Expert: Christopher Littrell - 7/16/2007

Question
Hi, i have a capensis sundew, and its flowing with beautiful pink flowers, but then the thing is, the flower opens and then it seems to dry up and close back, it doesn't stay open for more than a day or two. I use regular water not distilled, i put it in morning sun for more than 4 hours and a little of the afternoon sun. I'm not sure if this is normal for the sundew to do that or not... Becuase the same thing happened to my VFT, He had beautiful flowers and i put it in full sun with using hose water. Then the flower comes out but all of it sudden it just dries up and dies. Do you think it is the water problem? Because I've been using that water for a while, but then when rain comes it washes out the access mineral build up. So i don't think its the water. What do you think is happening? Also how do you know when      the sundew seed pod is ready? Does the seeds need stratification?

Answer
Hello Danny,

Drosera capensis tends to flower in early morning and then close it's flowers by about noon or midafternoon. At the latest, they only keep their flowers for a day or so. Each day, a new flower will open and quickly close and dry up. Wait until all of the flowers have bloomed and closed, then wait until the entire stalk begins to blacken, then the seeds will be ready to harvest and sow. Cape sundews are tropical, so their seeds do not require stratification and the plants will grow and flower year round if it is kept warm in a bright area. Sow the seeds on the soil surface and keep misting them with water lightly, keep the soil moist all the time, and within a couple of weeks you should see tiny round leaved sundews sprouting. Give them a few months and they will begin to grow long leaves like the parent.

Venus Flytrap flowers tend to last for a couple of days, so if they close quickly, within a day, there might be some environmental problem or they might have been pollinated by a bee if they are in a place where pollination can occur. When pollinated, Venus Flytrap flowers close more quickly.

In any case, I would dissuade you from using the tap water from your outside faucet unless you are sure it supplies only soft water of less than 100 ppm and even better less than 50 ppm. The calcium and magnesium in the water can build up and alter the Ph of the soil and eventually kill your plants. Fresh rain water will certainly help drain out some of the impurities, but you can never be too careful with hard water and carnivorous plants unless you are running an experiment to see if the plants can handle hard water diluted by rain water.

Venus Flytrap seeds will not require stratification either even though they are North American plants, so just sow them on the soil surface like the sundew seeds after the flowers blacken and dry out completely for a month or so. Usually when the scape is blackening down to the plant, it is about time to harvest the seeds. You should see tiny Flytraps growing in a couple of weeks.

Have a good season of seedlings,

Christopher