# Sundew Question



## JohnDapiaoen (Jun 1, 2014)

I know my best bet would be to ask this question on a carnivorous plant board but I don't feel like making any new accounts and I'm sure there are carnivorous plant growers here. I've had my eye on a cape sundew for a while and want to put something else next to my venus flytraps, but I don't own a greenhouse and I don't want to build a terrarium just for plants so I want to grow them outside. My question is will I be able to? I read so much about them that they are so hardy and it's impossible to get rid of them once they start growing but they are tropical and not temperate growers so would I need to bring them inside during winter time? or can I just leave them out in the cold? As much info as you can provide is very much appreciated. 


-JohnD.


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## The Snark (Jun 1, 2014)

You got a paradox. Cape Sundew cannot stand full direct sunlight though it loves as much indirect light as it can get. Fly traps love direct sunlight and pure crap acidic soil. The less sunlight they get the more sensitive they are to the soil and the more unthrifty they become.
Neither can tolerate extreme cold.

And ... get the plants adapted to your region. Multiple generations bred in that hemisphere as those two are from opposed hemispheres and will also have paradoxical seasonal habits if not adapted. As example, they grow Brazilian Mahogany here that initially was severely stunted as our cool season is it's normal warm season, we have no autumn and the hot season comes before the rainy season.

PS the commonest cause of Flytraps dying, novelty plants, is over watering. The more you water them the more drainage the soil has to have. Sundew on the other hand is very tolerant to moisture and a wide variety of soils.


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## JohnDapiaoen (Jun 2, 2014)

So I take that as a no go on the cape sundew? Maybe I should just go for a temperate US species like Drosera intermedia. I've been raising flytraps for a few years and I always keep their pots on a tray of water and have been doing fine. 

-JohnD.


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## The Snark (Jun 2, 2014)

Maybe you could experiment with the lighting? A lot of novelty plants sold in grocery and discount stores, possibly Sundew, are grown hydroponically in artificial light. Maybe hydroponics stores have some answers.


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## myrmecophile (Jun 5, 2014)

I am not too familiar with your area but when I was actively growing CPs. I grew all out doors with out greenhouse benefit for a long time. I was living in eastern LA county and flytraps and cape sundews grew great in my environment there. I grew them in solid bottom trays which I filled in the morning with RO water. By days end the trays were usually dry but my plants did great. Winter temps were no trouble for anything either.

Reactions: Like 1


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## The Snark (Jun 5, 2014)

myrmecophile said:


> I am not too familiar with your area but when I was actively growing CPs. I grew all out doors with out greenhouse benefit for a long time. I was living in eastern LA county and flytraps and cape sundews grew great in my environment there. I grew them in solid bottom trays which I filled in the morning with RO water. By days end the trays were usually dry but my plants did great. Winter temps were no trouble for anything either.


That's good news. So you grew Sundews in direct sunlight? How adapted were they?


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## sarraceniashawn (Jun 7, 2014)

I've grown flytraps and D. capensis outdoors in California for several years. I would slowly acclimate a capensis to full sun, but once they are acclimated, it will do just fine. Honestly, if you just put it in full sun, it would burn a bit but recover. They pop up in my flytrap pots all the time, and get a really nice red color in the high light. Grow it in a mix of peat and sand/ perlite, just like a flytrap, and keep the soil wet. The tray system is what I use. In the summer, it gets in the high 90's for several days, and they do fine as long as they are kept wet. In the winter, it dips into the 30's every once in a while and they survive. If it got any colder than that, I would bring them inside. I don't know what you mean when you say that over watering kills flytraps, I've kept them in undrained pots with the water level over the soil level and they did just fine, same with D. capensis. They are bog plants. What you have read is true, they are almost bullet proof. They grow in my lowland Nepenthes chamber, with high humidity and temps that never fall below 70, in my greenhouse for highland Nepenthes and Heliamphora, and with my flytraps and Sarracenia in full sun. 

Cheers,
Shawn

Reactions: Like 2


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## The Snark (Jun 9, 2014)

People regularly kill flytraps when they buy them as novelty plants in supermarkets. The soil is treated with an adhesive so it won't spill during shipment. Then they put the plant somewhere in the house in poor light (or none) and drown them. Give them drainage and sunlight and happy campers. Probably a real good idea to get rid of that crud potting soil they come in but often by the time people get them they are so stressed the repotting can dwarf or kill them.

On that subject... A few eons ago I read about a process, a specific term was given this process. They used the flytrap as an example. A swamp lover plant that has sufficient porosity in the soil around it promotes this process where the moisture around the roots gets cycled, drawing the nitrogen rich water from the surface on down to the roots below. What is this cycling called?


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