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Carnivorous Plants/dichotoma
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QUESTION: If i want to grow drosera dichotoma indoors, and don't want to provide additional lighting in the winter, what will the dormancy be like? or will i have to do something special? or will i i just need to keep it moist and wait til the light returns?
Nathan
ANSWER: Hi Nathan,
A D. dichotoma will go dormant in November or December with natural daylight hours. It will look dead. They don't form a hibernacula the way North American sundews will. They just die down to their roots. In February you'll see the new growth start. Keep the soil just moist when the growth stops; avoid water in the tray. Don't let it go totally dry however. Resume normal watering when growth starts.
When that growth resumes you may still want to consider some artificial light since this is a very high-light demanding plant. We just don't get much sun in the Northwest until summer.
Good Growing!
Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: oh ok. I actually just got lights but just as an inquiry kind of thing. i bought it from you about two weekends ago at the market and lucky me it had two seedlings so since i live in camas washington i figured i would put one indoors and one outdoors. i got the lights for the Ventricosa X Sibuyanensis that i asked about earlier and i'm sure my ping and clipeata and of course the drosera would love it. one quick question to make sure i've got this right: leave lights on 14 hrs in the summer and 12 in the winter. right? anyway thanks for the great plants. :)
Hi Nathan,
If you want to keep the plants (Pinguicula/Drosera) dormant, go down to a 10 hour day. The Nepenthes don't really have a dormancy, so to keep them pitchering the light cycle needs to be 12 hours or more. Every year we see in our greenhouse Nepenthes stop pitchering around November 1rst coinciding with short days. (We're adding more artificial light this year to keep that from happening.)
Good Growing!
Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com
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Answers by Expert:
Sarracenia Northwest
Expertise
If your plant is showing poor growth, discoloration, abnormal leaves or possible infestation, the growers at Sarracenia Northwest can help! Carnivorous plant experts Jeff Dallas and Jacob Farin will help you diagnose the problem and get your plants on the right track. Their no nonsense approach has helped thousands of growers all over the world. They can help you too!
Experience
With over 40 years of combined experience, Jeff and Jacob has definitely taken a straight forward approach to growing carnivorous plants. They have encountered many types of diseases, abnormal growth and infestations related to carnivorous plants, and they know what it takes to get plants looking beautiful and healthy again.
Education/Credentials
Authors of Secrets to Growing Beautiful Carnivorous Plants for Your Home and Garden and producers of the Grow Carnivorous Plants! DVD Series. They also produce a monthly video podcast to illustrate how plants cycle through the seasons.
No terrariums. No myths. No nonsense.
Just the straight facts from guys who grow and propagate
thousands of carnivorous plants each year.
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PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR QUESTION: We no longer answer how-to questions (i.e. How do I propagate...?; How do I grow...?). Instead, we help growers by diagnosing a specific plant problem and offering solutions (i.e. Why is my sundew not producing dew?; Is now a good time to divide my Sarracenia?; Why are the traps turning black?; What's a good substitute for perlite?; Why didn't my seeds germinate?; Can you identify this carnivorous plant for me?) For general plant care, please read our care sheets on our main website: http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets For business questions: http://www.cobraplant.com/contact |
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