Drosera capensis

shelilla

shelilla

Carnivore
My Drosera capensis sure loves itself some humidity... :p
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I swear I can't grow this plant without some sort of dome on top of it anymore after I made the mistake of making a little makeshift greenhouse for it a while back.
Here was what happened when I took it off for just A DAY, and I had no idea what the problem was with it for a whole week (I thought the mini greenhouse I had made for it wasn't working so I took it off- now I can see it was and it loved it):
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Then, a little while after I put another mini greenhouse on it again:
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So for the OP problem, what would help the plant along out of the greenhouse? More light?
 
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Yep! There's nothing wrong growing D. capensis in the mini greenhouse though!
Their flowers will likely go moldy if kept in high humidity; at least that's my experience.
Here's my D. capensis "Wide Leaf" growing in room humidity (~50% or less)
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Normally the humidity hovers around 30%. It was growing fine before, but not a whole lot of dew so I though maybe taping some bent-up paperclips to the pot and wrapping ceran-wrap around it might do something good. I left for a 3-week vacation shortly after so I didn't see the good effects it had and thought it had done nothing, so I got rid of it. Overnight, all the leaves literally shriveled up and for about two weeks or so I tried to grow it without that because it got in the way of watering too and didn't exactly look nice. But every new leaf it produced ended up shriveling or turning out with barely any tentacles, and it took forever just to make one leaf. I didn't initially think humidity was the problem but when I put a new, and I hoped, more effective mini-greenhouse over it again, it immediately sped up growth, produced tons of leaves and dew, and just loved it. The moss does too.
I guess the moral of the story is, my capensis is a spoiled brat! :P
 
Gosh, such a show-off willy! :p:D
Beautiful 'dew though! And I don't think it's that much higher since I haven't once even seen water droplets on the sides (which was what made me think in the first place it wasn't really preserving humidity) but apparently it makes a big difference to mine lol
 
For Drosera in general more light is better then more humidity. If you have to sacrifice one it should always be humidity.
 
Hm...I think that is true to an extent. I would definitely say that for flytraps, but at least for toughies like the Cape Sundew it can handle a little less light, and any sundew will really appreciate a little humidity. But I guess if it does get too little light as well it can easily start producing malformed leaves without tentacles, which was actually happening to mine a while back when the light was too low for me to put it under.
I guess it's a fine line. For example- I recently accidentally removed dew from a bunch of leaves on the tentacles of my pygmy drosera seedlings and found the next day the ends of those leaves had shriveled inwards and the tentacles looked almost burnt to me. I moved the light an inch higher afterwards since it suggested to me it was either too hot or too much light. Most of all, it probably depends on the species.
All in all, more light is better but if you can give it humidity too than that's the best solution!
 
I forgot to transfer pics from the camera on to my phone so I don't have a picture yet, but my cape 'dew is forming a flower. I put it in a plastic bag for some extra humidity a few weeks ago and apparently it really liked it- I was wondering why it was growing so slowly and turns out that's why. :)

I'm tempted to let it bloom, but I don't have any other plants to pollinate it with.... would anyone happen to have more knowledge on this than I and also some pollen or whatnot to spare maybe? I kind of want to try making a hybrid (I know they self-pollinate, but I already have some seedlings that hitchiked somehow into that pot, and this species is SO common, so why not spice things up a li'l'?).... :D
I would love to produce some seeds because it'll be the first time doing that with my plants and I can finally contribute something to the seed bank maybe....
 
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