FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi all,

This is my first time posting in this forum and I am a new mom to 2 small sundews. I just got them 3 days ago and one of them, the Alice sundew, has lost almost all its dew within one day. I know there is a lot that my poor plant has to get used to when moving to a new environment, and I also just introduced a new light today (see specification below), so I'm hoping someone can help a newbie like me to figure out what my plant needs.

BEFORE PICTURE (when I first bought it):
AFTER PICTURE (taken from a different camera than the other pic--sorry it's a bit blurry):

Soil: Sorry, I'm not sure, it's just what I bought it with ... just look at the picture
Pot: 3.5 inches deep, 2.5x2.5 inches widthxlength
Light: daylight from a south-facing window covered with a sheer curtain. One day ago, I introduced a 23W (100W equivalent) compact florescent light bulb, 1500 lumens, 6500K. The bulb is just in a desk lamp facing the plants, about 6 inches from the Alice sundew, and it was on for 12 hours before I got home and noticed the lack of dew. I also created a little makeshift reflector to catch a bit of escaping light.
Temperature: I came home today (when I noticed the lack of dew), and it was really hot, about 85F
Water: distilled water, using a tray
Humidity: ~63%
And another thing is, I have a red cape too, and the red cape seems to be dealing with things a lot better than the Alice. My red cape still has dew (although not a lot), and the red cape also came with babies in its pot (from stray seeds) that have a bunch of dew and have visibly grown in the last 3 days.

I think the plant seemed fine in the first 2 days after I brought it (during the time when it only had daylight from the window) so I think it's possible that I didn't acclimate it properly to the new CFL... Or maybe I burnt it? I thought it's difficult to burn plants that are under florescent lighting, but I might be mistaken. And the light from the window is shining through a sheer curtain so I don't think it would've been burnt from that.
Or perhaps I need more light? I've seen people recommend thousands and thousands of lumens more than what I have, but since I'm on a budget, I thought it'd be fine for now if it's supplemented with light from the window.
Or maybe it's due to temperature? This is the first day that I left it all alone in the house for several hours, and our house heats up quite a lot when the windows are closed.

Please let me know if you need another picture / need more info. Thank you in advance for any help, and please feel free to be critical--I need all the help I can get!

Your plant is probably adapting to its new conditions. It should establish itself in a week or so.
Even healthy sundews will lose their dew every so often due to weather conditions. It isn't really an issue so long as it looks healthy and the central rosette is undamaged.
I'm not good with artificial lighting calculations, but in my experience, this species can grow healthy in both bright shade and full sun. It is rather sensitive to abrupt light changes though (although bright to shady transitions shouldn't really shock it too much). My plants are tolerant of high temperatures, although they might not look their best.

My advice would be to leave it in a same conditions and let it adapt. You'll find that many species can grow fine in a variety of conditions as long as they're consistent or change gradually. Keep an eye on the central rosette and new growth, making sure that it is healthy looking.

Fattytuna pretty much covered everything. I wouldn't be worried about it as long as it has good conditions. Most Drosera will look miserable for a little while when their conditions are changed.

It takes a little to acclimate

Nice Dews:)

I'm going to say more light. I have a cape sundew and many indicas that just stopped dewing after I repotted them. They were kept in a south facing window and hadn't had any problems before. After giving them a couple of months to acclimate to the reporting they still weren't putting out much dew. I put the outside and they now have more than they EVER have!

Edit: I also had posted here and got a lot of the acclimation posts you did. I wish I had put it outside sooner. What environment was it in before you bought it? Was it outside or in a greenhouse?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks you so much everyone, you're so awesome and helpful!!! Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I thought the website would automatically email me if someone posted on my thread.

Looking back, I was probably freaking out about something that's natural (acclimation) and that a billion other people have posted about already. I was mainly worried because my red cape seems to be doing fine (there's a sufficient amount of dew on almost all the leaves), and my Alice has no dew at all. I guess different plants react differently to change.

When it was in the plant store, it was in a greenhouse getting a lot of natural daylight.
I was thinking of keeping it outside, but I don't want my sundews to go dormant ... going to try to keep them up and running all year because they're so pretty. I'm probably just going to buy a brighter florescent light, and it is still has some light from the window.

Also, another question: fattytuna mentioned to make sure that the central rosette remains undamaged. I'm a little concerned because I could swear that the new growths are looking a bit darker (as in slightly browner, rather than red) than when I first got it. I might be paranoid, but if it is the case that the new growths are looking different, what might that mean?