Oddworld1000

Hi Diki, welcome to the forum. I’m in West Sussex and I’ve left my sarracenia purpurea purpurea and Sarracenia leucophylla outside in the open all winter for several years now without any problems. Those are the only sarracenia I have at the moment. I don’t have a green house so I move my more tender plants (drosera, cephalotus, pings and utrics) into the porch which is not heated.

Hi Hayley. It depends on what types a CPs you have. If you have Pinguiculas, Nepenthes, D. Adelae etc then keep them inside. For most other CPs I would move them out into full sun, if your balcony gets enough hours of direct sun. Hard to call without knowing your growing conditions. My plants are against a west facing wall, they get full sun from around 11am through to about 5pm at the moment and they love it. If you have modern double glazing then it may be filtering out UV light so if you take them out to the balcony the natural light may be stronger then the plants are used too. I would move them out for a few hours a day for a week or two to start (avoid mid day sun), once they are used to it then move them out full time during the spring and summer, move them back inside late autumn if they are not cold tolerant or don’t need a winter dormancy. My main concern would be strong winds drying out or damaging the plants if your flat is high up. If your balcony is windy then probably best to keep them inside. Having said all that; if your plants are red, dewy and looking healthy then they may be happy where they are. If they are lacking dew, looking green and leggy, reaching for the sun then consider moving them. Take it slow and watch to see how the plants react.

Wow, great little plant and nice flower. I’m surprised to see such a young plant flowering. I’ve never grown it before, worth adding to my wish list.

Hi everyone. There are a lot of posts in the forum which say do not give up on your Drosera or sown seeds. This is my story of their resilience. In April I brought a purp. I selected this pot as it had a fantastic Drosera in it, which I’m almost certain is Slackii. In my wisdom I decided to dig up the drosera and plant them in their own pot. What could go wrong, I’ve done this before. The reason for doing this was that I thought they would be smothered by the purp, and a bit of OCD I suppose. There was also a tiny seedling which was being smothered by slime. I used some forceps to dig down and lift as much root and soil as possible. Shortly after replanting the seedling vanished and the mature plants shrivelled up and died. I was upset I’d lost such a beautiful plant. Maybe I should have taken it slow and done one at a time to see how it recovers. Maybe I should have taken leaf cuttings first. Maybe I should have waited for flower and seed. Anyway they are dead and lesson learned. I was going to recycle the pot but had nothing to put into it yet so I left it. A few weeks ago the slime covered seedling reappeared, healthy and doing well. It must be the seedling as it was fresh media and I’ve never had any seed in my collection before (only started keeping sundews again this spring after a 20 year break). Needles to say I was surprised and very pleased. Better yet, the drosera in the purp pot popped up again a couple days ago, three months after my disasterous replant attempt. They must be growing from root left behind in the purp pot. I am so happy and relieved, I was convinced I’d lost them. I certainly will be more cautious in future. drosera before repot attempt. Other side of pot with slime covered seedling visible. Resurrected drosera in purp pot Other side Resurrected seedling, dried husks of mature plants barely visible.

Thank you for the advice Nigel. I suspected the flowering was draining the plant but wow, it put on a great show. It was the first time it flowered so I just had to let it go to flower to appreciate it and get photos for my records. Also need to harvest seed and then grow from seed to complete the experience. Next time it starts to flower I will remove the stalks. It’s been kept in lower light levels for two weeks now with no change to the mother plant, but it still has a huge mass of flower stalks. It’s finished flowering now so waiting to get some seed and then remove the stalks and see if it recovers. I’m going to trim the stalks down to just a few seed pods, only need a tiny amount of seed to play with. The three plantlets are doing well. Will keep them in slightly lower light, looking back at the photos I preferred it in its green form.

Thanks for the advice guys. Great call on the sun Zerbirus, it gets full sun just about all day with most of my other dews.I don’t have a greenhouse, it was in the suppliers greenhouse when I brought it. I’ve no idea why I did not consider the problem was due to my growing conditions, seems obvious now. I was so focused on the flowering being the cause. I’ve now moved it into my porch alongside my D. Adelae which is doing brilliantly. Hopefully it will recover, at least I’ve got the two plantlets and loads of seed along the way. I can experiment with more direct sun when I got more plants. Thanks again.

Hi everyone. I brought a great D. Amirabilis in April which was just about to flower. It’s flowering fine but no new leaves are being produced and the old ones are looking worse for wear. There are no signs of any new leaf buds in the crown. It looks like two suckers are pushing up from the mother plant unless they are hitchhikers. I kept in a sheltered position for the first few weeks (morning sun and dappled mid day sun) in a sauces of rain water as it came from a greenhouse. It’s now in full sun (late morning to sunset) again in a tray of rain water. Is it normal for an Amirabilis to die after flowering? The first pic is from this morning in all it’s glory. Second is from when I purchased it. Third is again this morning with the two suckers showing. All advise will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Nigel

Hi Steve, welcome to the forum. You’ve got a nice collection there. You’re patient to start CP’s in winter but should finally start to see some growth now as spring takes hold. The plants I keep in the porch have woken up and pushing up new pitchers, the sarra. outside is still dormant. The D. Aliciae does not look like it has much dew, it may just be the picture. How long have you had it? It could still be in shock from being placed in its new home, it will take longer to recover in winter. If it is lacking dew then try increase the amount of sun it gets, as much full sun as possible. Keep it moist, this time of year my plants are sitting in water trays again. Also try to increase the humidity, not sure if you have central heating in your conservatory which may be drying it out. The Nepenthes looks healthy though, the new pitchers on the end of the leaves will normally shrivel away if the humidity is to low. Are you tempted to split the aliciae? What peat moss and water are you using?

Hi Swizzy, I cannot see your pictures, the album is empty. Mimosa Pudica was a lawn weed when I was living in South Africa, not so great when bare foot as they have thorns. We hardly ever watered or fed the lawn so it was normally pretty dry and mimosa thrived, even through the summers and droughts. They had tough deep roots and were hard to weed out. You can tell when mimosa is to dry as the leaves close up and droop down but they should lift back up and open again when watered. I did dig some up at times and pot them, from my experience they seemed to prefer a bigger pot with sandy soil and being kept slightly on the dry side. Full sun too. I had them so dry at times the leaves would turn to powder when rubbed but they would sprout new growth when watered. I could push them to the limit as I had a lawn full to replace them with. I had loads of problems when I tried growing them in a damp, loam rich soil, they would loose their leaves and slowly rot. That’s just my experience. I’ve never tried to grow them indoors as a house plant. I suspect they need a bigger, deeper root system to survive the dry periods.

Hi, I’ve recently started trying to grow my plants in LFSM but not sure I’m preparing it right. The first time I just removed the sticks and bits then lightly pressed it into the pot.I found the long strands annoying when planting. The second time I cut up the moss a bit and then again lightly pressed it into the pot. It was easier to work with but not sure if it draw up the water properly. These have been used for seeds and my d. Adelae which is just regrowing from its roots so it’s to early to tell how well the moss is working. So my question is how fine should I chop up the moss, if at all, and how firmly should I pack it into the pots? thanks Nigel

Hi Niki, welcome to the forum. I like your pots. Your heli is looking great. Do the plants get much sun with the curtains open?

How long should the pot be flooded for? I imagine a few hours flooding would not have much affect. Thanks for the tip.

Great plant Tom. I’d written off growing Utric’s like these as I don’t have a terrarium or grow lights. I’m encouraged to hear your experience and will now try growing this at some stage.

Wow, now that’s commitment. And there I was feeling proud of myself for just buying a 25l plastic jerrycan.

Hi Tracy, yes it is a lovely sundew. Wish I could grow one of those but tuberous sundews are a no go for me at this stage. I can only keep what will grow on a windowsill or outside. Maybe I’ll get a terrarium or grow lights at some stage in the future. Thanks for the info tuberousdrosera. It could be Stolonifera. Initially I thought it was a flat plant growing close to the ground but looking at the pic now it does look like the branches are turned up. Not sure about the central flower stall, maybe Ramulosa? I found another pic from a 2014 post by Lucien01700. Hope Lucien does not mind me reposting, he has some fantastic plants.