Well it has been fun getting my little Drosera capensis from seed to flower.
Planted first set of successful seeds on 2nd October 2013.
Germinated on 25th October 2013.
First true leaves 5th November 2013.
First flower spike seen 28th June 2014.
Now between the sowing of the seeds and the flower I had fungal problems, mishap with environmental change and fungus gnats but I have now some very healthy and strong plants. Now thanks to a kind member on the site I have more than enough seeds to
After the mutant faulse alarm and nearly losing my plants to a strande blackening of the leaves I have my first flower spike emerging. Even I can tell this is a flower spike, well I'm 90% sure it is I may post an image on the forum so keener eyes than mine can confirm it. Fuzzy little thing it is.
Well we have had some good sunny days and I have taken full advantage by running out first light with plants and bringing back in as the cooler nights draw in. The growth of the plants from this is amazing and each plant is sending up new leaf shoots every day. Along with this they are catching a huge amount of food. in a matter of hours most of the leaves have something stuck to them.
One plat got hold of an ant... I didn't know how it would cope with this and it didn't do well. Within a few o
Well it has been a little while... All sign of the fungus gnat are gone thanks to some hand picking and a few brave mites.
We have sun again and as such my little seedlings are now sending out new groth light anything. The harder task now is staying ontop of watering, they have moved onto rain water and looks like no probs there. Feeding is also something I will keep an eye on now as springtails just don't cut it for the size of the traps.
I do hope in time to swap a few plants for something
I should have known if my plants were catching fungus gnats then there was a chance that the larvae could be in the sphagnum moss they are growing in. Sure enough they are I removed two with a pin but where there are two there are twenty.
The two I removed I fed to the plants... oddly enough on contact with the dew they writhed and knotted themselves in the same way a hag fish does. I'm guessing this is to try and remove the mucus from their skin. Within seconds they have elongated to full leng
As I type this hail is battering at the window, Well it has been a little while since I added a page to my blog. My little plants are still doing well and feeding like mad but due to the low light levels growth has all but stopped. Each plant now has about eight leaves and two that have yet to unfurl. All in all the plants look like they have gone into a slow growth phase. I now see the importance of light for them, not that I don't know that all plants need light my ficus is also slumbering wai
Getting bigger and feeding well... I have seen a slow down in the growth but I have this down to falling temps and light levels (still growing on windowsill). I just hope it doesn't get too clod for them but from what I have been told they are somewhat bomb proof.
As you can see the little springtails have little chance, they are deep in the moss but from time to time must come up and get stuck in the tentacles.
Getting there... as you can see in a short time my seedlings have a forth leaf. This is somewhat of a shock to me as light levels are low at the moment and my house isn't the warmest. For windowsil growning I am more than happy with how well they are coming along.
One of the things I was told was they CPs are slow to grow... Well the little D. capensis is shooting up. I have no idea if it is because they have sprintails to eat or just quick growing but now the first of them has its second full leaf. As you can see in the image it is still clutching its first dinner and has another open leaf just waiting for the next to jump in, there is also the third leaf already poking up. To me this is fast,
I wish I could get a good image of my little seedling and its prey as I am shocked at the speed that it is digesting it.
In less than 48 hours my little plant has turned this soft bodied hexapoda into mush. It is most seen at the point where the plant has the unfortunate creature in its grasp. The body has turned from a bright white colour to a brownish hue and is much thinner. I can not be sure that part of this is not down to the normal decomposition but the speed at which it is happening and
A bit of a panic as I look in on my little mirco world this morning as I see one of the little seedlings has got itself a sprintail, now tis wouldn't worry me too much as they eat dead and rotting plant matter but in the tiny trap of my Drosera it looked HUGE! IT did cross my mind to find a pin and with the help of a strong lens to remove the springtail. I thought better of it as I'd most likely damage the plant in trying to remove it.
Happy to see looking at it again about an hour later all th
Well after the failed attempt to grow D. capensis (typical) on cotton wool and getting very weak looking seedlings I have started again this time with Sphagnum flexuosum. A little in a pot and seeds sprinkled on top and bingo, from ten seed I have six strong looking seedlings that have just started to show the first little red dots of true leaves. At the moment all the little tentacles are closed in to the middle of the leaf giving the look of a closed fist with red nail polish on.
As i say the
Well so begins my descent into carnivorous plant madness... I’m starting out with ten Sarracenia alata seed. Sounds harmless enough but I have been informed that this is more than enough to have this addiction take hold. I have seven in the fridge sitting moist waiting for the days to get a little longer (long time) I really should get some lighting rigs but well I’m starting from the bottom up and my girlfriend will kill me if I do. I already have some long term plans such as.
Large bog garden
