Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 11/22/2011

Question
I live I in Oklahoma and have a drosera adelae in a west window that receives two to hree hours of sunlight in winter. This plant is growing in a peat/perlite mixture and is watered with distilled water. I have had this plant for two pr three years and its not much bigger han when it came. The leaves aren't very dewy and they are only one to one and a half inches long and not getting any bigger although one of the little plantlets in the pot has slightly reddish leaves. Why isn't it growing well?

Answer
Hi Jonathan,

Drosera adelae tends to get crowded in a pot over a period of time.  They choke themselves some from getting very tight root masses, and lots of dead leaves.  When they get to this point simply cut off all of the tops of the plant right down to the roots.  If the root ball isn't too crowded yet, it will re-sprout numerous new shoots in about a month.  If the root ball is crowded also, consider separating the mass into two or three pieces and pot each separately.  When you repot, leave the cut stems slightly above soil level so they get light.  They will develop new shoots more quickly this way.

Just a care point about this plant.  Make sure it never dries out.  If D. adelae has little dry spells (like happens to my poor plant in my kitchen window) it severely affects their mucilage production.

Good Growing!

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