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In search of the Red Drosera capensis

Joseph Clemens

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<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>I am often swapping plants, and stories with other CP growers. Here is an image of one that has really been amazing. I swapped this red Drosera capensis with Tamlin. He sent me one of his "strain" of red Drosera capensis and I sent him one of mine.

I wonder if they are derived from the same parents?

When I first received this plant from Tamlin the original leaves were dirty from the shipping process, so I removed them and placed them into a glass of water --- a few weeks later I planted out about 16 plants which had sprouted from the severed leaves. I planted the "mother" plant into a small 2-1/4 inch square pot, where it still remains: see photo below.

This plant has opened about 6 of 14 buds on the primary flower stalk, yet is already growing a second flower stalk. A few weeks earlier I had sprinkled bloodworms on a couple of its leaves, and soon afterward I noticed a rapid growth increase and the plant began its first inflorescence.

d_capensis_red_tamlin_e1_reduced.jpg
</span>
 
I don't know how you do it, PinguiculaMan! 16 plantlets? Anyways, that is a beautiful plant and I congratulate you on a job well done!
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You mentioned that they were under 'strong light' but what exactly is the photoperiod, and what type of light?

SF
 
If it weren't for the fact that the seed is fertile, I would suspect that this is a hybrid between D. affinis and D. capensis.  Even so, this cross may produce fertile seed so it is worthy of consideration I think.

I have D. affinis seed from Nambia now, and hope to test my theory in a year or so, provided the seed germinates. I am assured it is the true D. affinis, so it should make for an interesting experiment.
 
I don't know if this will be of much help but I have a plant I recieved as D. capensis 'red' It is winter here now (to it's full extent) and it's not showing the very nice tinge to it, but older leaves particularly near the lower right hand corner can still be seen showing off the color it does get.

dcapred.sized.jpg
 
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>SnowyFalcon,

Media: Redwood bark layer on bottom of pot 3/8-1/2 inches deep --- LFS filling the remainder of the pot loosly.

Lighting: Three, dual tube, 4 foot, fluorescent light fixtures, installed with the cheapest 40 watt cool white fluorescent tubes. Lights about 6 inches above plants -- I guide flowers that grow higher between the fluorescent fixtures.

Photoperiod: 6pm -- 9am (15 hours/day).</span>
 
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Below is a photo of the tray containing the first crop of propagules mentioned in opening post. At this rate it won't be long before these catch up with the "mother" plant. By the way, these are planted in 100% Sphagnum peat moss about a 1-1/4 inch layer with a 3/8 inch layer of 1/4 inch pumice pieces lining the bottom of the tray.:

d_capensis_Red_Tamlin_ee1_reduced.jpg
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<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>nepenthes gracilis,

Perhaps yours is even the same type as the Red Drosera capensis in this thread. Seems that the leaf length is very similar.</span>
 
heres a pic of my plant , it used to be redder during the summer outside but now its winter and i'm trying to duplicate the same conditions in my terrarium a few inches away from the lights .
d_capensis_red.sized.jpg
 
  • #10
Apparantly the light has to be quite intense for that coloration to build up. I remember my seedlings looked fairly red like Joe's, but the adults looked more like the latter pic.
Joe, how many trays like that are you able to fit into your growing room, lol? Are you using undrained plastic sterilite-type boxes with pumice on the biottom to compensate for no drainage holes? How about a broader pic of your set-up?

Thanks,

Joe
 
  • #11
My Drosera capensis 'red' only achieve his best coloration under full sun. Even close under my fluorescent tubes, they can reach a pinkish tint, but nothing more. Perhaps my tubes are too old (I know they are, but i don't know much the effects on plants!).

Great plants PinguiculaMan, as usual!

I was wondering: You seem to use frequently this recipe (pure LFS with bark at the bottom of the pot), do you apply this unique recipe to all your sundews? One thing is sure, the contrast of yellowish green moss with red leaves is striking!
 
  • #12
Does anyone think some peat is required to get the amount of tannins essential for the red coloration, or maybe the bark at the bottom covers that area.

Regards,

Joe
 
  • #13
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Joe,

Check this same post later tonight. I will take some overall photos of my grow-room setup for you and post them here.

As far as tannins necessary for increasing red pigmentation. If they do help with this function (and my anecdotal evidence says they do) I think the redwood bark would definitely make up for the lack of peat (lots of tannins).

Some Images of my Grow Room</span>
 
  • #14
Hi Joseph, I also agree on the similar clone. Last year it was a seedling and got frozen so it's now making a much better recovery and this summer it should show it's true colors. I have mine in peat and sand, same old Drosera mix.
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  • #15
This explains why my 'red' seedlings never looked a whole lot redder then my commons (just a little redder)... *SOB*  Why did the heater have to go on the blitz and cook them all last spring >_<  ... o_O Hey hey, is that one of NepG's one of my babies?  I can't remember who all got my babies before the accident.  I sent out around a 100 of each varient (alba, red and typical)... I would love to see how they grew up, anyone have any photoes of the plants I sent out last spring?

...if it helps you all remember, I send my small plants and seedlings in bottle caps wrapped in plastic wrap so they don't get squished in shipping.
 
  • #16
There are other red clones that are dissimilar to this form, and they never achieve the red that this plant gets. In full sun, there is NO green anywhere.
 
  • #17
Strong light certainly does help. I remember the first time I saw Peter D'Amatos red capensis and Akai Ryu flytraps(and then looking at my own half green-half red plants), lol.

Regards,

Joe
 
  • #18
Darcie from my understanding my plant originated from the member "noah" here on Terraforums. It was labeled a red form when I recieved it so we shall see this summer if indeed it lives up to it's labeling.
 
  • #19
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]This explains why my 'red' seedlings never looked a whole lot redder then my commons
Darcie, if your 'seedlings' are indeed from seed, there is a high likelihood that most of the seedlings will not retain the coloration of the parent -- unless the red color is the result of strongly dominant genes. Often a plant with special characteristics (such as a very red capensis) is selected from a group of siblings. To retrain those characteristics, the plant must be reproduced asexually (cloned). If folks are growing plants from seed and calling those seedlings the same name as the parent, there is little wonder why the plants look different from the parent and tend toward the common plant.
 
  • #20
I have 2 types of "red" seedling down at the moment. Some I got as 'capensis red flower' and the others came off a friends red capensis. The 'capensis red flower' are very red especialy for seedlings and much redder than the 'capensis red' seedling growing next to them.

Does anyone know what this 'capensis red flower' is supposed to be?

George
 
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