FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I accidentally pulled up my Sundew and I dont know if I can re-plant it. Can someone please help me. Thank you!
The brown area in the pot is where it sat. I was trying to pull out a dead stem and the whole thing came out =( Its very crowded in the pot as it is and I would love some guidance on what to do to re-pot some of the others. Everything is growing like crazy! Any help is appreciated!

Does it still have roots?
If so make a hole with a pencil and put the roots back in the hole. Push the soil back together and water it

pulled it out? put it back in

No roots are attached =( The last photo is the underneath of it.

What i would do is stick it into wet sphagnum and keep wetter then usual, this way it might form new roots.
Besides, its likely that a new plant will emerge from the roots left in the pot

It will most probably grow new roots if its kept wet and the underneath centre in direct contact with the compost.

Thank you, thank you!!

Sander wrote:What i would do is stick it into wet sphagnum and keep wetter then usual, this way it might form new roots.

This is good advice.

Sander wrote:Besides, its likely that a new plant will emerge from the roots left in the pot

This is an understatement. These sundews are weeds. I pulled a capensis out of a pot because I didn't want it in there. That was the wrong method. The roots that were left in the media grow new planlets and I ended up with more sundews in the pot then I started with. It also looks like you had some flowers. These plants seed like crazy and if you sneeze on the opposite side of the house there will be enough wind current to pass the seeds into every pot you own and eventually you'll have little spatulatas growing everywhere and you'll wish you didn't have them.

If you look closely at the bottom in the middle you can see a small capensis growing. This plantlet is growing from the left over roots of the plant I pulled out. This was at the bottom of a pot that wasn't receiving any light and it still grew. I had another 10 small plants at the top of the sphagnum that grew from the roots. Don't be to worried if you lose that dew. From the flower that you have on the other one in the pot you'll get plenty of seeds. In good conditions they can grow to flowering maturity in about 6 months and some even produce flowers quicker then that.

Amills wrote:I would love some guidance on what to do to re-pot some of the others

Flytrap roots grow straight down. If you just take a spoon or any tool and go down along the sides of your VFT you'll be able to pull it up pretty easily. Don't worry if you tear a few roots. As long as the rhizome is healthy it'll grow new ones and of course the more roots you get out without damage the better your plant will recover from being repotted. I'm not sure how deep your pot is but I'd try to go as far down as I could because flytrap roots can get fairly long if they have the room. Have a pot ready to plant it in. The deeper the better. Make sure the media is evenly moist as you put it in the pot. Make a hole in the center and stuff the VFT roots straight down into the pot. Make sure the rhizome is down in the hole. If you can see any white on the leaf I'd push it down a little further. Gently massage the soil around the roots from the sides to fill in the whole. Add more media if needed. Then water thoroughly to get read of any air pockets and to settle to soil. Disturbing the roots will make it less efficient at absorbing water so plants can be prone to dehydration so keeping the soil a little more moist can help keep it from drying out until the roots are re-established in the new media. That's moist not soggy

The dews are very similar but as you found out their roots can be fragile. I would dig up the soil around the roots and leave it on, place it in a new pot then fill in the new pot with soil around the old soil. If that makes any since.

The Sarracenia is a tough plant no need to be gentle just dig it up either clean the old soil off and use all new soil or leave the media around the roots and re-position it and replace the soil. Always firmly pack the media down. If you don't over time as you water all the air pockets disappear and the soil settles causing the level in the pot to be a lot lower then what you want.

I hope all this is clear. If you have any more specific questions just ask.

That was so helpful, thank you very much!

Very good info Jason.

It should be fine. Is it a spatulata? I've actually divided a spatulata in the past, tore all the roots completely off, and they all recovered. I just tossed them on top of a pot of soil.

I would put a clear plastic cup over it though to raise the humidity for a month or two while it recovers.

I also recommend putting it into a smaller pot and watering the soil more. (Yours looks dry). Repotting again wont matter at this point.