FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I recently won a give away for a Cape Sundew. May someone tell me where to find info on how to care for this plant orcgive me the basics to caring for this plant?

Lowes or Home depo sells what is they call orchid moss. Some one will say add perlite the cape will not care save a few bucks. Pot it up in 4 to 6in plastic pot and place it in the sunniest window you have. Water it with mineral free water, cheapest source is collect some rain water. Don't let it dry out one cape in a 6in pot of moss should stay moist for a week. I do feed my capes every 2 months. I use Betta fish pellets crushed into a paste and applied with a pipette. If you have a gnat issue it will feed its self. It will enjoy house hold temperatures 50-85f, hotter temps will not kill it just make it look ratty.


Sundew's are fussy when they are shipped they can look bad for a day up to a month depending how hard and hot shipping was. So don't panic they are hard to kill if you meet its basic needs.

I generally find that cape sundews respond better to peat moss, sand and perlite over "orchid moss." YmmV

Beyond that, use distilled water. Put it in a tray and fill the tray up (2" or so). Let the plastic pot sit in the water. When all the water is gone, wait a day, then fill it up again.

It's very forgiving on light. Does great it full sun. Does fine in partial sun or partial shade.

It's also very forgiving on humidity. Household humidity is fine.

Can survive winter outside, but isn't necessary.

Hope that helps.

@specialkayme,

specialkayme wrote:I generally find that cape sundews respond better to peat moss, sand and perlite over "orchid moss." YmmV

The "better gro orchid moss" is good quality LFSM, and spending $5.60 on media for your 1st CP is very piratical compared to buying a bale of peat and perlite or sand. Some sundew's prefer peat(thread leafs) but capes are not one of them.

The plant with lfsm looks like it's in a bigger pot. That could be the reason it looks much better than the others. I'm growing my capensis seedlings in 1:1 ratio of peat and perlite and they seem fine.

I am not anti peat, it would do just fine. I have used 8CF+ of it this year alone. I have without counting 60+ pots of sundew's in peat ATM. My thinking is its only cost effective in large bales and on someones 1st CP they may not want to fork out the cash for that amount and have to store whats left over.

optique wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 6:48 am @specialkayme,

specialkayme wrote:I generally find that cape sundews respond better to peat moss, sand and perlite over "orchid moss." YmmV

The "better gro orchid moss" is good quality LFSM, and spending $5.60 on media for your 1st CP is very piratical compared to buying a bale of peat and perlite or sand. Some sundew's prefer peat(thread leafs) but capes are not one of them.

LFSM is like $6. A small bag of peat moss at my garden store is like $5.50. Spring $12 and get a bale of it. Doesn't seem like it's breaking anyone's bank account to me . . .

optique wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 6:48 am
The "better gro orchid moss" is good quality LFSM, and spending $5.60 on media for your 1st CP is very piratical compared to buying a bale of peat and perlite or sand.

LFSM is like $6. A small bag of peat moss at my garden store is like $5.50. Spring $12 and get a bale of it. Doesn't seem like it's breaking anyone's bank account to me . . .

optique wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 6:48 amSome sundew's prefer peat(thread leafs) but capes are not one of them.

My cape sundews prefer peat mixes. And the sundew the OP won is my sundew I gave away.

small bags of peat? can you drop a link? I have not seen small bags that are not sold by fertilizer companies.

i use https://www.acehardware.com/departments ... ss/7398365

optique wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 10:28 pm small bags of peat? can you drop a link? I have not seen small bags that are not sold by fertilizer companies.

i use https://www.acehardware.com/departments ... ss/7398365

Local garden shop doesn't have a website or link. probably why they can keep prices so low . Some digging and I'm sure you can find something similar near you.

But FWIW I've never had an issue with cheaper peat moss after being rinsed. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Premier-Premie ... lsrc=aw.ds

Or local hydro shop has smaller peat bags https://shop.fifthseasongardening.com/p ... 24b2&_ss=r with what I consider a heathy markup

Or you can go Amazon route https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Sphagnum ... B087YSW79N

Or repotme (my personal online preference) https://www.repotme.com/products/peat-m ... 1c1d&_ss=r

All smaller quantities without leaving the couch. Or you can call/drive around locally.

Thanks for the help!