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Just a thought

Cindy

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I haven't tried enough species to come to a conclusion but my hypothesis is this:

If you can't grow one sundew from a particular area, you probably can't grow the rest from the same area.

My experience:
D.capensis, the weed, SIMPLY WON'T grow well in Singapore. D.aliciae won't grow. D.regia too. These 3 are from S.Africa.

D.burmanni and D.spatulata from Asia do well here. D.intermedia and D.filiformis from USA are growing like crazy too.

Any comments?
 
Hmmm never thought of that. But then I don't really know loads about the native habitats of these plants. Could be something to do with the air/twitches in the environment/climate which deters the south african dosera from growing, and permits the USA ones to grow here.
 
Cindy,
It makes a certain amount of sense. If your environment is sufficiently different from the native habitat, the plant won't grow. I would bet, however, that this would be mediated by individual species' adaptability.
 
That sounds like a plausible hypothesis. But what variables are resulting in the afore-mentioned plants NOT to do well? Isn't Sinagpore hot and humid and don't most CP's enjoy those conditions? There must be something more to it.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Isn't Sinagpore hot and humid and don't most CP's enjoy those conditions? There must be something more to it.

My guess is that the ones Cindy is finding difficult to grow require a nightime drop in temperature. Any thoughts?

I'm suprised that D.filiformis is growing like crazy for you. Do you provide a dormancy for any of your plants?

-Homer
 
Yes, but, before I put my plants outside, they were in our lab, with no humidity to speak of, open tray, and no night time drop in temperature to speak of. That capensis was almost killed by me when I brought it onto the lab (15 degree outside temp) and only had window sill light. I did almost anything a newbie could have done wrong. A few months later, all was forgiven and it flowered. This is one very confused hobbyist!
 
Capensis is very nice for us lucky North Americans isn`t it?
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Then the singaporeans can grow lowland Neps outdoors to there hearts content *sighs in jealusy*
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[b said:
Quote[/b] ]I did almost anything a newbie could have done wrong.

You'll be surprised how mcuh I did more...
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I don't provide dormancy for any of my plants but am considering it, especially for those which have come from dormancy provided areas (eg.australia) - I just found out why my VFT look so darn exhausted now...isn't winter just over in australia?

Homer: Possibly. I think the pygmies all died during the warm nights. Ain't that right CIndy...

Pondboy: I think we are the ones who should be jealous, there are hardly any cps in singapore, so we have to make do with what we've got (thats why most of us here have huge stocks of neps ahahahahahehe) J/K
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The reason why I had such an idea is because none of the Singapore CPers could grow D.capensis! I also lost my D.regia to warm nights. Yeh, the pygmies too. But my suspicion is not only the temperature but the rate at which fungi grow during that time, given the high humidity. The plants simply ROT.
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Jason's right. We have more neps that any other CPs but well, the reason why we're into CPs is also because they are challenging right? Come on, if D.capensis was difficult, all of you would be trying, trying and trying to cultivate too!
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So personally, I would give up only if I know I really cannot do anything about it. Like for D.capensis. Irony is, it's the only sundew that the nurseries here bring in!
 
  • #10
Cindy,

The only solution I can offer would to be a MASS sowing program. Somewhere in thousands of individuals you might get a seedling that has enough stamina to take the warmer conditions. I feel that this would prove to be the case. There have been many climatic changes over the millions of years these plants evolved in Africa. Doubtless there were times and periods of greater warmth than are to be found now: Africa is migrating to the North. Don't give up sowing and trying! I have endless seed for your experimentation on request. If the issues are really fungal (which is an astute observation) the use of LFS vs peat may be a better alternative. I have far less fungal problems with this media and use it with species which are prone to fungus attack. You might also try using deeper pots and a more hydroponic protocol with the aim being to keep the roots cool.
 
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