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Drosera whittakeri


Joseph Clemens

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This plant is the result of about 3 years of effort from seed. First it was nearly 16 months from sowing to the germination of one seed. Then the wait, but the sight of this gorgeous gem made every moment worth it. The larger plant is 3 cm (1-1/8 inch) in diameter. :D:D

d_whittakeri_caption_b.jpg

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Nice plant Joseph,

16 months to germinate! I sowed some seed of this species in September, half treated with 100ppm GA3 and half untreated. I guess I'm in for a long wait with this one! I'll let you know if the GA3 has any noticable effect on shortening the germination time, no signs of life yet, but its early days!

Vic

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Nice Plant!! What conditions do you grow them. I germinated about 10 seeds last year, but since then they havent got any bigger. They just keep growing a few leaves, then dying off and re-growing from undergorund/tuber. But never seem to grow larger! What temperature/light levels do they get and do you feed them?

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How I grow it and the way it has grown for me:

Container: Plastic pot dimensions; top - 5.5 cm x 5.5 cm x 8 cm tall are kept in 12 cm deep, open plastic trays with 1-2 cm of pure water maintained in the tray at all times.

Media: Ground Sphagnum peat moss - 90% and 10% fine 60 grit silica sand.

Light: 6 - four 1.3 meter cool white fluorescent bulbs about 6 inches (15 cm) above the plants on 15 hour photoperiod.

Temperature: Slight fluctuation between 75F - 80F (23.8C -26.6C), median 77F (25C)

It produced a small rosette, and as each parent rosette would turn brown and die a new rosette would form in its place, sometimes both would persist together for a short time. It did this about 4 or 5 times. It never actually stopped growing, just kept making new, larger, nicer rosettes. When the small moss that was growing with it became too dense, I repotted it and discovered a second, smaller tuber, which I planted separately though adjacent to the parent plant. The plant was in the process of producing this current rosette when it was last transplanted, about July.

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I am surprised that they are growing well for you with warm temperatures and only a slight difference between day and night temperature. In the wild, these plants experience cool day temperatures and cold night temperatures during their growing season. The climate of W.Australia is much like that of S.Africa and CA. The days can be warm or hot, but the nights are cool and humid.

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Drosera whittakerii actually comes from eastern Australia which has conditions which are generally cooler than WA. They are a very hardy species and grow in a range of environments. Often they experience frosts during the growing season and they cope with this with little effect to the health of the plant. They can experience quite cool night temps (down to 0 Deg C) and mild days temps (to about 17 Deg C during most of their active growth period).

From my experience they don't require a significant difference in day and night temps. As long as they have sufficient moisture and light they will grow well.

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The other species from eastern Australia are all very easy to grow and grow in identical conditions/habitats to D. whittakerii. These species are the D. peltata vars., D. auriculata and D. macrantha ssp. planchonii. These species however are a little more susceptible to frost- although light frosts generally will not harm them.

A couple of the WA species can thrive in similar conditions. D. menziesii ssp. menziesii is one that is very hardy.

A lot of them are much hardier and easier to grow than many think!

Regards,

Sean.

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I don't understand mine at all. I got is several months ago as a small rosette, and put it in a shady area as it was very hot in the day. It stayed that way, then died back. Then a new shoot came up about 2cm from the original, and lingered for about 3 weeks then turned brown. No I have nothing, but I see from this thread that I don't have to give up hope yet.

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This is one of mine :

(Drosera whittakeri ssp. aberans)

dr_whit_abe02.jpg

I grow mine in a much sandier mix with about 2 parts sand to 1 part peat.

I've herad that they would like a bit moisture during their dormant period but i grow mine like the other tuberous Drosera.

Martin

btw : My plants never produced the runners described in Lowrie III. Anybody ever experienced these runners with his/her D. whittakeri ssp. aberans ?

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Martin said-

I've herad that they would like a bit moisture during their dormant period but i grow mine like the other tuberous Drosera.

In nature Drosera whittakerii ssp. aberrans experiences very dry soils during the dormant period. They undergo the same conditions as many of the WA species. I believe that the reason why many people perceive that this species requires a moist dormancy is because it is one of the few tuberous species that will actually tolerate moist soils when dormant.

A moist soil during dormancy for D. whittakerii is definitely not a requirement. I believe that they grow better without the moisture over summer.

Here is a photo of a plant growing near where I live-

Drosera%20whittakerii.jpg

Sean.

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@Martin: Yes I heard of the runners. Marcus told me his plants would have runners. Ask him for details.

@manders: I would suppose feeding those filmy fish flakes to the young seedlings has a very positive effect. Later you can give them milk (Marcus told me that he did that either) or small insects (fruit flies or similar).

Jan

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I feed milk with a pipette. Use normal or half-fat milk and dilute it with some water. Then simply drop small amounts on the plants. I know many people who use milk on Nepenthes with great success. On drosera fish flakes are better because it is easier to find find the right dose.

Jan

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  • 2 months later...

Photographic update on Drosera whittakeri.

d_whittakeri_seed_grown_B1.jpg

I removed the initial secondary rosette and planted it in a different pot. I removed a small amout of the top layer of soil and replaced it with coarse silica sand, and then fed the original rosette heavily with freeze-dried bloodworms. Soon afterwards it developed this secondary rosette, even larger than the original. I really like how this plant grows and am anxiously waiting for it to bloom.

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  • 17 years later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

tuberous drosera are typical winter grower. Day temperatures within 15-20 degrees Celsius and 5-10 degrees Celsius at night works perfect.

But frost is too hard! It could be tolerate sometimes -2 degrees at night. But some growers told me slightly frost is no problem, but this is too risk for me.

Which temps do you have day and night outside? And Indoors......

 

regards

Tobias 

Edited by Tobias Kulig
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