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Overwintering in greenhouse- S. American & tuberous?


Greg Allan

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I have a greenhouse that is in full sun all day in summer and full sun for a few hours per day in winter. It is heated to approx 5 deg minimum in winter. Will tuberous Drosera and S. American Drosera be OK in there during British winters without additional lighting? Last winter, the light levels proved sufficient for Drosophyllum- I overwintered 5 plants with no losses, as well as a number of South African species (e.g. capensis, collinsiae, regia, venusta, slackii, etc) and a couple of pygmy species (e.g. scorpiodes, pulchella, occidentalis, sewelliae). Does anyone have any experience with tuberous/S Americans in winter in the UK or at other northern latitudes?

Cheers,

Greg

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I cannot say much about tuberous drosera, but i think, that South American sundews should survive there. They won`t grow fast, but they should survive OK. I had my collection of these sundews in 7 - 10 °C during last winter and i think that they would survive even lower temps.

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Hi

Although we are a bit warmer here, I grow my tuberous sundews outside. We go down about as low as 3 or 4 degrees and only get a upto about half a dozen frosts a year and they do fine. So I would have thought that they should do well in there. We had one of our heavier frosts a couple of days ago and they are still growing more than happily enough.

Cheers

Simon

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The temps will definitely be fine, but I believe that Greg was more interested in whether the lighting will be sufficient?

My tuberous Drosera are all grown fully exposed through necessity this season and have easily coped with temps down to 0C plus at least 6 frosts so far.

Sorry that I can't answer the lighting question Greg. My plants don't get full sun all day at the moment- probably 4-5 hours around midday. They are all doing perfectly so far.

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Hi Greg,

I used to light my South Americans over winter, but didn't last year and did lose a few. There may however have been other factors at play though!

I don't give any extra light to the tuberous species and they all seem to colour well with the few hours of sun we get more than enough to sustain good growth.

Nigel H-C

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Hi Miguel,

Your 'Typical Victorian Form' does indeed look a lot like the ones I see all around Melbourne - but also for that matter like the ones I've seen around Launceston in Tassie, near where you live :-)

The mainland 'D. whitakeri' from west of Victoria look to me (and I'm no expert), like a completely different species. Around Melbourne, the main variation I've noticed is just the degree to which they turn red in strong sunlight - some just don't, and some readily do.

It's one of the several drosera species that grew next to my childhood home, and all I can say is that it isn't called the 'Scented Sundew' for nothing - don't those big flowers smell fantastic ?! In a really good year they turn a stroll through the local park into a dream.

Cheers,

Tim

Edited by Tim Caldwell
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Greg, temps wise you are probably OK as others have said. Light-wise I am not so sure, I struggle up here in Yorkshire with anything but the easiest species (peltata, auriculata) which I think is down to the much lower light levels here compared with the south of England, they cannot put on enough growth to get through dormancy. You may just be Ok there in the Midlands...only one way to find out!

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