Question
I just bought a Cape Sundew last saturday and put it in my window box with other house plants to eat the gnats.  It was catching bugs like crazy, around  2 per leaf. As of yesterday the leaves are looking less perky, have less 'dew' and some of them are turning brown and rolling in.  I was giving it tap water from oregon bull run, but have now switched to distilled. It doesn't get more then a few hours of direct sun light in the window box so I put it out in the garden so it could get some more sun, but I'm pretty sure something I'm doing is killing it.  Help! How do I save it?

Answer
Hello B,

Cape Sundews like moderate to cool (65-75 degrees) temperatures, like partial to full sun, and need high water levels of about 1/4 their pot bottom immersed.

They live in acid soil, so the tap water you used probably contained high amounts of minerals which are changing the composition of the soil to alkaline, which Cape Sundews cannot tolerate.

Changing to distilled water is good, however; the damage may already be done. You can repot the plant in a mix of sphagnum peat moss and perlite. The sphagnum peat to use would be found in large dry bales of unfertilized brown moss. Be cautious of buying anything like perlite or sphagnum moss in small bags as they are usually fertilized, which will kill carnivorous plants.

Repotting the plant will be the only sure way to remove the minerals and return the soil to its proper Ph levels.