D. schizandra media

[RL7836]

Early this autumn, I repotted my original 'mother' D. schizandra to give it a larger pot, some new media and to transplant the babies that were popping up all over. I tend to be a tad skeptical of LFS as a potting media but based on recommendations of others, the original D. schizandra has been growing in it for ~2 years (quite happily). Since there were a good number of babies, I split them into 4 pots. 2 of the pots had 100% live chopped LFS as media and the other 2 used a 1:1:1 mix of peat: chopped live LFS: sand (00). All 4 were placed in the same water tray and each pot was covered w/ a clear cup (humidity dome). Two of the cups were perforated at the top and 2 had no holes. All plants were placed next to 'mother' in a north-facing window (that also gets some early AM light from a nearby east-facing window).

Not long after transplanting the babies, it seemed that the plants in the LFS were growing faster and appeared to be more robust. I have not noticed any real difference in perforated domes vs unperforated (the 2 pots in the middle are perforated). Here are the 4 pots as of today...

While I won't pretend that these results are conclusive, they are providing a catalyst to revise my bias. In fact, I hope to scrap the experiment this weekend and replace the 1:1:1 pots with 100% live LFS. In addition to having reduced growth, one of the plants in the 1:1:1 mix took a dramatic downturn over the past week (2nd pot from left, plant @ 10:00).

[V.J.Treasure]

Good work! My D.shizandra failed in producing many babies until now but theres one starting to grow out of the side for about a week now

[macs]

thanks for the information Ron!

I have a D. schizandra which arrived in july very damaged from the post and is apparently "resurrecting" in dead LFS topped with live LFS. I had always wondered (till I saw your post ) if peat would have been better!.

regards,

[Siggi_Hartmeyer]

When I visited the natural growing site of D. schizandra at Mount Bartle Frere it was surprising that the roots grow only 2-5 cm downward and then they turn laterally into the layer of dead leaves which covers the rainforest ground. From these roots many new plants grow around the motherplant.

In cultivation I found that dried and pressed New Zealand Sphagnum available for terrariums (yes, after adding water) works much better than living Sphagnum or peat moss. Probably because it is comparable with the dead leaf-layer at the growing site. To get many babies I recommend pots with a diameter of minimum 20 cm to give room for the laterally growing roots. I can absolutely confirm RL7836's observation, that D. schizandra grows much slower and remains much smaller if a normal peat/sand-mix is used.

Enclosed is a picture from the natural site at Mt. Bartle Frere, Queensland:

[RL7836]

Hi Siggi,

Thanks for the add'l information (& in-situ photo!).

While repotting, I noticed that the roots tended to stay within a centimeter or 2 of the top of the pot rather than head to the bottom (and circle around) as many other Drosera (D. regia, D. capensis, D. binata, etc) like to do. This didn't appear to be from lack of vigor as the roots were quite long and the plants in good growing condition, they just did not want to turn down....

[Amar]

Well, I just got my first D. schizandra in the mail and have potted it up, according to the information I found in this thread:

The plastic pot has a diameter of 15cm and is 12cm tall

I filled it up with mainly dried pressed soaked sphagnum, mixed with very little peat, and even less perlite, on top of all that I added a 3-4cm layer of live sphagnum. The root of the plant were about 8cm long, so those went down into the soaked dead sphagnum.

I've put the pot on a tray and will only water from the top, but won't let the pot stand in water, but see to it that the substrate is always moist-wet (or would wet-moist be better).

The pot is on a north facing window sill where it's bright, but gets no direct light. And this is how the baby looks:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e175/Amar66/schizandra.jpg

I really hope this plant will survive, anybody feel free to tell me if I forgot anything.

Edited November 20, 2008 by Amar

[rsivertsen]

This plant has been difficult for me too over the years, and seem to get infested with pill bugs and sow bugs that nibble on their roots, the peat mixes are the worst. I've found that with this group of "dews", (with include D. adelae and D. prolifera), that thy grow best in shallow trays, instead of pots. I've also switched to using NJ Pine Barrens sand, which may even have some biological agents in it that seem beneficial to CPs. Even my D. regia grows in this stuff now, and seem to do best when the sand is very wet, and in full sun. The D. schiz' can't handle direct sunlight at all. Also, like so many other Drosera and CPs in general, they seem to grow faster and better when they are well fed; I use wingless fruit flies, or other small bugs that I find around, and under rocks and things out in the garden. ;) - Rich

Edited November 20, 2008 by rsivertsen

[Amar]

the question now really is: should I put some kind of humid-retaining dome (or plastic bag etc) over it, or not?

[RL7836]

the question now really is: should I put some kind of humid-retaining dome (or plastic bag etc) over it, or not?

Mine have faired best with 'humidity domes' over them (actually - to be perfectly honest, I can't really keep them alive without a covering).

If you haven't yet seen them, here are a few other informational threads on these guys - here, here and here.

Once you get them going, they're quite easy to propagate via leaves or roots. Since they can be somewhat temperamental, it's probably a good idea to have some spares around... I'm now waiting to see if my 'mother' plant, which has supplied 50-80 babies over the past few years will recover from the roots (waited too long to repot after it started to decline). I guess I shouldn't have ignored it's not-so-subtle pleas... Thankfully, I've got 10+ plants coming along...

[Amar]

Thanks a lot, I guess the only thing I'll change is to pop a plastic bag over the pot, to increase the humidity.