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Not eating!

My capensis is turing away food! It's not working right, doesn't seem to be producing dew and therefore no bugs are sticking to the leaves. Poor baby...I want to get her some nutrition, any tips on how I can get her fixed?
 
I just got mine 5 days ago the dew was allso all gone what I did is put them in a fish tank so they can get wet air . I allso mist the whole tank down 2 times a day with rain water . The dew came right back . I just gave them a ant yummmmmm  
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. Some ppl say mist is bad but what the heck I fig it cant do any harm if theres not dew on the plant to start with .

It worked this plants are now full of sticky dew .

:)


_-West-_
 
Misting close to a capensis causes the water to mix with the dew...and help evaporate it. After awhile older leaves lose their dew before turning brown. Could this be what is happening? If you wait about 2 weeks and give your plant the proper humidity and water, dew should come back for leaves that are still young enough to produce it. And...don't worry, the plants don't really need to be fed insects, though it makes them grow faster. Hope this helps!
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CN, did you just get the capensis? If the current leaves don't have dew, it won't produce any. But don't fret, the new leaves that emerge will have plenty of dew.
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I've had it for a few months now. It's grown plenty of new tentacles, but they are not producing the dew. I don't mist them directly. I have a fogger in my terrarium in it's own bowl. Once a day for about 10 minutes I fill the terrarium with mist just to bring up humidity for the rest of the day, but with the plants elevated it hasn't allowed for any mist to settle direcly on the tentacles.
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I know they don't have to...but I want to see it at work, and I want the beauty of the dew!
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I should add when I mist I try to mist only around the plants now I try to stay away from the plant its self . I know water mixing with the dew is bad like wickedthistle said so try to mist around the plants like im doing now that the dew is back.The mist around the plant will make the humidity go up thats what really helps.


_-West-_
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (carniverous newbie @ Oct. 21 2002,11:56)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I've had it for a few months now. It's grown plenty of new tentacles, but they are not producing the dew. I don't mist them directly. I have a fogger in my terrarium in it's own bowl. Once a day for about 10 minutes I fill the terrarium with mist just to bring up humidity for the rest of the day, but with the plants elevated it hasn't allowed for any mist to settle direcly on the tentacles.
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I know they don't have to...but I want to see it at work, and I want the beauty of the dew!
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[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Well look we posted at the same time
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It sounds like your doing everything right if you have a fog maker. Do you let the soil dry out ?What is the high temp your tank gets to ? Do you have lights ?Sometimes if the lights are right above the plant with no lid they will dry the dew on the plant/plants.

:)
 
Still no change.
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My tank stays pretty steady at 80 degrees during the day when the lights are on. Humidity stays pretty steady at 70%.
At first the plant was not elevated, so it was about 14 inches from the lights. The I elevated it up 6 inches so that it was about 8 inches away, then I elevated it to the point where it was only 4 inches away from the lights. I have a lid that stays closed unless I'm working in there. But there are two large 2 inch square gaps, one on their side of the top of the tank that allows for air flow. I have fans built in to the lid that I haven't used cause I haven't felt I've needed to.
I keep the soil wet, the tray always has water in it so the soil never dries out.

I've mastered vft's, now I'm determined to master sundews darnit! I want to see my babies flourish! So, *humbly looking at the ground* I could use tips from you successful growers to help! It was all the reading and professional advice that I got for the vft's that finally helped me learn what I needed to know.
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"A fogger in my terrarium in it's own bowl" You said


I use to have a fogger in my green house and I know after you turn it on there are drops of water all over maybe thats whats wrong the water in the fog is mixing with the dew and drying up on you . You may want to try not useing it for a week and see what happens .

1 other thing you said you have a lid I hope you dont have it all the way shut that can kill your plants without fresh air . I keep a lid on about 70% of my tank.

_-West-_
 
  • #10
I have considered this. I have a splash guard on it that does help this somewhat. Also, I keep that particular plant on the other side of the tank from the mister, annd since the plant is elevated quite a bit, no water splashes or mist seem to get to or settle on the plant. The "leaves" have been bone dry for some time now. I'm trying to keep them out of contact with water just in case this is the problem, but still no luck.
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It's in a 4 inch pot
it's in a peat/sand mix
there is always water in the bottom tray
it's within 6 inches of my lights
the temp in the tank is 80 degrees at any given time daily, cooling to about 73 overnight.
The humidity is kept at 70%

Does all of this sound consistent with what sundews need? ???Could I be doing something wrong? and I'd like to know if the above conditions are sufficient for germinating spatulata and peltata? The only thing different is they are not elevatedto the light, so they are about 12 inches away from it.
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  • #11
I have my lights 11 inches above my plants.I stoped misting because I found one of the plants lost all its dew because some mist got on it.

Dose the Dew come back in the morn before the lights come on ?If so its your lighting system.


Maybe you should try to make a CO2 maker . Maybe there not getting the co2 they need? A co2 maker will only help your plants and cant hurt.

Look for a post called CO2 that may help.
 
  • #12
No, it doesn't seem that it's producing dew at all.
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I'll look at that post, thanks!
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Read the topic, couldn't get the article. But I'm not too comfortable with trying that...for some reason I just don't think that's the trouble. The plant is growing really well, it's just not producing dew. It seems from what I've read that if it was a Co2 issue the plant would be showing overall signs of health problems?
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  • #13
having the humidity high will have the dew come back, are they getting enough water and sunlight?I dont know for sure, but is it true that when a sundew goes dormant, they will not produce any dew?Hope it helps,
Kevin
 
  • #14
So should I try to keep the humidity above 70%? It should be getting plenty of light and water. The capensis doesn't need a dormancy, but here's a theory...I've been reducing the photoperiod in the terrarium to simulate winter sunlight, but nothing else has changed. I haven't reduced humidity, water or temp. Is it possible the lighting change has fooled the capensis into believing it's time to go to sleep and maybe that's why no dew?
 
  • #15
thats a good hypothesis, its probably just snoozing zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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, maybe you couls raise the humidity juuuuussssssstttt a tad, a couple of %'s, that(if its not sleepin')should bring out the dew.Hope it helps,
Kevin
 
  • #17
I dont think that a capensis would go dormant at all, it might slow growth (you said it was still growing right?), but I dont think it would go into dormancy.
Cole
 
  • #18
Yes, it is still growing...I'm just not sure if reducing the photoperiod would affect the production of dew?
 
  • #19
I dont think that photoperiond would affect a tropical drosera's dew production. just increase the humidity in the tank, or if possible, put it in its own ziploc bag to raise the humidity.
keep us posted
Cole
 
  • #20
I dont think its humidity at all . I have a cape sundew and keep my humidity around 40% . In another CPS forum I go to the ppl there told me the humidity for a cape sundew can go as low as 20% and the plant will look just fine and make dew .





_-West-_
 
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