Expert: Christopher Littrell - 2/8/2010

Question
i have the forked sundew and the cape sundews on a table with a limited amount of direct sunlight. The forked one started to grow like crazy, but all of a sudden seems to have died. (almost). The cape one is very small with a bit of green. Should i move these into my laundry as I have flourescent lighting there? It was necessary to bring them in due to the winter.
If this is the right thing to do, please advise how strong the light should be and the duration of lighting required per day.

Your help is appreciated!

Answer
Hello Daryl,

Both of those species tend to enjoy strong, if not full sunlight outside. Placing them in a window is not really equivalent to full, direct sun as the window glass blocks part of the light spectrum and intensity. A florescent light, in addition to the window, would be the best possible setup. 40 watt florescent cool white shop light tubes or 100 watt equivalent florescent compact bulbs would be appropriate to use. each cool white tube is about 3000 lumens of intensity, and about four would give you enough light to help those sundews survive. You could also set up about 2-3 compact bulbs above and around the sundews. Keep the bulbs about 6-8 inches from the plants and watch the heat levels. Better yet are the tubes as those 40 watt shop lights provide cooler light over a larger coverage area and can be placed closer, about 4-6 inches from the plant leaves, than the compacts. Leave the lights on for about 12-16 hours year round for those semi-tropical sundews.

When you indicate that the D. binata (fork leaf) started to grow like crazy, you might be indicating the length and number of petioles and leaves produced by a plant that is seeking light. At first, plants in low light will send up larger and longer petioles and leaves as they seek more light. If they can't find adequate light, they expend all their energy and die back as you described.

Christopher