FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

My friend with the commercial greenhouse asked if I had any threadleaf sundews for sale this year. I didn't think about this last fall, and I only have 7 pots of them. So, I decided to do some leaf cuttings from my Drosera 'Dreamsicle' plants. I used a take-out container with a lid from a slightly smaller container, so it stays propped open on one side. For media, I used the brown ends of some live sphagnum moss. I cut 3 leaves off my sundews, chopped them into 1-inch / 25mm pieces, and laid them on the sopping-wet moss. The cuttings are staying dewy, and I haven't added a drop of water to the bowl. The sphagnum is popping new heads all over the place. It's only been 2 weeks, and I'm already seeing signs of success (the red lumps on the green stalks). This is the first time that I've tried leaf cuttings. My threadleaf sundews bloom so prolifically that I'm usually overrun with seedlings, but last year I cut off the flower stalks before they had a chance to drop seeds everywhere. The leaf cuttings are working well, and I didn't have to stratify anything. I need to do a couple more bowls for filiformis and tracyi plants.

An update on my propagation efforts. It's been 3 weeks since I did the leaf cuttings, and the sprouts are looking good.

Cool! Gonna have to do that during repotting.

Well, I was going to ask what length you cut the leaf sections into but I see you covered that....one inch.

How long was each leaf before you cut a length of it off the plant? How much leaf did you leave on the plant?

Have you got a recent photo of the plantlets? I think they're roughly a little over seven weeks old now?

Was that live sphagnum moss that you planted onto? I'm curious if some bagged moss started growing.

Thanks!

You can cut the entire leaf off the plant. Then you can cut it into sections, or simply let it be. Then put the leaf into media, or let it bud in water (in a test tube, jar, or other container). Put it in bright indirect light. When plantlets appear transfer to media (if budding in water), if budding in media, just let it be.

By the way, if you are wondering what the bud/budding means, it's simply the leaf sprouting.

You can us half dead leaves for propagation as well...:post411024.html#p411024

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Sun Jun 19, 2022 12:39 pm How long was each leaf before you cut a length of it off the plant? How much leaf did you leave on the plant?

I took one whole leaf off three plants. They were 6-8 inches long.

Intheswamp wrote: Have you got a recent photo of the plantlets? I think they're roughly a little over seven weeks old now?

Here you go: They're 1.5-2 inches tall now. I normally don't put that much water in the bowl, but the moss got a bit dried out. I'm going to separate the plants soon, put them in individual pots, and move them outside.

Intheswamp wrote: Was that live sphagnum moss that you planted onto? I'm curious if some bagged moss started growing.

That was the brown ends of live sphagnum. It looked dead, but looks can be deceiving.

Thanks for the photo, Mike. That's cool!!! Those three leaves created a forest of sundews!!! Those are looking mighty happy, too!!! Will you be putting more than one plant per pot? I take it that you've had these beneath lights?

Also, apparently if you don't cut the leaves in pieces will it lower the number of plantlets that develop?

Do I ask too many questions?

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 12:00 am Will you be putting more than one plant per pot?

I'm going to do one plant per 3-inch / 7.5 cm pot. The future buyer wants quantity.

Intheswamp wrote: I take it that you've had these beneath lights?

Yes, under a Mars Hydro TS600 panel, about 10 hours per day. Also, they're at a south-facing window, so they get some extra light from that. When I started the cuttings, the weather was too cool to keep them outside. Plus, I wanted better control of the humidity, and that's easier to regulate indoors.

Intheswamp wrote: Also, apparently if you don't cut the leaves in pieces will it lower the number of plantlets that develop?

Probably, but I didn't test that. Each cutting produced 1-4 plants. I expect that an intact leaf would create multiple plants, too. It was easier to spread them around the bowl by doing smaller cuttings.

Thanks for sharing the info, Mike. Apparently you are doing things right! They look great!