FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I often find myself running out of CP water (Rain RO distilled etc.) So are there any good drought tolerant CPs? I dont care if it's tropical or temperate.

Drosophyllum is probably your best bet. Roridula dentata and perennial Byblis species also like it fairly dry, but I doubt either of those could be grown successfully in Indonesia - too hot for the Byblis and too humid for the Roridula (they get fungal infections really easily.)

Drosophyllum sounds good. I'll try to get it once I do my Super Secret Haul (codename First Seed)(Yes I actually codename these but I rarely tell.) So is drosophyllum tropical or temperate? Stratification needed?

Sakaaaaa wrote:Drosophyllum sounds good. I'll try to get it once I do my Super Secret Haul (codename First Seed)(Yes I actually codename these but I rarely tell.) So is drosophyllum tropical or temperate? Stratification needed?

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Drosophyllum is...maybe warm temperate? They grow in Portugal. I'm not sure if any sort of winter is required or not, but they do like drier soil and can be rather tricky to grow due to that. The seeds can be a bit stubborn about germinating, which you can speed up with stratification, scarification, GA3, or even just using older seeds.

Ok. So should I also keep the soil relatively dry during germination?

Drosophyllum seeds typically germinate on wet to damp soil during the rainy season in their native land. It is during the dryer part of the year that they do most of their growing. Once they begin to take root into the soil, slowly begin to back off on watering but never let the pot to dry out completely. Never tray water them like you would the average cp. They are sometimes known to be delicate and prone to rot, so a humid environment can be bad too if it is too muggy. Sow them in peat pots so that you dont have to mess with them once they finally germinate. Then bury the whole peat pot into a medium to large sized terra cotta pot. Heres one of my babies...

I usually keep my seedlings in a tray until they're a couple inches tall at least - it makes care a bit simpler. I also have started removing the peat pots when I move them to their final home (fill up the pot partway, set the plant in place, and carefully tear the peat pot away to avoid disturbing the soil inside, then fill in around the plant.) I think my Drosophyllum before died because the roots couldn't penetrate the peat pot so the roots were drying out too quickly during the summer.

I had one that i was removing from its peat pot and the soil crumbled and the plant fell in the floor and never recovered lol. Somewhere i read to take a box blade and remove the bottom portion of the pot in order to allow the roots to grow beyond it. Im hoping this works. Setting the peat pot inside of the new pot and carefully tearing the peat pot off also sounds like a good idea. Did you also use terra cotta?
...What I wouldnt give If i could only be more careful, and not so clumsy.... kind of like the time Mike told me not to sneeze and i blew drosera seeds all over the place. I ended up with a very thick congested cluster of drosera on one side of the pot and the rest were lost into the carpet haha....

Yeah right now I'm using 12" terra cotta pots, both for Drosophyllum and Roridula. I haven't had any trouble so far with the soil crumbling - I think it helps to make sure the soil is moist when you do it. I tear off the bottom before I set the pot in place then deal with the sides.

Most definitely on the soil! My pots medium is very sandy and loose. Next time i will probably add a little more peat to it probably and then water it before i move the pot around. At least then it may be a little more manageable.

I usually start these seeds in 1 part peat to 2 parts sand. It seems to be enough peat to keep it together.