Basics for growing sundews.
Not all sundews can be grown in the same conditions so to simplify this I’m very basically dividing this into groups based on care.
Determine the type of sundew you are growing from the groups below to provide the correct care for healthy sundews. Some universal care for all sundews. Don’t use soil mix’s with fertilizers and use water without dissolved minerals, use distilled or rainwater. Feed lots, types of food are fish flake, dried bloodworms or foliar spray but if using a foliar spray take care to not get it on the soil.
Easy Growing Subtropical sundews
The logical group to start with as they are the most commonly encountered by growers new to carnivorous plants. Some examples of sundews that fall in this category are Drosera binata, Drosera capensis, Drosera spatulata or Drosera adelae. Subtropical sundews come from regions like South America, southern Africa, southern and eastern Asia, Australia, area’s where the climate is mild, and doesn’t freeze.
Care:
Subtropical sundews are great for indoor growing as they prefer temperatures around 18-24 degrees C and usually do well without the need for higher humidity. They are very tolerant of manny conditions from a sunny window sill to a terrarium, as long as they have lots of light and consistently moist soil. I prefer a 50% peat 50% perlite mix but peat and silica sand or Sphagnum moss, live or dried will also keep them happy.
Starting:
These are also the easiest to grow from seed. A bunch of the subtropical sundews self pollinate and will produce abundant seed after flowering. For starting from seed the seeds should be spread on top of the pre dampened peat and perlite mix then lightly misted, do not bury the seed. Keep the soil consistently moist but not saturated, under bright light and kept warm about 22 degrees C.
Pygmy sundews
Pygmy sundews are small coin sized sundews from Australia and just one from South America, Drosera meristocaulis. The Australian Pygmy sundews are winter growing, they grow and flower during the cooler wet winter months rather than the dry summers when they go dormant.
Care:
Pygmy sundews like lots of light, grow in full sun or under good grow lights a window with a half days sun is not enough. Reduce lighting duration by an hour or two to trigger flowering or gemmae production. Soil should be sandy, I like 33% peat to 66% silica sand with a topping of 1cm pure sand to keep mosses under control. Once planted avoid disturbing or transplanting the sundews, breaking the long main root usually results in the plant dying.
What are Gemmae:
Gemmae is the most common way Pygmy’s are traded. These Sundews do produce seed but not in great quantities and the seed can be slow and difficult to start, most but not all need to be cross pollinated. Gemmae are modified leafs capable of starting new plants. The sundews produce Gemmae in quantity’s of 10-20 at the growth point of the plant to take advantage of good growing conditions. Outdoors the Gemmae when ready will flick and disperse when hit with a rain drop to start new plants away from the mother plant. Indoors these gemmae can be collected with toothpick by wiggling them free and placed on top of pre dampened peat/sand mix to start new plants, do not bury.
Temperate Sundews
All our Canadian sundews are temperate, Drosera anglica, Drosera intermedia, Drosera x obovata, Drosera linearis, Drosera rotundifolia and Drosera filiformis. Temperate sundews can also be found around the northern hemisphere, anywhere that gets a snowy frozen winter. Because these plants need to survive harsh winters they have a strategy where they die back to a hibernacula, a tight bud of undeveloped leaves once a year for the winter months.
Care:
Temperate sundews require a dormancy rest once a year, most tend to fade away without although I have heard of people growing Drosera rotundifolia indoors without dormancy but in general these aren’t indoor sundews. Dormancy isn’t a frozen block of ice in a pot even though they can withstand freezing. They should be protected from hard freezes, in nature they are protected by an insulating cover of snow. During growing season they like full all day sun exposure, and consistently moist 50% peat and 50% perlite mix.
Seeds:
Cold temperate sundews seeds also have to survive the winters till the next growing season so they have a protective coating that keeps the seed from being damaged. To sprout the seed you need to mimic a short winter of one month where the seed is stored wet and cold 3 degrees C, called stratification to break down the seeds coating and allow it to germinate. After stratification or during seeds should be on top of the consistency damp peat mix, when ready to germinate give full sun and warm temperatures 18-23 C.
Tuberous sundews
Well to be honest I haven’t really figured this one out yet, had success with some and complete failures with others. Tuberous sundews produce tubers during the growing season much like potato’s for when the hot dry summer season comes the plant can die back to dormant tubers under the soil. When the cooler rainy season comes the come to like and push new growth up from below the soil.
Care:
What I can say is use taller pots as the tubers like to form deep and are prone to rot during dormancy if kept too wet. Temperatures above 24 degrees will cause the plants to go dormant. Keep them around 18 degrees C for half the year, and let them go dormant if they choose to when it’s too hard to keep them that cool here in Canada. Some seem to need a dormancy others if the conditions are right will keep on growing. Keep them in tall pots of 33% peat and 66% perlite, consistently moist but slightly dryer during dormancy.
Seeds:
Starting seeds of tuberous Drosera is a little different, instead of a cold stratification they need a warm stratification to germinate. Seeds need to be thrown on top of a damp peat mix and then just hope for best for a long time. Some people will carefully sand a small portion of the outer layer of the seed away until the lighter layer underneath is visible to encourage germination. Fortunately the easier way to propagate and trade tuberous Drosera is exchanging the tubers when they are dormant.
Petiolaris sundews
This stunning looking group of sundews from Australia love the heat! Having their own grow area is recommended as they like temperatures above what most other carnivorous plants do. Don’t let that stop you from growing these Petiolaris sundews, given the correct conditions they will grow for anyone.
Care:
Heat! Keep these sundews above 24 degrees C or they will fade away and die, they are happiest around 30 degrees C. No surprise that if they like the heat they like the light, give these sundews full sun or sting grow lights. For the soil use 50% peat and 50% perlite or silica sand kept consistently moist.
Seed:
Again, heat! These seeds won’t germinate or grow below 24 degrees C. The flowers need to be cross pollinated for all but Drosera paradoxa ‘Type’ to produce seed. Spread the seeds on pre-dampened peat mix, don’t bury, keep them warm and give them lots of time. Don’t give up on the pot if they don’t sprout like subtropical Drosera, I have had the seeds of some sprout a year after sowing.
Highland sundews
This might be a bit of confusing but important catagory because of the very different care needed, the broadness of locations and different types of sundews further convolute this group. These sundews live at higher elevations that have cooler conditions and temperature drops at night. Most of these sundews come from the Tepui’s of South America but there are others like Drosera regia from South Africa. Even a Canadian sundew like Drosera linearis could also be included here based on the cooler conditions it prefers. Do some research before buying sundews that grow at high elevations.
Care:
These sundews grow generally on exposed mountain slopes in very different conditions than other sundews, usually with poor soil that can be alkaline rather than acidic with the peat based soils. Each highland plant should be individually researched to determine the best soil to use. What is common between all highland sundews is the temperature they require. Daytime highs should be below 24 degrees C, higher temperatures can cause die back. And night time temperature drops should go down to 15 degrees, some highland sundews will happily grow at even lower temperatures. Starting seeds or other propagation again will have to be individually researched.
Not all sundews can be grown in the same conditions so to simplify this I’m very basically dividing this into groups based on care.
Determine the type of sundew you are growing from the groups below to provide the correct care for healthy sundews. Some universal care for all sundews. Don’t use soil mix’s with fertilizers and use water without dissolved minerals, use distilled or rainwater. Feed lots, types of food are fish flake, dried bloodworms or foliar spray but if using a foliar spray take care to not get it on the soil.
Easy Growing Subtropical sundews
The logical group to start with as they are the most commonly encountered by growers new to carnivorous plants. Some examples of sundews that fall in this category are Drosera binata, Drosera capensis, Drosera spatulata or Drosera adelae. Subtropical sundews come from regions like South America, southern Africa, southern and eastern Asia, Australia, area’s where the climate is mild, and doesn’t freeze.
Care:
Subtropical sundews are great for indoor growing as they prefer temperatures around 18-24 degrees C and usually do well without the need for higher humidity. They are very tolerant of manny conditions from a sunny window sill to a terrarium, as long as they have lots of light and consistently moist soil. I prefer a 50% peat 50% perlite mix but peat and silica sand or Sphagnum moss, live or dried will also keep them happy.
Starting:
These are also the easiest to grow from seed. A bunch of the subtropical sundews self pollinate and will produce abundant seed after flowering. For starting from seed the seeds should be spread on top of the pre dampened peat and perlite mix then lightly misted, do not bury the seed. Keep the soil consistently moist but not saturated, under bright light and kept warm about 22 degrees C.
Pygmy sundews
Pygmy sundews are small coin sized sundews from Australia and just one from South America, Drosera meristocaulis. The Australian Pygmy sundews are winter growing, they grow and flower during the cooler wet winter months rather than the dry summers when they go dormant.
Care:
Pygmy sundews like lots of light, grow in full sun or under good grow lights a window with a half days sun is not enough. Reduce lighting duration by an hour or two to trigger flowering or gemmae production. Soil should be sandy, I like 33% peat to 66% silica sand with a topping of 1cm pure sand to keep mosses under control. Once planted avoid disturbing or transplanting the sundews, breaking the long main root usually results in the plant dying.
What are Gemmae:
Gemmae is the most common way Pygmy’s are traded. These Sundews do produce seed but not in great quantities and the seed can be slow and difficult to start, most but not all need to be cross pollinated. Gemmae are modified leafs capable of starting new plants. The sundews produce Gemmae in quantity’s of 10-20 at the growth point of the plant to take advantage of good growing conditions. Outdoors the Gemmae when ready will flick and disperse when hit with a rain drop to start new plants away from the mother plant. Indoors these gemmae can be collected with toothpick by wiggling them free and placed on top of pre dampened peat/sand mix to start new plants, do not bury.
Temperate Sundews
All our Canadian sundews are temperate, Drosera anglica, Drosera intermedia, Drosera x obovata, Drosera linearis, Drosera rotundifolia and Drosera filiformis. Temperate sundews can also be found around the northern hemisphere, anywhere that gets a snowy frozen winter. Because these plants need to survive harsh winters they have a strategy where they die back to a hibernacula, a tight bud of undeveloped leaves once a year for the winter months.
Care:
Temperate sundews require a dormancy rest once a year, most tend to fade away without although I have heard of people growing Drosera rotundifolia indoors without dormancy but in general these aren’t indoor sundews. Dormancy isn’t a frozen block of ice in a pot even though they can withstand freezing. They should be protected from hard freezes, in nature they are protected by an insulating cover of snow. During growing season they like full all day sun exposure, and consistently moist 50% peat and 50% perlite mix.
Seeds:
Cold temperate sundews seeds also have to survive the winters till the next growing season so they have a protective coating that keeps the seed from being damaged. To sprout the seed you need to mimic a short winter of one month where the seed is stored wet and cold 3 degrees C, called stratification to break down the seeds coating and allow it to germinate. After stratification or during seeds should be on top of the consistency damp peat mix, when ready to germinate give full sun and warm temperatures 18-23 C.
Tuberous sundews
Well to be honest I haven’t really figured this one out yet, had success with some and complete failures with others. Tuberous sundews produce tubers during the growing season much like potato’s for when the hot dry summer season comes the plant can die back to dormant tubers under the soil. When the cooler rainy season comes the come to like and push new growth up from below the soil.
Care:
What I can say is use taller pots as the tubers like to form deep and are prone to rot during dormancy if kept too wet. Temperatures above 24 degrees will cause the plants to go dormant. Keep them around 18 degrees C for half the year, and let them go dormant if they choose to when it’s too hard to keep them that cool here in Canada. Some seem to need a dormancy others if the conditions are right will keep on growing. Keep them in tall pots of 33% peat and 66% perlite, consistently moist but slightly dryer during dormancy.
Seeds:
Starting seeds of tuberous Drosera is a little different, instead of a cold stratification they need a warm stratification to germinate. Seeds need to be thrown on top of a damp peat mix and then just hope for best for a long time. Some people will carefully sand a small portion of the outer layer of the seed away until the lighter layer underneath is visible to encourage germination. Fortunately the easier way to propagate and trade tuberous Drosera is exchanging the tubers when they are dormant.
Petiolaris sundews
This stunning looking group of sundews from Australia love the heat! Having their own grow area is recommended as they like temperatures above what most other carnivorous plants do. Don’t let that stop you from growing these Petiolaris sundews, given the correct conditions they will grow for anyone.
Care:
Heat! Keep these sundews above 24 degrees C or they will fade away and die, they are happiest around 30 degrees C. No surprise that if they like the heat they like the light, give these sundews full sun or sting grow lights. For the soil use 50% peat and 50% perlite or silica sand kept consistently moist.
Seed:
Again, heat! These seeds won’t germinate or grow below 24 degrees C. The flowers need to be cross pollinated for all but Drosera paradoxa ‘Type’ to produce seed. Spread the seeds on pre-dampened peat mix, don’t bury, keep them warm and give them lots of time. Don’t give up on the pot if they don’t sprout like subtropical Drosera, I have had the seeds of some sprout a year after sowing.
Highland sundews
This might be a bit of confusing but important catagory because of the very different care needed, the broadness of locations and different types of sundews further convolute this group. These sundews live at higher elevations that have cooler conditions and temperature drops at night. Most of these sundews come from the Tepui’s of South America but there are others like Drosera regia from South Africa. Even a Canadian sundew like Drosera linearis could also be included here based on the cooler conditions it prefers. Do some research before buying sundews that grow at high elevations.
Care:
These sundews grow generally on exposed mountain slopes in very different conditions than other sundews, usually with poor soil that can be alkaline rather than acidic with the peat based soils. Each highland plant should be individually researched to determine the best soil to use. What is common between all highland sundews is the temperature they require. Daytime highs should be below 24 degrees C, higher temperatures can cause die back. And night time temperature drops should go down to 15 degrees, some highland sundews will happily grow at even lower temperatures. Starting seeds or other propagation again will have to be individually researched.
