You are here:
- Home
- Home/Garden
- Gardening
- Carnivorous Plants
- Drosera Capensis
Carnivorous Plants/Drosera Capensis
Advertisement
Question
Hello,
)
I have a Drosera Capensis here in Oregon near Days Creek. I am at an elevation of about 3000 feet and I have my plant in an East facing window that gets about 4-6 hours of sunlight depending on cloud cover. I have the plant in the soil you shipped it in and I've had it for about 6 months or so. The plant is brown at the end of every stem and I think it was because it went without water for some time but it is still green in the stems. No new stems have come out and I have been keeping it wet in my window for about 2 weeks now. It had been pretty hot for the past 2 weeks, around 85 degrees F but now it is cooling down. Thanks for your help all the time!
Sterling
Hi Sterling,
Thanks for sending the photo. That always helps. I think you may have multiple problems happening here. You mentioned the drying out; that is always very hard on the plants, and it takes them awhile to recover from the damage. That can cause leaves to brown like you're seeing. It also looks like you may have been using hard water. This appearance is common with sundews when minerals are building up in the soil. If you are using well water to water the plant, switch to rainwater or distilled water. If you want to filter your water the only filtration that removes minerals is reverse osmosis or the ZeroWater pitchers. Brita and other carbon filters don't remove minerals.
The other factor that's hard to determine from the photo is your light. Your plant may not be getting as much sun as you think. It has a fairly thin and whispy appearance, and that is a dead give away for low light. I noticed the Drosera adelae next to it looks fairly pale also. When you say 4-6 hours are we talking direct sun hitting the plant for that many hours? Are there any trees near that window? I have a Cape sundew in a west window in my house that is dewy and looks fine, and it gets around 5 hours of hot, direct afternoon sun.
Did you have the plants (including the D. adelae next to the Cape) in any kind of enclosure or terrarium before this? I've also seen this appearance when plants have been in the grocery store cubes, then are taken out without allowing time to harden off. The leaves almost always brown like that when they have been softened from the constant high humidity and low light.
For now I would say to just cut off any bad looking leaves, which is going to be most of them. Try to make sure the plant is getting direct sun, it's water tray doesn't dry out, and is being watered with low-mineral water. If you have been using hard water you may need to transplant into fresh soil. (Peat moss)
Let me know how it goes.
Good Growing!
Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com
- Ask a Question
| Rating(1-10) | Knowledgeability = 10 | Clarity of Response = 10 | Politeness = 10 |
| Comment | Alright, will do. It get sunlight through a screen and direct morning light for 4-6 hours unless it is cloudy. I will keep trying! Thanks for your help! | ||
Related Articles
- Determining Lighting for Houseplants
- Top Reverse Osmosis RO/DI Water Filter Picks for Saltwater Aquariums - Reverse Osmosis RO/DI Water Filter - Reverse Osmosis Water Filter
- Water Filtration System - Why To Buy Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System
- Is Everyday Pollution Disrupting Your Hormones?
- Reverse Osmosis - What Is Reverse Osmosis
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.
|
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 |
Follow us on Youtube and Facebook!
©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.