FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

optique wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 1:17 am @Nikson, what are your temps with light on and off? Also how old is the media?

In the summer the temps are around 70-75, and right now its around 65-70. I had them about a foot under Yescom225s, and I think that was too strong for them? I have another Cape Sundew that turned into a stump looking just like this one, but then grew back into 3 plants, but then started to look bad again. I moved it under a much weaker growlight, and it looks normal again, so I'm wondering is the Yescom225s are just too powerful for cape sundews?

The media is about a year old, I repotted them last year out of LFSM. It was so weird, I got them in the mail, they were growing up nice and fine, then suddenly declined like crazy and turned into a stump. I repotted them out of the LFSM in case it had a build up of something into fresh peat moss/perlite, no fertilizers, and it still looks like this.

Should I repot them again? At this point I'm just so confused as to why my cape sundews just do so poorly.

The spatulata nearby are completely fine and are thriving and flowering like mad, but the cape sundews grow like crazy then suddenly rapidly decline.

from your response they should be doing great. they don't seem to stress for me until 85f+. I just keep mine in a west window and they grow like weeds if i feed them.

optique wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 3:40 am from your response they should be doing great. they don't seem to stress for me until 85f+. I just keep mine in a west window and they grow like weeds if i feed them.

Yeah that's why I'm so confused. I definitely had them throw a temper tantrum in the past when I put them outside, and it frequently hit like 90+, so I moved them back inside the past few years.

They were perfectly fine but then suddenly just turned into a stump. Just no idea what's going on with it.

The main cape sundew I have, I moved it under a weaker growlight and it looks healthy now, so I'm just wondering if the Yescoms were just too powerful for them? Seems odd, since my other sundews are looking ok, but man, no idea.

Nikson wrote:Update on my sundew, still a stump!

this is the reason I don’t buy it when people tell me capes are unkillable. LIES! They are very killable and become finicky over very few things and will have a fit. And if you haven’t already, try to repot it, there might be mineral build up. Try to give it a fresh new home, media and soil water etc. it’ll do you one better.


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@Greenleaf_999, my capes survive 100f+ full outside sun, 20f winters outside, going dry to the point all growth you can see dies. they seem immortal.

optique wrote:@Greenleaf_999, my capes survive 100f+ full outside sun, 20f winters outside, going dry to the point all growth you can see dies. they seem immortal.

I’ve also tried giving the impression that the plant needs to fresh repot, to see if it helps.


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optique wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 6:11 pm @Greenleaf_999, my capes survive 100f+ full outside sun, 20f winters outside, going dry to the point all growth you can see dies. they seem immortal.

I don’t know about any of the other conditions but these capes lived in full sun during our hot and humid south Alabama summer. Grandpa Stump in the background was a stump when he got here…he’s looking good after the summer sun!

Personally, I've never found capes so ironclad. I've assumed it's my particular conditions, but I'll have what appears to be a perfectly happy cape randomly decline for no noticeable reason. Others have mentioned similar happenings, so I haven't felt the need to talk about it. I think Spats are a much better starter plant, FWIW.

I had a similar issue but mine was due to bad soil. Once I figured that part out and started testing my soil mix BEFORE using it, all seems to be doing well.

andynorth wrote:I had a similar issue but mine was due to bad soil. Once I figured that part out and started testing my soil mix BEFORE using it, all seems to be doing well.

That’s what I think is op’s problem with theirs. It needs to be repotted with some fresh soil. Peat and perlite will do.


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Greenleaf_999 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 8:01 pm

andynorth wrote:I had a similar issue but mine was due to bad soil. Once I figured that part out and started testing my soil mix BEFORE using it, all seems to be doing well.

That’s what I think is op’s problem with theirs. It needs to be repotted with some fresh soil. Peat and perlite will do.


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Yea, I stopped using perlite. I live in the PNW and if it does not move, it molds and perlite was constantly molding on me. I now use peat and LFSM and the plants all seem to like it.

Evenwind, I’ll have to temper my afore mentioned statement a bit. My other capes are Cal Carn Wideleaf OP plants that grew from seed. They’re about one year old. The biggest one suddenly developed black leaves the other day. Now the smaller ones are developing a few black leaves. Maybe some varieties are more “fit” than others. Or maybe Chef’s attitude of survival of the fittest indeed makes them tougher. The Cal Carn plants have never seen the sun.

evenwind wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 7:11 pm Personally, I've never found capes so ironclad. I've assumed it's my particular conditions, but I'll have what appears to be a perfectly happy cape randomly decline for no noticeable reason. Others have mentioned similar happenings, so I haven't felt the need to talk about it. I think Spats are a much better starter plant, FWIW.

Based on your recommendations, I went ahead and just repotted my cape sundew.





Here's the other cape sundew that originally turned into a stump and I replaced with LFSM last year, it regrew from the roots into 3 plants:

Nikson wrote:Based on your recommendations, I went ahead and just repotted my cape sundew.





Here's the other cape sundew that originally turned into a stump and I replaced with LFSM last year, it regrew from the roots into 3 plants:

Good!

I hope it does well for you.

My fly trap is still catching flies that dwell into the area it’s growing in.

Soon your cape if you give it enough time it’ll start catching things again. Just give it time, it’ll start showing that it’s worthy enough to live still.

I don’t give up on my plants. No matter how Ill they look. They always have a chance if they’re a little green.

Drosera sprout from the roots if they can’t grow anymore. I’ve seen some people have random growing media have small drosera plants start popping out from left over roots.


Be patient, let it do its thing.


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After one month from trimming this Cape at ground level, this is the resulting growth. I trimmed off two others a couple of weeks later and they're already showing new leaves.
These guys recover pretty quickly.