FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

It's looking like they were all cooked as it was 4 weeks ago when I planted them and the soil was waterlogged along with hot weather (I thought that the heat wouldn't be a problem as cape sundews grow in hotter climates to the UK).

Hi Everyone.

I'm really happy today as my Cape Sundew seeds germinated and today they each have one carnivorous leaf.

Can you please advise me on how to feed as the plants are smaller than a pinhead?

Many thanks.

Tiny ants?

Don't have any of those available.

Would powdered fishfood dissolved in deionised water work?

Maybe. They should catch gnats. But you don’t really need to feed them. Some carnivorous plants in the wild only catch 1 big a year!

I think it's better to wait another week, as the leaves are almost microscopic - too small to see with a magnifying glass.

Powder might be too big for the seedlings to digest.

i find that if you don't have a strong light source, they'll never grow larger. if you aee going to feed them, it'll give them a boost, but the leaf may die. you could wait a bit for the second leaf to pop up and feed one leaf. i use a very thin copper wire to move around the food. it's very effective. like a mini spoon!

Hi there! I was just discussing this with ChefDean. I use needle-tipped tweezers like https://amzn.to/30d1z3Z and crushed bloodworm. You also need a loupe or magnifying glass. He uses nutritional yeast which is probably better because you can get smaller pieces.

I used to spray with dilute MaxSea and that does work, but it promotes algal growth on the soil. Another alternative is to use a needle and syringe and put the MaxSea on the leaf once you see dew. That's important -- no feeding until there is some dew.

Here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6y5fDHwHP4
and a written explainer: http://www.growsundews.com/feeding_sundews.html