- Fri Jul 22, 2022 9:46 pm
#417096
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When I first got into carnivorous plants many years (read: 1 year and a couple months) ago, I was much more interested in the big plants, and didn't understand the appeal of tiny, self-proclaimed "pygmy" sundews that you had to grow from gemmae and couldn't transplant. But since I'm a bit of a completionist, I had to get at least one representative of the group into my grow setup. So I bought some Scorpioides gemmae, and 7 months later, and I somehow now have 8 different pygmy species/hybrids.
All these plants are grown in a mix of peat, sand, and perlite, under 16 hours of LED light (I'll maybe switch to a natural photoperiod in a couple months for gemmae production), whatever temperatures happen to be occurring (usually intermediate-lowland in the summer, intermediate-highland in the winter), and lots of feeding with 800 ppm MaxSea.
These 4 are, clockwise from top-right: Omissa x Pulchella "Pink Flower", Pulchella(?) "Red Center", Scorpioides, and Pedicellaris x Callistos.
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Here are the Omissa x Pulchella and Pulchella(?) flowers being nice neighbors. They started flowering just 3 weeks after I sowed the gemmae and haven't stopped. When they first started flowering I tried smushing the flowers together so they would maybe make seeds, but I've been too lazy to check if any seeds have developed in those pods.
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I do love the pattern of alternating flower pods that forms after a scape has had several flowers on it already. And I enjoy how you can see the trichomes and little beads of dew even on the spent flower heads.
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The Scorpioides are majestic, towering above the rest like little trees. I love how their leaves look like little millipedes with dozens of red legs. It makes syringe-feeding them that much more fun.
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Next is my personal favorite for foliage, and one of the smallest (and reddest) pygmy species, Roseana. If I get gemmae from this, I might try to sow them uniformly so I can get a nice even carpet of red. The contrast between the red and the green, and the nice hemispherical shape
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I got 3 more species' gemmae from a Canadian grower two months ago.
I'll start with the smallest of those: Oreopodion. I can't find a ton of information about it, but the pictures of adult plants look gorgeous.
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Next is x Sidjamesii, which is a neat little natural hybrid between Pulchella and Patens. In its natural habitat, it often grows submerged. Boaz Ng of Fierce Flora has some incredible pictures of this hybrid in-situ here.
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Lastly, here are the two plants that sprouted from the x Badgerupii gemmae I got. x Badgerupii is a natural hybrid between Micra and Patens. "The epithet badgerupii is derived from the indigenous Australian Noongar word badgerup, the English meaning of which is unknown. This indigenous name has been used for two conjoined bodies of water, Lake Badgerup and Little Badgerup Swamp." -ICPS
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That's all my pygmy Drosera for now (until more gemmae somehow find themselves in my mailbox). I hope you enjoy these little gems as much as I do!
All these plants are grown in a mix of peat, sand, and perlite, under 16 hours of LED light (I'll maybe switch to a natural photoperiod in a couple months for gemmae production), whatever temperatures happen to be occurring (usually intermediate-lowland in the summer, intermediate-highland in the winter), and lots of feeding with 800 ppm MaxSea.
These 4 are, clockwise from top-right: Omissa x Pulchella "Pink Flower", Pulchella(?) "Red Center", Scorpioides, and Pedicellaris x Callistos.
Here are the Omissa x Pulchella and Pulchella(?) flowers being nice neighbors. They started flowering just 3 weeks after I sowed the gemmae and haven't stopped. When they first started flowering I tried smushing the flowers together so they would maybe make seeds, but I've been too lazy to check if any seeds have developed in those pods.
I do love the pattern of alternating flower pods that forms after a scape has had several flowers on it already. And I enjoy how you can see the trichomes and little beads of dew even on the spent flower heads.
The Scorpioides are majestic, towering above the rest like little trees. I love how their leaves look like little millipedes with dozens of red legs. It makes syringe-feeding them that much more fun.
Next is my personal favorite for foliage, and one of the smallest (and reddest) pygmy species, Roseana. If I get gemmae from this, I might try to sow them uniformly so I can get a nice even carpet of red. The contrast between the red and the green, and the nice hemispherical shape
I got 3 more species' gemmae from a Canadian grower two months ago.
I'll start with the smallest of those: Oreopodion. I can't find a ton of information about it, but the pictures of adult plants look gorgeous.
Next is x Sidjamesii, which is a neat little natural hybrid between Pulchella and Patens. In its natural habitat, it often grows submerged. Boaz Ng of Fierce Flora has some incredible pictures of this hybrid in-situ here.
Lastly, here are the two plants that sprouted from the x Badgerupii gemmae I got. x Badgerupii is a natural hybrid between Micra and Patens. "The epithet badgerupii is derived from the indigenous Australian Noongar word badgerup, the English meaning of which is unknown. This indigenous name has been used for two conjoined bodies of water, Lake Badgerup and Little Badgerup Swamp." -ICPS
That's all my pygmy Drosera for now (until more gemmae somehow find themselves in my mailbox). I hope you enjoy these little gems as much as I do!
Makes me jealous. 
I need to start a new post for that, not to hijack your happy party!
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