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Drosera schizandra


RL7836

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Here are some updated pics of the flowers on my D. schizandra & some recent plant pics....

Flower side view:

Dschizandraflowerside041810RS.jpg

Flower close-up - notice the split-red anthers for which the plant is named (with pollen poking out from the sides):

Dschizandraflowertop041810RS.jpg

Pic of the entire plant from yesterday:

Dschizandra3-4view041810RS.jpg

Top view - this plant lives under a 7" (~18 cm) diameter glass dome and as you can see, all of the largest leaf ends are bent from hitting the glass. The true diameter is something north of 7"... :huh:

Dschizandratop041810RS.jpg

Side view:

Dschizandraside041810RS.jpg

Close-up of the 'aerial' roots it's sending out. This plant really wants to make a mat of schizandra plants - as seen in native habitat pics:

Dschizandraaerialroots041810RS.jpg

Edited by RL7836
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for all of the nice comments.

What a beautiful one :D How do you cultivate it ?

I've been growing them for a number of years now. There are some links on media & growing in this longer Terra post for those who like to read. While their conditions for 'happiness' is not wide, once you find out the range, the plants are very easy, grow well, put out many babies & are very easy to propagate. I highly recommend experimentation with multiple clones (keeping one as a 'safety') to see what works for you & your conditions. For most of this time I kept one 'mother plant' and a number of smaller ones of different sizes. I stupidly allowed my original 'mother plant' to die from neglect. To replace her, I took a small plant, gave it a larger pot & started to regularly feed it with wingless fruit flies*. The plant responded with great growth, outgrowing the pot at least once (or twice). The largest my original plant got was probably 4-4.5" (10-11cm) iirc. This plant is currently larger than 7" (18cm) diameter.

For media, I use 100% live LFS in a pot 3.5" tall which typically sits in a small amount of water (when I tried peat-based media - the plants died). If I use a shorter pot, the plant gets too wet and doesn't tend to grow well**. To maintain very high humidity, a humidity dome is normally used (see pic). Although keeping a plant 'sealed' & sitting is water is normally not recommended, with my experimenting over the years, this setup has produced the largest, strongest plants. If you want to grow them in warmer, more open conditions, check w/ Andrew or Pyro - they've had success in the southern USA without being fully covered. While the plants can be quite picky with conditions, they are very good at letting you know when they are not happy. This plant sits in a north-facing window in my office all winter & when temperatures rise, I take it into the basement (where it pouts all summer).

While the flowering is indeed quite uncommon, I tend to believe that the combination of conditions (temperatures, media, food) combined to induce the blooming. Another plant that I fed much less frequently also sent up a flower stalk but it ceased development several weeks after I stopped feeding it.

D. schizandra in its 'home'.

Dschizandraunderdome042110RS.jpg

* - which is a pain btw. Once a week or every 2nd week or 3rd week), I would stick 3-5 wff's on a section of leaf, keep them there for 2-4 days & ideally remove them just before mold started to form. In addition, I wiped that part of the leaf with 70% isopropyl alcohol after removing the partially-digested wff's. If I did not do this, mold would form & create holes in the leaves.

** - I'm growing another plant in a pot barely 1" high & I do not keep it sitting in water. The tray stays dry & I water a little every week or two.

Edited by RL7836
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