QuestionQUESTION: I have a pot of Drosera adelae plants in a tray with my other sundews under fluorescent lights, however unlike my other sundews, which seem to be happy as larks and producing dew and have nice color, my Drosera adelae isn't producing any dew. There are two potential things I suspect may be going on; one is that they are getting too much light since they are more shade tolerant than other sundews, the other may be overcrowding since my original plant has now become dozens. One thing I've noticed also is that the new plants coming up under the older plants initially have dew but then stop producing dew once they clear the canopy of the other plants. The sundews as a whole are caching lots of nats which seem to be a now self perpetuating ecosystem , so nutrients don't seem to be the issue and I don't have to foliar feed them. I put water in their try no more than a quarter of the way up the pots. So anyway I'm not exactly sure why my Drosera adelae are dewless while my other sundews are doing great, let me know about any thing you suspect and what I should do to correct it.
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ANSWER: Hi Garrett,
For some reason I have your photo caption, but no photo. Try following up to this and re-attach your photo.
Good Growing!
Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.growcarnivorousplants.com
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Drosera adelae plants
QUESTION: Second photo send attempt, hope it works this time.
AnswerHi Garrett,
Thanks for sending that. Unfortunately, this is one of those problems that pops up with Drosera adelae that a don't have a solid answer for. We've had this happening to some of our plants off and on, and it seems to be a pest of some kind, but insecticides don't always cure it.
Here are some possibilities. You mentioned lots of gnats being caught by other sundews. If you have a fungus gnat infestation, you may have lots of the larvae in the soil, and they definitely will eat plant roots. D. adelae has finer roots than many other sundews, but lots of them, so gnat larvae would cause problems, but probably not kill them. That's kind of what you're seeing. If this is it, the fix is easy. You'll need to put mosquito dunks in their water tray. They contain a bacterial spore toxic to mosquito and other fly family larvae. For a small water tray you would only need 1/4 of one of the dunks. They are completely harmless to the plants. Here's what they look like: http://www.lowes.com/pd_92460-1643-MODU1_0__?productId=3047384 Also, take a hand lens and carefully examine the crown of the plants. Sometimes aphids hide there in the fuzz. If you see any, spray for them.
Because of the way you are growing them, I don't think your light is too bright. D. adelae do great normally under fluorescent lights. However, increasing humidity in this case could be beneficial. D. adelae definitely comes from a warm, humid area, so it may help them recover. Also, you mentioned your plants a bit crowded. When they are healthy, D. adelae will mass themselves happily in a pot, so I don't think it's that.
Let me know if any of this works. Until receiving your question, I hadn't thought about the fungus gnat possibility. We get lots of them in our Nepenthes greenhouse at times, but in our sundew house where the adelae's are at adult gnats quickly get captured by other sundews, and sundews with thick roots such as D. capensis and D. binata types wouldn't be as affected by them. It wouldn't be as easy to tell if a larvae infestation was in the soil.
Good Growing!
Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.growcarnivorousplants.com
