FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Please help! I received this D. Regia about two weeks ago. The grower said he had it under grow lights, and I am trying to acclimate it outside. The temps run about 85-90f during the day and 65-70f at night. It receives about 3 hours of direct light a day and bright light the rest of the day. It’s planted in a terra cotta pot with a 75% perlite/25% peat mix. I water it with refrigerated water every evening. It looks like the growth point is healthy, but the leaves are dying faster than growing. Is it time to do something different, like put it in a windowsill or give it more time. I really don’t want to lose this plant.


https://imgur.com/a/61N9T2p

Terra cotta pots are super bad for carnivorous Plants. The clay has trace minerals that leach in the soil. Not to mention the refrigerated water will still have minerals and chlorine which can also kill your plant. You should use distilled water or rainwater.


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Sorry, it’s distilled water that’s been refrigerated. I read on here that D. Regia are the exception with terra cotta because the terra cotta allows evaporative cooling and keeps the roots cool in hot weather? If that’s incorrect, I’d like to know!

I have never grown that species but I would think the trace minerals would be harmful to the roots.


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Drummer230 wrote: I read on here that D. Regia are the exception with terra cotta because the terra cotta allows evaporative cooling and keeps the roots cool in hot weather? If that’s incorrect, I’d like to know!

No, it is not incorrect, but you should repot more frequently than you would otherwise and always watch your plant carefully.

I believe the problem you are having is four fold. 1st, you (of course) repotted it and regia really doesn't seem to enjoy repotting. In fact, it will often struggle a bit until it adjusts. 2nd, it's in substandard conditions. 3rd, you repotted it and then place it directly into substandard conditions without giving the plant time to adjust to the repotting. 4th, you planted it in a peat based mix, and although some people can grow regia just fine in peat mixes, some can not.

Any suggestions from this point? Should I leave it alone or try something else? I can bring it inside to the a/c and try a windowsill.

By all means, bring it inside, try to provide as close to optimal conditions as possible and hope for the best.

I think with D. regia you need to acclimate environmental elements one at a time. Trying to acclimate it both to warmer temperatures (they can definitely handle more heat than that when growing well, though) as well as natural light at the same time could be problematic.

I don't know much about using clay pots for D. regia, but it's known to be more tolerant of nutrients in the soil than other sundews so I wouldn't worry much about the minerals leaching.

Okay, I have it inside in an east facing window with daytime temps of 80f and nighttime temps of 68f. I also have it supplemented with a led grow bulb for 10 hours because in the morning the window is a little shaded. Hopefully it will recover.

That sounds like a good start. The following link has been very helpful for me and explains the reasons for what others have already mentioned.

http://www.carnivorousplants.org/grow/guides/Dregia

Also, refrigerated water - distilled or otherwise - can shock a plant. Especially one already adjusting to several other conditions. Something to think about.

Good luck and happy growing,
-@.

Thanks. Maybe I’ll stop the cold water. The plant is definitely on life support at the moment. Even the tip of the growth point has gone black. Hopefully it’ll recover. Nothing to do at this point but wait and see.