FlyTrapCare Forums

Just an update, I put a D. Capensis cutting and a D. Filiformis var. Floridana in a soup container of distilled water outside with the lid cracked open in an area where it gets sun in the AM and shade in the PM on 03/22, and today I checked and the Floridana has hits! Still waiting to see if the cape sundew does anything though.

I’m unsure about how or when to put the cutting into a pot though

The fili strikes look good! The cape is still nice and green. I don't know if those dark spots are cells joining together to start strikes, but there's still good chance you'll get strikes soon on that leaf, too! I only tried water propagating leaf cuttings once. I absolutely didn't have a clue what I was doing and my attempt failed. I'm thinking of trying it again this year.

I don't know when to tell you to transplant them to a grow mx, but I would think you'd want them to have roots forming. What growing medium are you planning to transplant them to? Will you section the leaf where there's one or two strikes per section?

The growth of my leaf-cuttings from last year have *FAR* surpassed that of my seed-grown seedlings. A big difference, though, and may be contributing to the leaf-cuttings' great growth (as compared to the seedlings) is that the leaf-cuttings were started and have been growing in a mix of dried LFSM (lower layer) and live sphagnum moss (top layer) while the seedlings were started on a peat:perlite mix.

A wildcard in the comparison of the growth of my seedlings and cuttings are fungus gnats. The leaf-cuttings (filiformis) were started outdoors on the sphagnum moss mix and had basically established themselves before moving them indoors. The seedlings were basically started and have grown indoors only...where fungus gnats have been present. So, I'm wondering if the seedlings have been hit hard by the gnats.

BUT, to throw yet one more wrinkle in the difference of the growing of these sundews... I've got a few cups of yet a couple more different filiformis seedlings growing in all LFSM (dried only, no live) that were germinated and having been growing in the same indoor conditions as the others...and they're out growing the ones sown onto the peat:perlite mix. So that brings me back around to wondering if the peat-based mix is ultimately the reason for the slower growth. I think the next time I sow sundew seeds that I will do a three-way side-by-side-by side experiment....perlite:peat versus dried LFSM versus live sphagnum moss over dried LFSM. All pots in same water tray.

I transplant when the strikes are big enough to handle. I cut the main leaf apart and keep 1 strike per section. I try to leave as much leaf as possible still attached so that it can draw on the nutrients. I then put them in a pot of peat/perlite covered with a layer of sphagnum. The whole thing goes into a plastic bag for a few weeks to allow the sprouts to grow and establish roots.

That sounds like a good technique, Panman. So, when the roots start forming they have something close by to start attaching to, eh? If/when I try water propagation again I'll be going with your method. Unfortunately, with my only attempt I failed to get any strikes so I didn't get to that stage.

You've got to be sure that the leaf you take for a cutting is new and actively growing. Older leaves tend not to strike.

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Tue Apr 25, 2023 2:39 pm
A wildcard in the comparison of the growth of my seedlings and cuttings are fungus gnats. The leaf-cuttings (filiformis) were started outdoors on the sphagnum moss mix and had basically established themselves before moving them indoors. The seedlings were basically started and have grown indoors only...where fungus gnats have been present. So, I'm wondering if the seedlings have been hit hard by the gnats.

Fungus gnats are the bane of my regular garden plants I wouldn't doubt that they're the reason the seedlings have been slow, Mosquito dunks can take care of them though! I'm going to try sectioning a few off in one strike per section, and a couple of ones with two strikes and see if there's a comparison. I'm planning on trying to grow them on a rinsed sand/peat/pumice mixture since I also use that for my regular garden plants. I want to make things as least complicated as possible, hence why I also wanted to do water propagation.

Panman wrote:I transplant when the strikes are big enough to handle. I cut the main leaf apart and keep 1 strike per section. I try to leave as much leaf as possible still attached so that it can draw on the nutrients. I then put them in a pot of peat/perlite covered with a layer of sphagnum. The whole thing goes into a plastic bag for a few weeks to allow the sprouts to grow and establish roots.

I might try a couple of strikes with this method to compare though! If laziness doesn't get the better of me and I go to the store to buy sphagnum