Re: D. adelae

From: Chris Teichreb (cjteichr@sfu.ca)
Date: Fri Oct 01 1999 - 14:53:47 PDT


Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999 13:53:47 -0800
From: Chris Teichreb <cjteichr@sfu.ca>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg3401$foo@default>
Subject: Re: D. adelae

Marcus,

>I've been to a local flower-shop two weeks ago to get a bunch for a
>friend, and to my
>surprise I found that they had not only some VFTs but also one single D.
>adelae. It was
>dried out, looking a little like too old lettuce. So since they sold that
>rather large
>plant for the price of a glass of beer I decided to try to save it from
>sure death. I sat
>it in a cup of water and it worked! :))
>The other thing is that I got about a dozent (!) pygym drosera for free
>with that D.
>adelae.I will seperate them in the next couple of days, I think, and start
>guessing, what

        Are you sure they're not small plantlets of D.adelae? When really
small, they don't look much like the mature plants do. D.adelae is
extremely prolific at forming plantlets.

>I have got there. I don't have a clue yet - it will be hard work, I guess.
>I will try to
>get my hands on Allen Lowrie's books, any other tips?
>Now, what puzzles me is, that the D. adelea has not yet reproduced its
>glue. Is it still
>too weak, so that I have to wait for new leaves? Or may humidity be too
>low? I once heard
>(wasn't that on this list?), that some people mist their sundews, what I
>have never done
>before. Would this perhaps encourage glue-production?

        The older leaves will probably not recuperate. However, in the
right conditions it will quickly produce new, sticky leaves. I wouldn't
bother with misting, as this often seems to reduce 'glue' production on
sundews. With D.adelae, I would put it in a high humidity environment (an
old fishbowl would work well) and pot it up in live or long fibred
sphagnum. DON'T fertilize this sundew, a sure way of killing it. Don't
expose it to really strong light, as this seems to fry the Queensland
sundews (although this guy (gal?) can take some sunlight for a few hours a
day).

        As a final note, D.adelae is, in my opinion, even easier to grow
than D.capensis or spathulata, once in the right conditions. It can take
even lower light levels, and spreads even more quickly than capes. Mine
have even produced roots outside of their pot upon which small plantlets
started to form. I personally would like to see this sundew grown in a
large terrarium, allowed to spread, it would look great if you had a couple
of square feet of adelae!

>
>Greetings to y'all
>
>Marcus

Happy growing,

Chris



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