Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 9/12/2010

Question
Hello. I have a couple of cape sundresses growing in an indoor
greenhouse that keeps the temp around 79-89 degrees Fahrenheit
and the humidity at least 60% constantly. I stopped feeding the
plants about 2 weeks ago, when flower stalks emerged from both of
them. I snipped off leaves that look "deathly" on both plants.
Flowers on 1 plant are ready to bloom. The other, needs an
additional week or so. The plastic pot they are in is constantly under
about 2 inches of distilled water. Soil is made up of 2 parts peat
moss and 1 part perlite, rinsed in distilled water before both plants
were transferred from their deathcubes. As for lighting, the plants
are under 2 cfl @ 6500k, rated at 4000 lumens. The plant is
approximately 5-6 inches away from the light source. Photoperiod is
16 hours a day with a timer. Mist the plants once a day if I get a
chance. Now I have noticed that both plants' new leaves are
dewless and are curled inward. What can be causing this? I
removed another light source that was an additional 1750 lumens
@ 5000K. What can be causing this? The curling leaves and no dew
makes me worry. Thank you.

Answer
Hi Jaester,

Mostly your experiencing the transition from the death cubes to normal humidity.  Pay the most attention to newly developing leaves.  The older leaves that were on the plant are already trashed from their long stay in the sunless high humidity environment.  If new leaves developing have mucilage and are reddish, you're doing fine.  Mostly this is just going to be giving them some time to adapt.  We actually buy plants from the same company that produces these and it takes us a minimum of 3 weeks in the greenhouse to get them looking good again.

A couple other things.  Check the temperature right next to the plants when your light is on.  79-89 is ok, but might be a little warm for D. capensis if light hot right next to them; around 80 during the day, 65 at night is just right, but they usually aren't that fussy.  Also, don't mist them.  It's of no benefit to sundews, and can set them back.  All your other conditions sound good.  Until your plant has recovered, cut the flowers off.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com