Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 10/7/2010

Question
Hello,
I am thinking of ordering Drosera Scorpiodes, Drosera Roseanna,
Drosera Nitidula x Pulchella, and Drosera Palaceae. I need to know if they
would grow well in my current setup. I have a 20 gallon long aquarium,
and a shoplight about 10" above my plants. The average temperature in
the terrarium is 75-80 during the day and 65-70 at night. Humidity is
between 30-40%. The plants would be kept in their original pots, and
would be sitting in about 1/4 inch of water at all times. The light is on for
10.5 hours during the winter, and 13.5 hours during the summer. Thank
you for any help.

Answer
The setup you've described is very workable for these plants.  Just for clarification, you mentioned a shoplight.  I'm assuming you're talking about two 40-watt fluorescent tubes.  As always, you'll need to monitor the plants' growth.  If the plants lose their dew or color, you may need to move the plants closer to the light and/or increase the daylight hours.

As for the aquarium (terrarium), it really isn't necessary to grow pygmy sundews in there.  They will grow fine as a windowsill plant as long as the their lighting conditions are met.  In many situations, terrariums provide more problems than solutions.  Pygmy sundews will also acclimate to lower humidty, as they have already done so at our nursery.  During the summer months, we keep the doors wide open to our greenhouses, and the average humidity is usually about 20%.  In general, we rarely pay attention to humidity.  

For more information about growing tropical sundews, read our care sheet on our website:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

I also recommend watching Volume 2 of the Grow Carnivorous Plants DVD series.  There are sections on how to repot and propagate pygmy sundews.
http://www.cobraplant.com/DVD

For information about humidity, visit our photo gallery:
http://www.cobraplant.com/humidity

Good growing!
Jacob Farin