Growing Drosera or Sundew |
| Drosera Background Information
Drosera come in a wide variety of forms and from all around the world, the common name applied to these fascinating plants is Sundews. Currently there are something like 130 different varieties available with differing growing needs. Some look like tiny bottle brushes whilst others resemble tall slender reeds. All of them have tiny tentacles tipped with a globule of glue like material which is used to trap their prey. They range in colour from pales green through red but most of them have red tips on the tentacles. The leaves of Sundews are semi active, when they capture prey the leaf will close in around it and dissolve the insect with enzymes that are secreted by usually the central part of the leaf. Sundews will produce flowers in the spring and summer which can be white, pink or yellow and are borne of slender stems which are usually an inch or two above the tentalces. The plant pictured below is Drosera capensis and the leaves reach a height of between 3 and 4 inches in length with the top third having the sticky tips.
| Temperature
This varies considerable between species, some require tropical conditions whilst others will happily survive in almost Arctic conditions. See the individual species for details but the commonly grown types require a minimum of 5C (40F) Most of the commonly grown varieties are unlikely to survive the British climate outdoors in the winter, unless you are growing UK or other known hardy types.
Humidity
Sundews have no specific humidity requirements except for the tropical varieties, again see the specifics on the species pages.
Watering
Sundews should be kept standing in 1 inch of water from April through November and be kept just damp for the remainder of the year - there are some Sundews which need completely drying out during the winter 'resting period', see the species pages for more.
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| Light
These plants will benefit from being placed in a bright position and can stand full sun provided they don't go short of water. These make great windowsill plants and will catch insects all year round.
Compost & Watering
These plants should be grown in a mixture of 50% sphagnum moss, 30% sphagnum peat, 10% sharp sand and 10% charcoal. They should always be watered with either soft water (not from a water softener!) or rain water which has been gathered.
Feeding
They do not need feeding with liquid plant food but you should drop fly's and other small insects on to the leaf if they seem not to be catching many things of their own.
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Drosera