Expert: Christopher Littrell - 2/25/2010

Question
QUESTION: I have several sundews which I think are D. Adelae. The original plant had pointed leaves and it reproduced from runners several small plants which have rounded leaves so far. They don't grow and appear to be slowly dying. They have no dew on their leaves. I keep them in water about halfway up the pot, in a Southern window most of the time. I also have flourescent lights above them for several hours at night. My house seems very dry. I tried to acclimate them slowly out of the death cube when I got them.
What am I doing wrong?

ANSWER: Hello Craig,

You may want to lessen the amount of water the plants receive for one. Sundews tend to require less water than Sarracenias, so only keep the lower 1/4 of the pot in water. Make sure that the plants are receiving mineral free water. Distilled, reverse osmosis, and rain water are all good to give your Sundews, however; be careful of bottles water that says drinking water or any water that indicates that it has enhancements for taste as those enhancements are usually minerals that carnivorous plants tend to be damaged and killed by.

What kind of soil are they planted in? If regular potting soil were used by the store, or if you transplanted them into potting soil, they will die from fertilizers. Carnivorous plants simply cannot absorb fertilizers through their roots and tend to suffer root burn and rot in fertilized soils. Only provide sphagnum peat moss and perlite in 50/50 mix and ensure that the mix is not from a company that adds fertilizers to all their products.

A South window might be a bit intense for them. D. adelae cannot stand full sunlight and can be burned from exposure to too much ultraviolet light. When I grew mine in a South window they were placed just around one corner to allow them some morning hours of light and no noon day light. They had florescent lights of 12000 lumen intensity over them for 16 hours a day. Even in that amount of light they produced purple, slender, tall leaves with plenty of glue.

Humidity changes can be a problem with plants grown in Death Cubes. Slow acclimatization can be performed by punching half a dozen holes of 1/4 inch in the dome and increasing he number of holes every three days by another 4-6. Once two or more weeks of such slow steps have been taken the plants should be acclimated to lower humidity. D. adelae can survive in quite low humidity so long as fast changes do not occur constantly. If they are near an air conditioner you might want to shield the plants from the blowing air to prevent humidity loss. I cover my plants and light system with curtains and just keep my windows open so that the plants get window light and florescent light yet the plants are shielded from temperature fluctuations, and potential humidity problems, from the central air unit.

Be mindful of heat issues in South windows and light systems. Compact florescent light bulbs can emit more heat then tubes. Even tubes at close range and on contact emit enough heat to slowly damage the leaves of some plants. If the window or lights feel too hot when you are near them, enough that the room temperature increases beyond 80-90 degrees, you may need to find a way to reduce the heat buildup near your plants.

There may be another issue that I have not covered since I do not know the complete history of your plants. There may be pests involved or chemicals that were used near the plants that you never knew about. Simply put, when buying a Death Cube, you never know what you will get.

Christopher

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry I took so long. My computer is down. My sundews (adelae) came from a death cube purchased at a Lowes. Thet were on runners from a mother plant.
They are in the right soil 50/50. They have been in several windows, and under flourescent light for long periods of time, alternately. They never change. They don't grow, they stay the same,only one has any dew on its leaves, they then slowly die. I've tried everything I can think of. I'm down to three plants from six. My house feels very dry, the hygrometer says 58%, the temp is usually 65 degrees. I acclimated them as you say, by punching holes in the cube. What am I missing?  Craig G

Answer
Hello Craig,

My D. adelae are in 49% humidity and have been in about that level of humidity for over four years. It is not humidity if you pre-adapted the plants slowly already.

The only thing I can think of at this point is that you indicated that your plants came from runners from an adult. If they were removed from the adult too early, they may not have had time to develop enough of a root system of their own. I have seen this occur with a couple plants that I clipped off an adult before they had a chance to develop on their own well enough and they were as you described. Listless, dewless, and slowly dying. Once the plants develop enough root system on their own and have grown slightly pointier than rounded leaves, they should be able to survive on their own.

Christopher