FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I have a 'Florida Red' that I'm growing in a 5.5" pot sitting in about 1-1.5" of water that gets replenished every 3-4 days. LEDs are on 16 hours a day and temps are consistently in the 70s with pretty bone-dry humidity. It gets fed every 2 weeks with powdered betta pellets. As the title says, the leaves are turning black before they can finish unfurling and new leaves are smaller than the last. It's producing dew on healthy parts of leaves and looks to be pushing up new growth with a division popping up as well. So what gives? My theories so far are that:

1. It could be going into dormancy, but why?
2. Humidity is too low (all my other dews are sparkling though).
3. It needs a constant level of water rather than having it decrease over a few days then rewatering it (I've been top watering everyday for the last few days to see if this helps).
4. Mineral buildup in the soil (Top watering should help here too).

optique wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:03 pm has it always had that hibernacula looking ball at the base?

The sort of fuzziness around the growth point? Since I've had it, I believe yes but I do think it wasn't there when I first received the plant. The seller I purchased it from grew it outside in Florida. Could it have been accustomed to the heat there and once it got into my milder conditions decided to start the dormancy process?

Too add, I've been growing this plant since July.

Thanks for your input. If it is going dormant, I'm assuming it's because of temperature. I received it completely green and it only colored up under my setup so I don't think photoperiod is an issue. What should I expect then if these are the summer temps I have indoors and it's going dormant? It'll get cooler in the winter. I'm not keen on raising the temperature too much either bc I have a Heli and a highland Nep growing in the same room. Will the plant acclimate to this new norm of cooler temps or will it stay this way until I give it like 80F+?

Interesting. I would wager the humidity would be a factor though. Where these plants are native, they're seeing 80%+ humidity in the summertime. Even winter has a fairly high humidity here. Could try a heating pad and see if it makes a difference or a heat bulb. I honestly don't know man, I could've sworn I've heard of people growing them in more northern climates.

Apollyon wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:02 pm Interesting. I would wager the humidity would be a factor though. Where these plants are native, they're seeing 80%+ humidity in the summertime. Even winter has a fairly high humidity here. Could try a heating pad and see if it makes a difference or a heat bulb. I honestly don't know man, I could've sworn I've heard of people growing them in more northern climates.

That's why I was so puzzled if it was going dormant! I looked at posts on here before I got it and people were reporting growth outdoors well into October and November. The growth I'm getting now is just so classic for when they go into dormancy though. If humidity is the culprit, could shorter leaves be an adaptive response of the plant to get enough water to its leaf tips? I think I have a glass cloche laying around. I'll have to try that out.

Hard to say, I honestly don't know. I mean tbh winters here are like 75 degrees lol. The humidity does drop some, perhaps the plant thinks it's winter. I've done some weird things with pinguicula to bring them out of dormancy and ill top water lightly few days to a week, I still keep it in the tray though. Swear it's brought several pings out of dormancy between that and a humidity dome lol. I'm curious if it'd work on sundews. I'm tempted to bring in an FL red and mess with it; I have two of them potted together.

Panman wrote:There is a very simple explanation as to why it is going dormant early. It is 2020 and it wants to go to sleep until it is all over.

Plant is like "This is straight bull**** , I'm out. I'll see ya'll next year"

2020: happens

This plant:

Apollyon wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:05 am Hard to say, I honestly don't know. I mean tbh winters here are like 75 degrees lol. The humidity does drop some, perhaps the plant thinks it's winter. I've done some weird things with pinguicula to bring them out of dormancy and ill top water lightly few days to a week, I still keep it in the tray though. Swear it's brought several pings out of dormancy between that and a humidity dome lol. I'm curious if it'd work on sundews. I'm tempted to bring in an FL red and mess with it; I have two of them potted together.

Dang, I didn't know it stayed that warm. Maybe dormancy is what's going on here. I'll still keep up the top watering I've been doing and I'll try out that cloche. Hopefully, it'll get used to my temps.

Yeah lol, outside a couple cold snaps for a collective 3 weeks or so, temps are ridiculous. I'll never forget checking the forecast on Christmas and it saying 80 degrees. I had a dreamsicle indoors here for a time and it seemed to respond favorably. Both of it's "parents" are grown outside here so it's possible. Wish I knew more.

When I grew D. filiformis 'Florida Red' here in eastern North Carolina, my plants refused to acknowledge that winter was on the way, despite the fact that the nights were getting cooler and cooler. At the same time, my D. filiformis var. filiformis plants had already packed it in for the winter by the end of September and were buttoned-up inside hibernacula. In late October, I finally gave away my 18-inch tray loaded with Florida Reds to a friend with a greenhouse, before the first frost hit and killed them all.

The sundew in those pictures is still rolling out new leaves; I see 3 of them in the crown. It doesn't look like it's going dormant to me.

If you want to see the native growing conditions, Google "climate Pensacola FL" and click on the Graphs link.