Fertilizing/Feeding Drosera

[Lloyd Gordon]

The pepper mill idea is genius!
I suggest caution with the grinder: try it a little bit first to see if you have an allergic reaction (sneezing, itchy eyes).

 

[Lloyd Gordon]

I got some dried fruit flies from @coconut (Thanks!) and my little regia seems to like them, curling up nicely and staying green.

 

[jamespmurdoch]

Hi all. I have some young and some medium sized D. spatulata, and d. binata, and, i’m just wondering how you guys go about feeding them? I have come to find out that simply placing a rehydrated bloodworm on the leaf will not cause enough stimulation for the plant to curl around the pray and begin digesting. Do I really need to sit there and jiggle the bloodworm piece around on the leaf for 10 minutes, or, do I go out like that dedicated spider researcher man who shakes leaves and brush over a tarp to collect tiny arachnids for documentation (in this case, death) thoughts?

 

[Lloyd Gordon]

Dry freeze dried blood worms are fine.

 

[jamespmurdoch]

Dry freeze dried blood worms are fine.

But how would you suggest teasing the plant to wrap around and digest the food like normal instead of it just sitting on the leaf like nothing happened

 

[Lloyd Gordon]

My simple method:
Put (dry) FDBW on the dewy parts. I don't do anything else and my dews go crazy. For D. regia use dried fruit flies instead, same way.

 

[DaniL]

Unlike VFTs, it can take hours (like a day’s worth of hours sometimes) for sundews to sloooowly close over it, but if you put one on a dewy part, leave it, and come back tomorrow, you might be surprised.

 

[coconut]

Young dew will not curve its leaf.

 

[jamespmurdoch]

i only say this as whenever i feed plants live insects the insect struggles to get free and the plant wraps around the insect. whenever i add bloodworms to my plants they never seem to wrap around, just sit there loosely.

 

[coconut]

i only say this as whenever i feed plants live insects the insect struggles to get free and the plant wraps around the insect. whenever i add bloodworms to my plants they never seem to wrap around, just sit there loosely.

If the plant is old enough, and if the quantity of given food is sufficient, the leaves will curl, not right away but take some time. Some species do not curl, ever. This sessilifolia was given dried fruit flies. The capensis has catched a fly.

 

[jamespmurdoch]

thanks for the help guys <3