOT usual)
From autumn to spring keep the plants wet (tray system), bright (photoperiod < 12 hours !!!! but as much sun as possible, I now use additional artificial light, but keep the photoperiod at 10 hours) and COOL. This plants are wintergrowers !!! Temperatures around 15°C are very good. 20°C will work, too. Cool nights are appreciated.
I don't know how much humidity they need, but I grow them on my windowsill.

Than in spring, when days get longer and hoter keep the plants only moist and let the soil slightly dry out. the plants will turn brown and form a underground tuber. After the first year the tuber will only have 1-2mm in diameter !
In March/April I will place my plants in the greenhouse where they get as much sun as possible and can catch some prey. (maybe the nutrients will help the plant to build bigger and additional tubers)
They are very effective catchers !
In May/June the plants die back.

I than store the pot in a my room at home until the next autumn when I slightly start to water the pot from the top. The new plants will start growing in October till December.

A new cycle starts.

I use a mixture of 2 parts course sand to one part peat. Use deep pots for big plants and if you want to look at the tubers or collect / repot them wait at least 1 month after the plant died  back.

Drosera auriculata and Drosera pelatata can survive damp conditions during dormancy (most tuberous drosera spezies will rot if kept damp during dormancy)  So I would recommend to keep the soil a BIT moist during the first year (this will help THIS species to survive)
I made an experiement and kept some Dr. auriculata seedlings on the tray system during the whole year and almost(?, didn't count them) all of them survived. The plant died back because of daylength and temperature even if kept very moist.

A month ago my two plants in the darlingtonia pot also started growing. I tried to remove the tubers during the summer but couldn't find them.
Now, two thick stems are growing through the sphagnum moss.

In Allen Lowire's 3rd book Drosera auriculata is decribed as reaching 25cm in nature.
My biggest plant reached 70cm last spring !!!! (this will take 5 years)

Look at the picture :
<img src="http://www.drosophyllum.com/Bilder/dr_auriculata01.jpg">

<img src="http://www.drosophyllum.com/Bilder/dr_auriculata02.jpg">

(Edited by Martin at 7:43 am on Dec. 1, 2001)
 
Hi Mondo

Where in WA were you?
I used to be able to do exactly the same thing!!
That's what got me into CP's in the first place.

You would probably be a lot better off getting tubers rather than growing it all the way, from seed. I know Allan sells tubers and if you can't find his address post here and I'll tell you.

One last thing - unfortunately all those little peltata's didn't get dug up you know. There are houses and landscaped gardens sitting on top of them. The good thing is that they were EVERYWHERE, there's billions of em. Next time I go home I may take a drive out to the newest subdivision and see what I can scavenge in the way of tubers before someone unwittingly puts a house or driveway on top of them.

Cheers, fatboy.
 
I used to live in wa for 2 years. I was in Eaton,Bunbury!
Thanks for all the advice martin! It's extremly helpful. I guess if i do decide to grow this species i will have to move to a different state,qld is too hot for this species of sundew.
Hey fatboy isn't it amazing how small this world is?
smile.gif
 
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