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Drosophyllum progress


linuxman

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5 hours ago, danl82 said:

Is that the one I sent you? It looks healthy but maybe some more water might get it to put some size on.

Yep, that's the one. It's outside and had all the rain we've been getting so I've not watered it much. Now the sun is shining I'll give it some more.

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  • 2 months later...

I'm left my seedlings outside so far (on a recommendation) - one died but rest still looking good.  Anyone with advice on how to get through the winter?  Have grown a number of times from seed but never managed to keep more than a year or two!

Edited by Dunc
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7 hours ago, Dunc said:

I'm left my seedlings outside so far (or a recommendation) - one died but rest still looking good.  Anyone with advice on how to get through the winter?  Have grown a number of times from seed but never managed to keep more than a year or two!

I've brought mine into the g/h now and last time I looked it was still doing OK.

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My oldest ones are growing since winter 2014/15 and always water in the tray. It’s the natural rainy season. With keeping them on the dry side they usually die after the first flowering season.

Mine flower three to four times a year with no ill effect. One pot even survived repotting this spring.

The water in the tray has sometimes ice on top in the winter.

http://sarracenia.proboards.com/thread/608/drosophyllum-lusitanicum-dewy-pine

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My largest plant had iced up leaves the other morning and the soil was frozen solid. But once the sun came up it defrosted and was dewy. The exposure in my garden has recently changed a bit as a neighbour has removed a large tree, so whilst I am confident that they would be fine with a bit of frost, I wasnt so keen on the frozen soil(that was new for my garden). So at the moment I just move a couple into the garage overnight, just to be on the safe side. 

They were still catching insects right up until last week, probably still would if there were any around to be had. I'm really pleased that your plants are both okay. 

On the balance of things these are my favourite cp's. They are really good at catching food and they do it without spoiling their looks like sarra's do. They also have a wonderful honey scent to the whole plant. Too cold to smell it now but was noticeable near mine even in november.

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  • 3 months later...

Looks good, my outdoors one survived entire winter outside except for one night where we had a very hard frost (spent that night in the garage). Starting catching too but only just starting to show signs of growth.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Martin

Can't believe I'm only just seeing this topic.  

Drosos are among my most favourite genera and I love the plant's honey fragrance in hot weather.  Germinating them aluded me for many years and then they would get eaten by chickens or played with by the dog when I did germinate them.  

You asked what to do after flowering. Yes I've read that they can die after flowering but I have a feeling it's only if they're very young.  Yours are a good size and will be fine.  Save the seed though (which can remain viable for over 20 years in the fridge.  

They're tough as old boots in my experience.  When sowing I treat the seed to a boiling water treatment and then let them soak in cold rainwater for 24 hours before sowing them in a peat-free mix of perlite, sand and vermiculite outdoors where I keep them.  They've been covered in snow and frozen solid during the winter but the mix is so open it was obviously fine as they're doing well outside still and flowering.  I also have a couple I keep in the greenhouse purely for fragrance-purposes as well as an insurance policy.  

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Seed germination is easy the way I do it and I get high rates. Because of that I just leave them self-pollinate as they do. You just get a better seed set if you cross-pollinate but I never bother. Depends what you're wanting to do with the surplus seeds.

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Glad to see he's still going so well, mine are in between the first flush of flowers and have new ones on the way.  From my experience they seem to put their all into flowering and fruiting so I think this is why this seems to be their "delicate" time.  I have found that just making sure they are watered correctly and having ready access to food ( these plants are so greedy, as you've no doubt noticed) should be enough.  Have you picked up on the honey fragrance of the plant yet? If the air is still I can often smell it when I walk into the garden, let alone get close to the plants.  

I didn't get around to sowing more this year, I have seed from my own and a different source sitting at home, tempted to do a late sowing but with the very dry weather and limited water around I may wait till next year now. When I've germinated them ( including your one) I just sowed them direct into their pots with nothing else done to them. They didn't all germinate immediately, some were a couple of weeks behind the others but there was more than 90% in the end.

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