FlyTrapCare Forums

NightRaider wrote: ↑Mon Sep 26, 2022 6:59 pm

Sundews69 wrote:I just wrote what the Savage Garden says (insert shrugging emoji). I found some brevifolia in Alabama that were just under an inch across at Weeks Bay Pitcher Plant Bog. I can confirm that it also wasn't capillaris

Maybe Meadowview just has an exceptionally small strain of them, idk. But I've had 3 plants so far top out at the same size (~3/8"), 2 of which have flowered so I assume that's as big as they'll ever get.

Oh, maybe you just got a smaller clone? Or maybe it was in fact just a really small capillaris that happens to look extremely similar to brevifolia. I guess we'll never know for sure. I was pretty new to the hobby last year in November so it is possible I got mixed up too.

Quick question. Would a 3” deep by 2-1/2” square pot be a good size for these?

Sundews69 wrote:Oh, maybe you just got a smaller clone? Or maybe it was in fact just a really small capillaris that happens to look extremely similar to brevifolia. I guess we'll never know for sure. I was pretty new to the hobby last year in November so it is possible I got mixed up too.

Definitely not capillaris, the paddles look completely distinct from capi. Must just be a smaller clone.

Intheswamp wrote:Quick question. Would a 3” deep by 2-1/2” square pot be a good size for these?

That's tons of room, I had a leaf cutting in a tiny ~2" cube plug pot like you'll occasionally get from some sellers and it's done fine. Meant to move it after it got established but it hasn't seemed to care at all, so it's way down my list of priorities now.

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Mon Sep 26, 2022 7:23 pm Quick question. Would a 3” deep by 2-1/2” square pot be a good size for these?

If you have lots of plants, sure. They love being crowded so even if you fill up half the pot, some leaf cuttings (or seeds when you get them if the leaves are to small) can fill the rest.

Wow. I went to pot them up and they looked bad. I dunno. I kept them in the native dirt, moist, in partial shade, etc, but when I went to pot them most of them weren’t the deep red color but had were a very dark color. I planted the dark ones, too. Lesson learned is that if I can’t pot them up by the next morning they stay in the ground. Bummer. We’ll see what they do.

The pot of brevifolia appears to be dead. Everything has turned black. I'm thinking the peat moss mixture and possibly the moisture level did not agree with the small plants...the delay in planting also, I believe, was a major factor in their demise (that's on me! ).

I made a trip and gathered some more from a different spot. There was no delay in planting these. I looked good at the ground. Even with this drought beginning the soil was damp(ish), though not soggy by any means. It is a packed, light brownish-gray fine sand with some whiteish and even some yellowish sand intermingled into it. It holds together somewhat but will crumble apart if messed with very much.
Some dried algae/slime on the surface with drying sand beneath.

What I did this time was to bring some extra soil back home with me and to plant into it rather than a homemade peat moss mix. I also kept the plants in their original soil plugs, using the extra soil to fill in around the plugs that were placed in the pots. I'm not sure how it will work, but I'm giving it a try. A concern I have is whether the sandy soil in the small pots will dry out too quickly without having the giant buffer of soil around it as it did while in situ.

Brevifolia...v.2

Handling these tiny sundews I've found to be a real challenge. You think you're handling them fine and you look and they're covered with sand!!! <groan> These seem to be doing much better than the previous attempt at them. They're growing in their native sandy soil with a rough 1/4" layer of peat moss at the bottom of the pot...versus the peat/perlite/sand I used last attempt. I'm still concerned about them possibly drying out being in the sandy soil and the small pots.

Here's a shot of one of the larger D. brevifolia after it's had a chance to settle in a bit. I'd say this one is pushing 3/4" across.

It's so cute! I know how you feel with the sand. It gets everywhere and then it's stuck there until the end of time (or until the leaf dies). I wouldn't be worried about them drying out to much. This species grows in a drier environment than most other Drosera. Try to study how dry the soil gets where you got them from and try to mimic it. If you can't go back there often, just make sure the soil stays slightly damp.

I recall when I dug the plugs out that the sand was not wet but did have some moistness to it. Well-drained sandy soil that wasn't sunbaked...yet. We went back the other day and what a difference less than a week made. Lots of the standing water had dried and the mud was cracking...fewer brevifolia and the spots of sphagnum was drying out. My buddy found a piece of interesting looking moss that I brought back. I'll have to get a picture of it tomorrow. Just a small pinch of it and it's probably some parisitecal moss that is terrible for CPs<grin>. Anyhow, I forgot about it and left it in the jeep for a couple of days. Hot and dry. When I thought about it it was light as a feather. I had thrown some of the soil and some of the weeds I'd pulled out of the brevifolia soil into a small tray with rainwater in it to see what might come out of it so I threw the dried out moss in with the mix. It wasn't 24 hours before that moss's tips were a vibrant green...almost glowing-looking. Kinda cool looking. But, I'm going to get some of ya'lls opinion before I sink much time into it trying to keep it going or mingle it with some of my other plants. It amazed me how quickly it greened up, though!

Oh, and the sand...yeah,...oh, the sand.

I grow a batch of brevifolia every year. Here’s a picture. I like to use 2:1 sand:peat. They like sandy soil for sure. That’s where I always find them in nature. They do like drier areas but I keep mine sitting in water year round and they do perfectly fine. They grow like weeds all over Sarracenia pots outside. And of course they grow wild 100 feet from my house. lol They are annual for me because I always let them flower so I can collect seeds for the next generation. Give them as much sun or as bright a light as you can. They love it.

Wow! Nice looking plants! How big as that pot? I've got a few of the plants with flower stalks on them but I haven't seen any blooms. I need to get a strong magnifying lense and take a close look at the pods/buds...maybe an ultra-closeup photo.

Growing 100' from your house... Me and my buddy were out the other day and I pointed some out to him...red specks on the ground. He got down close and checked them out and exclaimed, "You just never know what you're walking over". They indeed are so small that most people don't pay them any attention. I may try your 2:1 sand to peat moss mix later. A couple of days ago looked closely at the DOA pot of my first try at these...I was surprised to see a couple of *very* small plants...dark colored and almost invisible on the peat:sand mix. Who knows, my first pot may end up having some plants coming on from seed?

Thanks. That’s a 2.5” pot.
The flowers usually open between 8-9AM and close up within a hour or less. Usually they only stay fully open for 5 minutes or less.

They can grow back from seed or from the roots. I’m actually in the middle of an experiment to see if I can figure out the ratio of seed grown to root grown plants popping up in the fall in the wild. There is a definite difference in size when they first start appearing. Some, I suspect coming from roots, start out much larger and get to full size much quicker than others in the same location. I have started marking larger specimens in the spring just before they die out to see if I can tell if they are regrowing from the roots come fall when they reappear.

@intheswamp
Here are a few pictures of them blooming here. Around here we get the pink blooms. Most other places brevifolia have white blooms.

Those are such nice, healthy plants! Better-looking than what I've found growing wild in my area but when I was looking it kind of a hot period. Still, these are some great looking plants. The sandy ground looks similar to where I find them here...bare sandy areas between the weeds and grasses, though I haven't seen thick patches such as what you've shown!