FlyTrapCare Forums

Hey guys,

I'm thinking of getting a D. regia from Keehns (any takers for a vancouver based order?). Anyways, If I grew them on an East facing patio in Vancouver, that would get max about 6 hours of direct sun in summer, would this work?

What I know (at least have read) about proper care is this:

Max temps about 30, minimum about 2-5
Humidity - not too picky
Sunlight - lots of direct (have read conflicting stuff though)
Water - damp, not waterlogged

Basically, they can be grown similar to a Darlingtonia. How do other people grow theirs, and do you think this is A good plant to grow outdoors in Van?

As always, thanks for your input.


Mauro

My experience growing these plants is pretty limited. But they seem not to be too picky with temperature and humidity. But they will get root rot if kept too wet. As far as lighting goes, they seem just like most sundews...they'll happily take as much as you give them. I have mine in the greenhouse in full sun with the rest of my flytraps and Sarracenia.

They have apparently extremely robust roots (believe me, I saw them) which make them able to survive very cold and hot temperature, as well as drought.
However, from what I gathered around is that they like overall cold roots. I don't believe it's as serious as Darlingtonias, but the optimal temperatures seem to be from about 15 degrees celsius to about 24 celsius.
It can be hard to achieved depending of the seasons, under and/or above those guidelines, the leaves apparently die but the crown will grow back once the conditions are appropriate. It may become a problem for me in summer as I don't have any air conditioning and it can be darn hot indoors. Optimal soil is a half-half mix of perlite and long fiber sphagnum, which is very airy (let the water evaporate well in between waterings). The Regia likes indirect light (pretty much the most you can for it). Direct sunlight most likely will raise the temperature of the roots/leaves and it will possibly not like it.

Pretty cool tropical sundew though, mine is recovering from transplant shock so we'll see. I've grown almost all popular carnivorous plants so far and it's been a success, hopefully this one will be another homerun for me

Good luck !

Matt wrote:My experience growing these plants is pretty limited. But they seem not to be too picky with temperature and humidity. But they will get root rot if kept too wet. As far as lighting goes, they seem just like most sundews...they'll happily take as much as you give them. I have mine in the greenhouse in full sun with the rest of my flytraps and Sarracenia.

That's incredible Matt. Keep us posted about your growing conditions and progress with it. Its cultivation is limited due to the somewhat rarity factor but that also explains the lack of documentation.

Even the savage garden book is pretty limited regarding the growing needs ! I know you're an experienced grower and that fact gives me better hope that my plant will live for a while.

I just found this link and it appears to be a good growing care guide :

http://www.carnivorousplants.org/seedba ... _regia.htm

sekler wrote:I just found this link and it appears to be a good growing care guide :

http://www.carnivorousplants.org/seedba ... _regia.htm

That article was written by John Brittnacher who lives just down the street from me and gave me my first couple of D. regia.

I guess I should have made it clear that the nights always cool down here in Ashland. I don't know if D. regia would do well in a greenhouse in Florida, but they do fine here in Ashland where the night time lows in the summer almost always get down into the mid to low 60s.

Thanks a lot guys, this is pretty encouraging. I think I'll go through with an order. Matt, after reading the article, what do you think about fertilizing the soil? Personally, I think as long as it gets enough nutrients from insects or somewhere else, there may not be a need for it. What are your thoughts?

Thanks guys!

Well yes you really don't need to fertilize them if they're getting plenty of insects.
I usually fertilize my drosera in the winter because there's so few insects, it really gives them a boost.

Alright, so I just received mine in the mail today (along with a few other VFT cultivars from Keehns), and I potted it in roughly 40% pumice, 40% peat, and 20 % sand. I think it might be a bit heavy on the peat, but I think it's well draining enough.
It's currently just breaking dormancy. It's in the garage, where it will get about 2 hours of direct sunlight per day in the morning (when it actually is sunny), and it sits in temps of about 5-7 degrees. This will be substantially warmer on sunny days. What are everyone else's growing conditions at the moment? I'm not too worried about the summer, I just want to make sure it gets there first. I also took some root cuttings for insurance.

Thanks again for all your input, and I'll have some pictures posted within the week.


Mauro

Hey dude,

Mine is potted in a large pot containing long fiber sphagnum and perlite and equal parts. I find that the water retention and light color helps to keep the roots at a cooler temperature. Mine so far is recovering from transplanting shock. Its growing at about 23 degrees celsius during the day with a cooldown to about 14 degrees during the night. It seems healthy this way so far. I too am concerned about this summer, here temperature can easily go up to 30 degrees if not a bit more with the humidity factor. Ill try to perhaps move it overnight into by bedroom which will have the a/c. We'll see though but id sure be devastated to loose such an attractive plant.

Hey, just thought I'd throw in my thoughts about temperature----keep this one below 30 celcius as much as possible. Ideally, exclusively 26 C or lower. As was mentioned by the previous growers, they don't have to worry about this too much since they live in pretty cool climates. Since you're in Canada, you should be fairly safe, but you mentioned 30C so I thought I'd chime in...while D. regia can tolerate 30C for a few days, it will likely go dormant if given this for a week or more.

Here's advice from another grower (quogue):

"I've grown my D. regia for over 7 years and it's been from Cali, to Brooklyn to a few places on Long Island and it's flowered... cool temps are important. constant 80F heat will kill em. They seem to love it in the mid 60's....I do not let the media get all water-logged. Bigger ones can get thirsty, soaking up lots of water. I kinda let them soak up their water and then add more...I use florescent lights and they love em, although when they do get sunlight the dew will get much more gobby. The bigger they are, the less they like repotting. They do spring back though. They do well in basements under lights... if your conditions are right, they can be pretty easy. If they are not right, then they will be difficult! Sure they might be able to survive 90F heat for a spell, but for an entire summer they won't." From here: http://terraforums.com/forums/showpost. ... stcount=11


But if you can keep it cool year-round, it's as easy as a Capensis, for sure. Just make sure it gets fed enough to appease its voracious appetite (or fertilized, as suggested by John)!

Thanks for the info guys.

Also, I contacted Rick Keehn (from whom I ordered), asking him about his growing conditions. He said he had it growing since early February in temps from 8-18 degrees C (46-65 F), with a photoperiod of 15 hours. Given that I can only maintain about 10 degrees during th day, and about 4 at night, and the photoperiod was suddenly reduced to 11 or so hours (whatever it is right now), how does this affect the shock the plant will undergo? This is a 2 year old plant that looks quite healthy (I'll post pics pretty soon), but I'm just concerned about it recovering from this shock. Moving forward into the growing season, I'm not too concerned.
What are your thoughts on this?

Oh and great pictures by the way!

8 degrees seems quite cool to me. I read that below 10 degrees, the plant would go dormant, so it gets under warmer temperatures. I'm not sure if that is too cold in the long run, but I guess it will be warmer as spring arrives?

Great pics!