FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I went to home depot and saw a d.capensis , I realized it had no dew on its leaves but I figured Id buy it anyways and see if it will come back. anyways its been in my terrarium for 5 days and there is no sign of any dew coming back.. There are some new leaves that are growing from the center and my question is.. will the dew on the original leaves come back or do I have to wait until the new leaves are completely formed? I keep my sundew in a 20 gallon tank in the same original pot it came in. I have 2 t5ho lights on top which are from zoomed's flora sun. Am I meeting the requirements to making this plant healthy again? the temperatures reach about 85 degrees and the humidy ranges from 40 to 60

From what I know they need a lot of water and sun light over the next 2 or 3 weeks. I found that the new growth on my plants dewed up before the old stuff did. 5 days is not enough to start worrying... just give it time and it should be fine.

Oh and welcome to the FTC Forums.

Shimizoki wrote:From what I know they need a lot of water and sun light over the next 2 or 3 weeks. I found that the new growth on my plants dewed up before the old stuff did. 5 days is not enough to start worrying... just give it time and it should be fine.

Oh and welcome to the FTC Forums.

Thank you shimizoki, I kinda browsed the forums and came across some posts with people having a similar problem.. Ya I guess Im just starting to worry but it sounds like I just need to give it some time. I just hope that my setup is good enough to make this happen.

Okay ummm the old (non dewy) leaves your plant has now will not reproduce dew. they will remain like that and just stay there for photosynthesis. If your plant is watered regularly and given a lot of sun the new growth will produce lots of dew. But you still need to give it time to adapt and all that stuff. Also, your plant doesn't need to be in a terrarium if you dont want it to. they can adapt well to low humidity and will be fine on a south/west windowsill

Thanks Victor, I guess Ill be counting on the new leaves which seem to be growing pretty fast, Ive been noticing the new leaves growing day by day. I keep my plant in the terrarium just for display with my other plants. If you got any other tips feel free to drop share it with me, cheers.

If you check my post Droseraa spatulata flowering, you will see that although it is in 35% humidity, it is dewy.

If you want it to be dewy, put it in the brightest place that you can.
Humidity does not really matter, unless it is under 20% or so...

Hi bananaman, thank you for your reply, I checked out your plant which looks beautiful by the way. I had one other question for you or anybody that would like to respond to this..

There are four new leaves that have grown and the red hairs on the leaves have grown, does the dew typically show when the hairs are barely growing or does it take awhile for the dew to end up on the hairs after it has grown? I am just curious about this because I still do not know if my setup is right and if it is the best it can be. I do understand that they need good light, what I have are 2 24watt t5ho flora sun max bulbs hangin over it, it is less than 10 inches away. .. I have no idea what the lumen is on those tubes either, it doesnt say it anywhere. It is hard for me to leave to the terrarium in a south facing window because the a/c is on here at the house and the temperatures outside are 100+ degrees.

The dew usually appears once the tentacles have unraveled, and it sort of travels down the leaf is a mini, slightly sticky mexican wave...

I reckon those bulbs should be OK, but don't count on me, i don't have much experience with fluoros.
Good luck with your new sundew!

you can move the plants closer to the bulbs ,as close as possible without touching

Thanks, Mickey and Daniel G:) I went ahead and put the plant a little closer to the light, hopefully it will do well.. ill let you guys know what happens

Hah.. I guess its working... the dew is there now ... I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me because at certain angles yesterday morning I was seeing what looked like shiny little crystals on the tentacles.. it is clear now that the dew is forming:) it started showing on the new leaves.. thanks everyone for the advice on this!

Glad its working out for you... I was amazed too when one day there was nothing, the next there were tiny dots, and then the next the leaves were covered. Once it came in for me, it came in fast.

GLAD TO HELP