FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So my D. Spatulata which also happens to be the first sundew I bought a while back has just started blooming! the problem is that it seems to want to bloom in the middle of the night when i'm at home so by the time I get to work the next day the flower is already starting to close back up and the next one is beginning to bloom. I may end up spending the night at work one night this week just to get pictures lol. I've already missed 3 of the blooms on one of the 6 flower stalks so i have another 30ish to go Got the ones that already bloomed snipped off and stuck on paper ready to collect me some seed!

I think it would be better if you wait for the seed pod to have dried on the stalk before removing them Anyways, good work! Spatulata flowers only open for about an hour or so, so its a great thing to be able to see.

fattytuna wrote:I think it would be better if you wait for the seed pod to have dried on the stalk before removing them Anyways, good work! Spatulata flowers only open for about an hour or so, so its a great thing to be able to see.

Agreed! Spatulata flowers are REALLY tiny! Let them dry up first. They are also easy to start from leaf cuttings. Great little plants!

yeah after he said let them dry up I stopped cutting them off. I was just worried I would have the majority of my seed fall out before I could get to it. Not too worried about it now as I moved it away from my bonsai tree so I dont lose seeds in soil that will destroy them lol.

Congrats on the pictures.
Even if you lose the majority of them, you will still have a decent amount since they're so prolific. Just try and keep them away air movement and they'll be fine in my opinion.

Awesome! I'm going to order a spatulata today, and I hope I can bloom it a bunch!
(Yes, I know that means lots of food)

CPcaregiver wrote:Awesome! I'm going to order a spatulata today, and I hope I can bloom it a bunch!
(Yes, I know that means lots of food)

Lots of food is NOT needed. My Spatulatas are all INDOORS and I don't feed them all all. They bloom readily on their own with enough light! Mine are in a West window and some are under a T5 Light.

tommyr wrote:Lots of food is NOT needed. My Spatulatas are all INDOORS and I don't feed them all all. They bloom readily on their own with enough light! Mine are in a West window and some are under a T5 Light.

That given, feeding them will increase their size, flower count and seed count. Many people (including me) use ground up betta pellets or dried bloodworms (both fish food) to feed them. Its convenient, cheap and has given me good results.

I have a ton of ants right out the backdoor to my office that leads to our picnic area, so food is free for these guys. When they first started producing dew they couldn't keep an ant on as the ant would just man handle himself off. Now its strong enough to hold them on. They also self feed themselves from the random weird bugs that infest south korea during monsoon season. Im super excited about the flowering as just 2 months ago these guys were looking super rough (Rescue plant from a grocery store) No dew, leaves drying up and flower stalks stunted and dying off before producing flowers. I think I have a before and after pic of them Ill see if I can find them.