FlyTrapCare Forums

optique wrote: ↑Sun Mar 21, 2021 7:09 pm I agree the more direct sunlight the better. This is some sundews from this forums seed bank i am growing now. In a very sunny window. If your plants don't make it i suggest you get some cape seeds.


Also when you say bottled water i hope you mean distilled, a lot of the normal drinking water would kill a sundew. Rain water would be ideal too.

Then the media, I am going to guess that is peat your plants are in? I prefer a mix of peat and perlite or silica sand 50/50 to pure peat but i would not repot a none healthy plant it would just stress it more.
For my inside long term plants i prefer a mix of long fiber sphagnum moss and perlite, it seems to last longer and is less messy no standing water needed.

tracieh wrote: ↑Sun Mar 21, 2021 6:47 pm I am not an expert. But it doesn't look so good. They like a lot of light. And they do not go dormant. The biggest things I have found are keep a dish of distilled water underneath and bright light. I am not sure that one is able to be saved? But with sundews you just never know! Some of them seem indestructable.

SuzyAttitude wrote:I'm not sure what the soil is. It's whatever her friend brought it over in. He has sundew of his own that are doing quite well. The water isn't distilled, it's purified so I hope we didn't kill it with the wrong water. Do they need to be full sunlight? My apartment doesn't get much direct sun so I might need to buy a sun lamp. I did read about using a humidifier so I guess I'll need to get that too. Do you think this one could be saved?

SuzyAttitude wrote:

optique wrote: ↑Sun Mar 21, 2021 7:09 pm I agree the more direct sunlight the better. This is some sundews from this forums seed bank i am growing now. In a very sunny window. If your plants don't make it i suggest you get some cape seeds.



Also when you say bottled water i hope you mean distilled, a lot of the normal drinking water would kill a sundew. Rain water would be ideal too.

Then the media, I am going to guess that is peat your plants are in? I prefer a mix of peat and perlite or silica sand 50/50 to pure peat but i would not repot a none healthy plant it would just stress it more.
For my inside long term plants i prefer a mix of long fiber sphagnum moss and perlite, it seems to last longer and is less messy no standing water needed.

I'm not sure what the soil is. It's whatever her friend brought it over in. He has sundew of his own that are doing quite well. The water isn't distilled, it's purified so I hope we didn't kill it with the wrong water. Do they need to be full sunlight? My apartment doesn't get much direct sun so I might need to buy a sun lamp. I did read about using a humidifier so I guess I'll need to get that too. Do you think this one could be saved?

Darkroom Denizen wrote: ↑Sun Mar 21, 2021 10:29 pm

SuzyAttitude wrote:

optique wrote: ↑Sun Mar 21, 2021 7:09 pm
If the water that your using is purified bottle or drinking water, then that's probably whats killing it. Those "purified " waters aren't just pure water, they still have other minerals added in. Those minerals build up in the substrate and can kill sundews (as well as most carnivorous plants). You need to either buy distilled water, reverse osmosis water, or rain water from a clean source ( like a container that catches rain but not runoff from a roof). Distilled water can be bought at most stores.

You would need to give the substrate a good rinse with the pure water to clean out the build up.

Oh man.. that makes me sad to know that I'm killing it from using the wrong water. I'm gonna get some distilled water ASAP! Hopefully I can save the little guy..

Apollyon wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 1:20 am Agreed. Sundews can't tolerate mineral water. Bottled water can have over 200ppm whereas a carnivorous plant can only tolerate upwards of 100 ppm (50 to be safe). I'd personally get distilled water, and flush the pot through by watering from the top a few times, then rest it in a tray of water to further dilute the concentration while bagging the plant to keep max humidity until it starts pushing out new growth for a bit. It's still green so there's a chance it'll come back if you take care of the basic needs. I wouldn't sit on it though. Those are in bad shape. Grow light would be ideal, otherwise get it in the brightest window you can (though I've grown one of these full sun in Florida, still have the little guy out there "living its best life" in one of my flytrap pots).

Apollyon wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 3:38 am Those tend to do well in the 70-60s. My outside plant looks a little worked over in our summer heat but I was surprised to see it grow.

With bagging, it's fine to seal it with a rubber band. If you don't believe you'd open and circulate the air regularly, you can poke some holes in the bag to give it a little breathability. Goal is just to increase the humidity because most plants will do better in more humid conditions, particularly a lot of sundews.

From what I read, the easiest thing you could do in your situation would be to get a cheap clamp gooseneck LED growlight on amazon for about 20 bucks and just grow the plant under it about 6 inches away. If you keep the soil damp and the humidity up with the light, I'm sure it would do fine. After it develops some (a few) leaves with dew, remove the bag and give it some freezedried bloodworms for a nitrogen boost so it can continue to grow. At that point, you'd want to keep the bag off or it'd be liable to mold. From that point however, the plant will be healthy enough to reacclimate to the relative conditions of the apartment(provided the air isn't very dry).

Apollyon wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 12:46 pm I usually keep my lights on a little longer than daylight hours because the light is less intense but yeah daylight is ok. Can set a timer with a smart plug too. You can feed it bloodworms whenever, they don't need a whole lot but I noticed if you give it too much the stuff will mold. Same with no air circulation (that's why you don't want to feed it while its bagged)

No problem, that's what this forum is for! Carnivorous plants have a learning curve but they're easy once you get the basic care.