FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey everyone, I thought I would share some pics of my 2 month old (maybe a little older, I didn't write down when they germinated) D. capensis seedlings, and share some things that have worked well for me so far. I am not an expert, in fact I am firmly in beginner territory in this hobby, but I feel like things have been going well for me. I like the simplicity of growing these plants, not needing to worry about fertilizer and over/underwatering, and that I get to feed them!


This is a while after they germinated, too small to really feed


Now they were big enough that I could sprinkle a little high-protein fish food onto them- they seemed to like it and started growing quickly


I transplanted 5 good looking ones to a new pot with freshly rinsed and de-mucked peat mix


The ones still grouped up in the pot continue to grow, I will need to transplant them soon


This is what they look like today, they are getting big quickly

I have had a lot of apparent success using a high protein fish food I originally got for feeding fish--imagine that! It's Hikari "Food Sticks" which are pretty big, but they crumble easily into dust and smaller pieces, which seem to work really well for D. capensis and D. spathulata. I can't tell yet if D. binata likes it or not- the tentacles seem to be damaged where i put bigger pieces, so I'm just holding off for now.

Any advice concerning continuing care would be appreciated, I want to try producing these and growing them outside in the summer. I think I will be overrun with them quickly at this rate, but that's not a terrible problem to have- they are beautiful plants, whether they are the most common or not, I don't mind!

Did your temps ever get over 85 degrees while sprouting the seeds?
Just wondering...thanks-Logan

They did when I germinated the seeds, but not often and only for a short periods of time. I have noticed they do best if temps are a bit lower, so I removed the lid. Humidity dropped, but so did the temperature, when the seedlings adapted in a day or two, they actually started to look healthier. But, they can grow in 85F (30°C) environment.

Thanks!

I had similar results- the first pic was taken when I had a partial lid on the tank they are in, but once I took the top off they seemed to do better. I think like most plants, sundews like plenty of oxygen, so even if the humidity is 100% they seem to smother when fully enclosed. 85F should be fine as long as it's not super windy, I think