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[Peatmoss]

Good day,

I recently received a number of fine quality South American Drosera from Best Carnivorous Plants.

The species in question are:

D. gaminifolia
D. rorimae
D. camporoupestris

I also received D. kaiturensis and D. esmeralda from a member on forum a while back.

Now, the first three Drosera I listed, arrived as clumps of four or five plants.

I was curious as to which soil medium is better to grow these in, so I planted them half and half in either peat/sand or sphagnum/sand. I wanted to deduce which side is correct, at least in my conditions.

The plants have now been in my care for about one week, and I find the results surprising, considering the main opinion is that sphagnum is better for growing these species.

(Keep in mind, these plants are growing in my extremely sub-optimal conditions of 90* plus temperatures for the last few days.)

I have observed results for all three species:

D. gaminifolia

Peat/sand: Both plants in this mix are doing very well, and producing new leaves. Very impressed by apparent ease of growth!
Sphagnum/sand: One of the plants in this mix, appears to have aborted the latest leaf, but the growth point has some green, so I hold out hope for it's survival. The other plant is showing no new growth since it arrived.

D. rorimae:

Peat/sand: Both plants in this mix are doing very well, and producing new growth! Much better than expected...
Sphagnum/sand: The plant in this mix is doing badly, but the bunch of plantlets are doing fairly well in living sphagnum...

D. camporoupestris:
All plants of this species appear to be doing fairly well...


The D. kaiturensis and esmerelda are both in a peat/sand mix, the esmerelda is doing very well, but the kaiturensis does not like my conditions, and is at risk of dying...


Just another note:

I also received D. ultramafica from BCP and put it in peat/sand as recommended by Mey et al. This plant is producing many new leaves... Very nice!


Can anyone else post information to help corroborate this? What soil mixes to your SA Drosera do best in? I figured I would post here, because it seems everyone and their mother's brother has a ton of phantastic SA dews.

Photos will come when the plants start looking better.

Thanks,

Gabriel