FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 2:17 am Well, the little D. capillaris plants seem to be settling in. This one is sending up a flower stalk and I think I have maybe another one starting to send up one. It's a coin toss with these...some plants can be annuals and some can be perennials. It's usually stated to clip the blooms if you want a long-lived plant. These seemed to be healthy so I'm going to let them go to seed. Looks like I need to do some hoeing!!!!

This one is *maybe* the size of a quarter (25-cent piece)

Very healthy plants! I’ve kept individual plants of D. capillaris alive for 2+ years with regular feeding. Same with brevifolia.

Nepenthes0260 wrote:

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Sat Nov 12, 2022 4:52 am @Nepenthes0260 , would you look at these images and let me know if these are brevifolia or capillaris? I *think* I see trap tentacles and possibly tentacles growing on down the petiole. Thanks!

These are most definitely brevifolia! Nice!

Often times both species can be found co-occurring with capillaris in slightly wetter depressions.

Thanks! These were from two different locations and you're spot on about conditions. The brevifolia was on higher ground, no standing water, but moist area with scattered smatterings of sphagnum moss. The capillaris was slightly elevated to the side of a drainage ditch with standing water in it, there was also more (still, not a lot) of sphagnum moss than where the brevifolia was found. Both were in sandy soil with black speckles of organic matter in it.

Nepenthes0260 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 12, 2022 7:54 pm Very healthy plants! I’ve kept individual plants of D. capillaris alive for 2+ years with regular feeding. Same with brevifolia.

The capillaris are under a garage light that has three 2"x4" LED panels...stated as 8,000 lumens and 5000k...they put off a little heat so I keep them probably 16" above the plants. The plants seem to be enjoying it. They're planted in some of the native soil from where they came from and I keep them standing in 3" deep pots. I keep the capillaris pots standing in 1/2" to 3/4" water that is allowed to dry up before refilling. I'm happy with them so far. I'm hoping to get some seeds from them...maybe. The brevifolia I had basically given up on but didn't empty the pot...then I started seeing tiny splashes of red.

I've got Maxsea and bloodworms that I can feed with...which would be better for the capillaris and brevifolia? Thanks for the feedback!!!

No problem!

I think either maxsea or bloodworms would work quite well for your situation. The main reasons I use maxsea for most of my sundews are 1) out of convenience (it takes a lot less time to spray down an entire table opposed to painstakingly sprinkling bloodworms along the leaves) and 2) because I don’t want digested blood worm bits on the leaves of my wintergrowing sundews throughout the entire season (this is especially important for the species that produce a single rosette of leaves per year!). Maxsea will cause the tentacles and leaf rosette to look ratty for a few days, as if they’re curling inward around nothing… while bloodworms will look a lot more “natural” per se. Either will work just fine though. PS- if your maxsea isn’t causing the glands to curl, you need to bump up those doses!

Thanks! When you say "need to bump up those doses!" are you meaning I should give them more drops of Maxsea or that I need to strengthen the mixture? Currently what I have prepared works out to 1/4-teaspoon per gallon, though I prepare a much smaller amount of stock solution and work with that.

I can understand the aesthetic aversion to using bloodworms. A dried-up blob in a sparkling sea of dewdrops kind of messes up the scene!!! Actually, a dried up bug would look better...at least it has the "natural" aspect to it. The Maxsea basically disappearing is a winner, though!

My interest is leaning more and more towards sundews rather than flytraps, though I'm just starting to delve more into sarracenias. But, since we're on the topic of feeding, I do have a few pots of Walmart rescue flytraps...will they do well on either Maxsea or bloodworms, too? Sarrs, too? Maxsea is *much* easier to use!