FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi,

I adopted a cape sundew in September, when she was flowering for the first time. She was small, with maybe only six or seven leaves, but I moved her into a 5.5-inch pot to give her lots of room to grow. The pot seemed enormous compared with her little roots.

Fast forward nine months, and things have changed. I cleaned her water dish this week only to discover that her roots have gotten so long that they have grown through the drainage holes in the pot. Not just slightly poking out of the holes — on one side, there's probably a four-inch-long root sticking out!

Even if I were to repot her, at this point I think I'd need a giant pot to accommodate such long roots, which isn't too practical as she lives indoors on a bookshelf. At any rate, when the time comes, I'm sure these roots will make changing out her growing media more difficult. Should I trim the roots? Leave them be? What is the best course of action? (The very nice guy I bought the plant from suggested that I add some growing media to the water dish. Thoughts?)

Also, in the past few months, I've noticed that her trunk has gotten longer and she's leaning a bit. I'd love some advice on what to do, if anything, to address that issue, too.

I'm attaching a few photos. She's otherwise a gorgeous plant that is thriving, despite my lack of a green thumb.

I would recommend taking root cuttings. Cut the root off, put it under the soil around 1/8 inch deep, soon plants will start growing from it. Plant it horizontally for many small plants, vertically for a few larger plants.

Thanks for the advice. I'm not looking to propagate — I really don't have the space to care for more than one plant. But I'm curious about root cuttings, just for the sake of slowing my plant's growth. Is it OK to just cut off a large section of the roots? I know this is a very basic question, but I've never had a sundew before, and I don't want to do any harm to a plant that seems happy.

Easy solution: Transplant into a deeper pot. Try to find a somewhat narrow, yet deep pot. By 5.5 inch, are you stating width or depth? If depth, then, by your measurements given, you'll want a 12 inch deep pot. If width, then, by estimation, you already have about an 8 inch deep pot, so you may want to go deeper than 12. But that is way deeper than I've ever heard of a Cape needing. Are you sure they're Cape roots?
Another note: You said you didn't want any more. In that case, cut the flower stalk, or at least pinch off the flowers that have already closed. Cape flowers self pollinate when they close, and each flower can produce a couple hundred seeds or more that will drop down and likely sprout.

Hi, thanks for your reply!

The plant isn't currently flowering — I just included that photo to show what kind of space I'm working with. Her pot is 5.5 inches deep and 5 inches wide. While I'd love to give her a 12-inch palace, I don't have the space for it. She has to stay on the bookshelf, otherwise she'll fall prey to my killer cats. But I can't emphasize this enough — I know nothing about pruning plants or trimming roots. I don't want to do anything that will inadvertently hurt the plant, but something needs to be done, right?

That's a good question about whether they're sundew roots. I guess it's possible that another plant managed to find its way into the pot. I will post more photos of the roots below. Please let me if they look sundew-esque. I should add that this growth spurt happened over the course of only three or four months. She's been busy.

They are most like sundew roots. If you had another plant in there, I think you'd have something else poking up.
I think you have 4 options.
1) Do nothing. I don't know that they'll do anything, but if exposed to air there is a possibility of more plants striking from the roots.
2) Trim the roots. I don't know if this would harm the plant, but I doubt it. Capes are almost indestructible. However, don't just toss them. You may not want them, but you could make some others happy. Host a giveaway before trimming, specify parameters (entry method, end date, drawing, shipping, etc.), then trim them right at the bottom of the pot after the drawing and ship. Looks like you could have three or four recipients. That healthy of a plant would likely strike off some robust babies. But the roots will likely re-grow and need to be trimmed again and again. I don't know what repeatedly trimming of the roots may do to the plant in the long term.
3) Repot. Try to find a deeper pot that will work with your current situation and location, and still work with your cats.
4) Get rid of the cats.
Personally, I'd start at four and go from there, but I'm very allergic to cats. Since you already have the cats, perhaps you've become attached to them, then one of the other suggestions would probably work better for you.
Good luck.

You have an odd cape. Most of mine only root shallowly.

Rip em all off. It doesn't hurt em.

Trade or put in a plastic bag with a moist paper towel. It should sprout within a month.

Hi, thanks to you both for replying.

Leave it to me to have an "odd" plant!

ChefDean, given that my cats are the only sentient beings I've had sustained contact with during the past three months amid the lockdown in New York City, I think they're keepers.

I'd like to reach a compromise with this plant, if possible. I've learned it's quite difficult to find a tall, narrow plastic pot, but I've finally found one that's 9.5 inches tall and another that's 11 inches tall. They are also pretty, so that's an added bonus. I think those could accommodate her current roots, at least. So my next question is: Will she just keep growing, or is she likely to stop sometime soon? That is to say, is it a fool's errand to get her a bigger pot?

Also, any thoughts on what to do about her leaning?

If you clip the roots at the point, the most it'll probably do is stagnate growth for a bit. and that's if at all. If it's like tree roots, it'd rammify and either start a growth tip further up or spawn another root to take it's place. If you were to lift the plant out the water dish, the air would kill the root up to the point where it meets the soil anyway. I've clipped Drosera roots in the past on a hybrid capensis(for cuttings) and it didn't skip a beat. As for the stem, if it bothers you and you don't want to repot, you could probably prop it with some soil or something. I wouldn't overthink this stuff. You're right though, you'd need to clip the roots come repot most likely unless you can somehow maneuver or cut around them. Still though, that is incredible how it's doing that. I have an Alba that is trying to take over my house. Threw up 2 flower stalks, grew like 10 leaves and made a division in the last couple months lol. They're fascinating plants.

Your Alba and my Drosera must be distant cousins. I am totally fascinated, that's for sure! My cats actually get jealous when I admire the plant. Whenever they see me near it, they rub up against my legs and meow and bring me toys to get my attention.

I'm glad to hear that my gangrenous thumb is unlikely to do much harm to a cape sundew. I looked again today, and it appears that there is some red growth sprouting from her roots. Also, I noticed she is now growing roots out of every single drainage hole!

Maybe I will just do nothing for a while and see what she does on her own.