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Cut to root?

Hi! I have one of these:

drosera.jpg


It's had a bad year (whitefly of all things), and is quite large & mostly dead now. It is sprouting new little leaves of hope. If I chop it right down to root, will it grow nice again this spring? I hope so, it's one of my most loved plants.
 
It should come back. No need to cut, but get rid of the white flys!
 
I agree with glenn. By the way, that is a Drosera capensis.
 
My D. capensis was having a feast on the whiteflies here. I had another plant that was infested with whitefly, and the D. capensis was chowing down.
 
I think the whitefly managed to overwhelm my poor Drosera. It's not pretty anymore. I don't know where they come from, they sneak up on you, then the next thing you know there's a million of the little critters.

Would it survive having all it's 'branches' chopped off? It's realy too bald to have pride of place. (the photo is an old one)

Thanks for the help!
 
An almost fail-safe whitefly cure is to grow a few Pinguicula gigantea in the same vicinity as your other plants / CP. I once brought a plant into my CP growing room, a non-CP. I discovered that it had been infected with whitefly when I observed the leaves of my Pinguicula gigantea covered with the dead bodies of adult whitefly. However, thanks to the same Pinguicula gigantea I never saw a living adult whitefly and the infestation never got going. Pinguicula gigantea are very efficient double-sided fly paper.

Another consideration is the need to provide more and stronger light to your plants. Lower light creates softer, weaker leaves more susceptible to infestation and of a color most attractive to whitefly. Your photo illustrates that your plant is grown in lower light conditions than would be considered optimal for this species.

d_capensis_group.jpg
 
Joe,

I am going to get a section of basement to build a growchamber, but I think your room is better. My wife keeps telling me "EVERYTHING" is going in there, but I told her, just the big stuff that won't grow in tanks, lol.

Cheers,

Joe
 
Here's the same tray a year later. I've added a few more plants to it and all have grown a little more since then.

D_capensis_mixed_group_A.jpg
 
Different Drosera seem to have varying susceptability to pests. At the University greenhouse, D. scorpioides are devastated by thrips, while most other Drosera appear immune to attack. D. regia and capensis are severely deformed by aphid bites, while other Drosera are unaffected. But I agree with Joseph, poor growing conditions can predispose a stressed plant to infestation.
 
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