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By Nikson
Posts:  418
Joined:  Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:47 am
#385261
Hey all,

I've been growing a Cape Sundew I bought online for the past month and it was doing really well at first. It was very tiny when I received it bare root, so I planted it in some peat moss perlite mix, put it on a water tray, and put it outside. It took a few days to acclimate, but then started to grow like crazy, some of the older leaves dying off and new ones sprouting like mad. The new leaves that came out started developing a lot of healthy looking dew, and everything looked good!

However, for the past two weeks its just been overcast and raining almost every day, and the plant isn't really growing as much any more. The "new" leaves it grew that became big have stopped producing sundew and are starting to turn reddish. The newest big leaf it grew was producing a lot of dew and looked nice and healthy, but now has two small holes in it!

I just leave it in a tray of like an inch of distilled water (rainwater nowadays since it rains everyday), and I empty the tray out of water since it keeps on raining nonstop.

Am I doing anything wrong, or do I just need for the sun to come out again? Should I stick it indoors or something when its raining, is it getting overwatered?

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By MaxVft
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Posts:  1214
Joined:  Sat May 08, 2021 4:17 am
#385265
Hi @Nikson,
Sundews HATE rain(excluding the Queensland sisters), it washes all the dew and prey off the leaves which is why they are better off grown indoors(windowsill works fine, as they don't need as much light as VFTs)or under a shelf outside to protect them from the rain. They are also Tropical plants, so they can't really be grown outdoors because they don't have a dormancy.

Here's what I suggest:
Bring it inside under a windowsill or grow light. It should recover and get its dew back. You should keep it there if you don't want it to undergo an artificial dormancy.
Hope this helps
Max
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By Nikson
Posts:  418
Joined:  Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:47 am
#385474
MaxVft wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 1:04 am Hi @Nikson,
Sundews HATE rain(excluding the Queensland sisters), it washes all the dew and prey off the leaves which is why they are better off grown indoors(windowsill works fine, as they don't need as much light as VFTs)or under a shelf outside to protect them from the rain. They are also Tropical plants, so they can't really be grown outdoors because they don't have a dormancy.

Here's what I suggest:
Bring it inside under a windowsill or grow light. It should recover and get its dew back. You should keep it there if you don't want it to undergo an artificial dormancy.
Hope this helps
Max
Thanks for the advice about the rain!

I put the plant under my glass table on the patio when it was raining, and now that it's stopped and the sun has come back out, I put it back on the table with plenty of sun, and the half grown leaves are now sprouting tendrils and growing again, and they have dew on them again!
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By optique
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Posts:  1880
Joined:  Fri May 24, 2019 11:15 pm
#385483
Heat over 85f + full sun will have a negative effect on capes. It will not kill them just they will slow down and look ratty, when things cool off or in a cloudy rainy week they will perk back up. I keep my capes inside for the really hot and really cold months.

They are high elevation plants.
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By Panman
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Posts:  6309
Joined:  Wed Mar 04, 2020 8:41 pm
#385501
My capes look like they have been through the war. They will be lovely when I bring them inside this fall.
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By Nikson
Posts:  418
Joined:  Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:47 am
#385947
Thanks for the help, guys! I kept the plant outside, but moved it to somewhere with a cover above it whenever it rains so it doesn't get annihilated, and it's looking good so far!

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By bcavanau
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Posts:  176
Joined:  Mon Jun 14, 2021 5:01 pm
#385950
Here is one of mine grown indoors, with artificial light. Same plant, 2nd one is a week ago, first one is just now.
capensis.jpg
capensis.jpg (3.46 MiB) Viewed 2745 times
dr_capensis_alba.jpg
dr_capensis_alba.jpg (5.23 MiB) Viewed 2745 times
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By Nikson
Posts:  418
Joined:  Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:47 am
#385969
Oh wow, that's incredible! It's so healthy and green looking! These sundews are honestly so amazing, I'm glad I got into them. Just picked up another one online and it finally arrived today. Can't wait to see it start to get red! I finally have cheap LED grow lights now too, so I'm thinking about maybe sticking them under there instead of outdoors, I'll think about it.

I fed my first plant a tinnnnny bit of bloodworm dust today, and it curled around it. So cool!

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By MaxVft
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Posts:  1214
Joined:  Sat May 08, 2021 4:17 am
#386058
Wow! That sundew recovered well. Keep up the good work! :D
Last edited by MaxVft on Tue Aug 03, 2021 5:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By Nikson
Posts:  418
Joined:  Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:47 am
#386118
Man, people really weren't kidding when they say these things grow like weeds. It's barely been two days since I last posted and it's already opened up another leaf!

Since it's already producing dew, I sprinkled a littttle bit of powdered bloodworm on the new leaf as well.

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