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Carnivorous Plants/spoonleaf looks dead

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Expert: - 2/12/2011


Question
I recently purchased a Drosera Spatulata and it came in the mail in pretty good condition.  I put it in my window where it gets sufficient sunlight and I also have it sitting in a shallow bowl of water.  I also use only distilled water.  After about two weeks my plant's leaves started turning brown and it looks dead, there's also a weird long stem coming out the top.  Is my plant hopeless or is there a chance that when spring comes it will come back to life?  Thanks for your help, John

Answer
Hello John,

Without more information I am unable to determine what exactly happened to your D. spatulata. It is according to who you bought the plant from and how they ship it as well as what conditions the plant was grown in previous to your home conditions. Changes in humidity and temperature can drastically affect plants. D. spatulata also need warm, bright conditions, basically as much light as they can get, to survive. It sounds like the plant was trying to flower when it was sent to you and the light level it gets in your home might be lower than what it was used to when it decided to flower, causing the plant to expend too much energy flowering. D. spatulata are quite tough plants that can survive a great many changes and adversity, however; once the plant is brown, it is dead.

Christopher

Carnivorous Plants

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Christopher Littrell

Expertise

I am capable of answering questions about the most common carnivorous plants found in cultivation. I have no personal experience with Byblis, Drosophyllum, Aldrovanda, and Heliamphora. I have not cultivated gemmae forming pygmy sundews nor tuberous sundews. For information regarding those aforementioned species, I would suggest contacting other experts. I can answer questions regarding most species of Nepenthes, tropical and temperate Drosera, Mexican Pinguicula, Sarracenias, and Dionaea. I have some limited experience with growing Utricularia, Cephalotus, and Darlingtonia.

Experience

I have grown carnivorous plants off and on for about 27 years. I have made the same mistakes and suffered the same mishaps that many growers make as they attempt to separate the myths from the realities of growing these plants. Currently, I am successfully growing a variety of tropical sundews, a Nepenthes, several Venus Flytraps of varying ages, and Sarracenias. I have been successful in stratifying Sarracenia seeds and providing artificial dormancy requirements for my temperate plants when needed.

Education/Credentials
I hold a Master's degree in Educational Psychology. Over my lifetime, I have constantly read books involving the growing conditions of carnivorous plants. I hope to incorporate the educational aspects involved in psychology with teaching other people how to cultivate carnivorous plants.

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