FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey all,

Something that's been bothering with all my sundews is that they seem to grow flower stems like mad, as expected from a sundew, but they never seem to actually "flower" and make seeds, if that makes sense.

I know they flower extremely quickly and you don't get to really see the flowers most of the time, but I feel like I give them plenty of time and I never get seeds!

My sundews always send up a flower stalk, the flower grows up towards my growlights, and then they kind of turn brown eventually. I'm not sure if the flowers bloomed when I wasn't looking, or if the flowers got burned up by my Yescom 225s.

I feed my drosera MaxSea from a drip bottle every week or so, and sometimes give them freeze dried bloodworms, so they are getting plenty of food.

You can see here with my spatulata what I'm talking about:

It's sending up a flower stalk:


Some of the flower buds still look "alive" near the top, but everything else is turning brown:

The ones further down die off naturally like that, and the ones on the top will too. Try rubbing the dead buds in between your fingers over a piece of paper. It may take a while but you should see some seed sprinkle out. I’m afraid that’s just how nature works my friend.

There doesn't seem to be anything in your setup that would prevent seeds from forming, aside from actually burning them on hot bulbs. As an alternative to what Camden said, you can also try to gently bend the stalk over some white paper and tap it on the surface. Ripe seeds will fall and the unripe ones will available for the next day(s). http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/post3 ... ml#p390973

Camden wrote: ↑Thu Jan 12, 2023 11:20 pm The ones further down die off naturally like that, and the ones on the top will too. Try rubbing the dead buds in between your fingers over a piece of paper. It may take a while but you should see some seed sprinkle out. I’m afraid that’s just how nature works my friend.

Ahhhh, ok, I'll give it a shot then. I remember the first time it happened I tried doing that and nothing came out, although that was when my spatulata randomly decided to "die" in the middle of flowering so that might have prevented seeds from growing.

Also keep in mind that the seeds are tiny. You'll end up with slightly gritty black dust on the paper, and that's the seeds.

I've only had grow lights affect seed set when the flowers were right up against the light (like touching the light, literally stuck flat to one of the LEDs and I had to peel the petals off.) Still had seeds in the lower flowers, though.