FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Two of my sundew drosera (albo probably) are flowering. One is almost done unfurling and the other is still curled up near the bottom. I've read that I could cut the stem and propagate it in water and I wanted to ask, when's the best time to cut the stem?

If a picture is needed, I can take one when I get back home. Thanks much!

Well, there's two ways of looking at it. From what I understand, sundew flowers don't zap the strength from the plant like flytrap flower stalks do. But, if you wanted to start new plants from the stalks I would think it'd be about the same as for flytraps...cut into 1" to 1-1/2" sections, if they're lengthy. The best chance of producing new plants is with young stalks...maybe 2-3 inches long. Water propagation should work or sticking them end-first down into some sphagnum moss, either dried or live moss. I've had my best results from using live moss. Starting from cuttings (leaf, stalk, pullings, etc) is "vegetative" propagation as opposed to propagation by seeds. You get fewer plants from cuttings but you get plantlets that get big faster, usually stronger, and are identical clones of the mother plant.

The alternate option to taking flower stalk cuttings would be to let the flowers grow, be pollinated, and produce lots of seeds. Some types of plants can be "seedy" in that they produce and scatter seeds around their pots into other plants' pots. You have the possibility of created tons of seedlings...if you need tons. Also, the subsequent seedlings can have characteristics of plants many generations in the past, even to the point of looking very different from the mother plant...the seedlings will not be clones of the mother.

So, it's not necessary to cut the flower stalks unless you just want to. To cut or not to cut...that is the question. Wait, no it's not , it's "...when's the best time to cut the stem?". I'd say when the stalks probably anywhere from 1-3'ish inches tall. Once the stalk gets older the chances of "striking" goes down.

I'm basically a rank newbie that likes to run his mouth so take all of the above with a pinch of salt. Maybe there's something there that you can use, though. Best wishes on what you decide and if you do take cuttings on them striking nicely for you!

Intheswamp wrote:Well, there's two ways of looking at it. From what I understand, sundew flowers don't zap the strength from the plant like flytrap flower stalks do. But, if you wanted to start new plants from the stalks I would think it'd be about the same as for flytraps...cut into 1" to 1-1/2" sections, if they're lengthy. The best chance of producing new plants is with young stalks...maybe 2-3 inches long. Water propagation should work or sticking them end-first down into some sphagnum moss, either dried or live moss. I've had my best results from using live moss. Starting from cuttings (leaf, stalk, pullings, etc) is "vegetative" propagation as opposed to propagation by seeds. You get fewer plants from cuttings but you get plantlets that get big faster, usually stronger, and are identical clones of the mother plant.

The alternate option to taking flower stalk cuttings would be to let the flowers grow, be pollinated, and produce lots of seeds. Some types of plants can be "seedy" in that they produce and scatter seeds around their pots into other plants' pots. You have the possibility of created tons of seedlings...if you need tons. Also, the subsequent seedlings can have characteristics of plants many generations in the past, even to the point of looking very different from the mother plant...the seedlings will not be clones of the mother.

So, it's not necessary to cut the flower stalks unless you just want to. To cut or not to cut...that is the question. Wait, no it's not , it's "...when's the best time to cut the stem?". I'd say when the stalks probably anywhere from 1-3'ish inches tall. Once the stalk gets older the chances of "striking" goes down.

I'm basically a rank newbie that likes to run his mouth so take all of the above with a pinch of salt. Maybe there's something there that you can use, though. Best wishes on what you decide and if you do take cuttings on them striking nicely for you!

Actually, you are right about clones vs seeds. Seeds take longer and clones are very fast. It is because the clones take the energy from the mother then they separate on to their own, kind of like a persons life. And yeah you are also correct about the flowering part, sometimes they can be death blooms though meaning that they can be the last of them. I did an experiment 3 years back with a burmanii, to see whether or not they actually needed food to survive, and the dews without food started getting really vibrant then they crashed real hard, meaning they flowered and left seeds and died. None of the seeds were viable, the ones that I fed were a little less colorful, and they kept growing normally like a sundew should, and BOY! They spread fast. keep in mind I was using the same conditions for both but I was treating them differently, they were only separated by a thin divider from a cardboard box. But honestly I use the water propagation method for flower stalks and leaf cuttings, it is easier and a lot cleanlier.


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I don't think it matters, but the softer the stalk the faster plants will burst out of it.



you can also clone from leaves

Uh, I don't think you really have to feed a sundew for it to live. They make there own food through photosynthesis provided they have proper light. "Food" will indeed enhance their growth but it is not needed, from what I understand, for the plant to survive.

As for the media to start cuttings in...my jury is still out. I do some on live sphagnum, some in water, and some on fine peat. So far my best-growing plantlets have come from being started on live sphagnum. I'll agree that water is a lot cleaner, but the other two medias aren't really bad, either.

Greenleaf_999 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 4:51 am Actually, you are right about clones vs seeds. Seeds take longer and clones are very fast. It is because the clones take the energy from the mother then they separate on to their own, kind of like a persons life. And yeah you are also correct about the flowering part, sometimes they can be death blooms though meaning that they can be the last of them. I did an experiment 3 years back with a burmanii, to see whether or not they actually needed food to survive, and the dews without food started getting really vibrant then they crashed real hard, meaning they flowered and left seeds and died. None of the seeds were viable, the ones that I fed were a little less colorful, and they kept growing normally like a sundew should, and BOY! They spread fast. keep in mind I was using the same conditions for both but I was treating them differently, they were only separated by a thin divider from a cardboard box. But honestly I use the water propagation method for flower stalks and leaf cuttings, it is easier and a lot cleanlier.

I've often read that the younger (softer?) stalks of flytraps are the better striking cuts.

optique wrote:I don't think it matters, but the softer the stalk the faster plants will burst out of it.



you can also clone from leaves

optique wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 5:10 am I don't think it matters, but the softer the stalk the faster plants will burst out of it.



you can also clone from leaves

Intheswamp wrote:Uh, I don't think you really have to feed a sundew for it to live. They make there own food through photosynthesis provided they have proper light. "Food" will indeed enhance their growth but it is not needed, from what I understand, for the plant to survive.

As for the media to start cuttings in...my jury is still out. I do some on live sphagnum, some in water, and some on fine peat. So far my best-growing plantlets have come from being started on live sphagnum. I'll agree that water is a lot cleaner, but the other two medias aren't really bad, either.

Greenleaf_999 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 4:51 am Actually, you are right about clones vs seeds. Seeds take longer and clones are very fast. It is because the clones take the energy from the mother then they separate on to their own, kind of like a persons life. And yeah you are also correct about the flowering part, sometimes they can be death blooms though meaning that they can be the last of them. I did an experiment 3 years back with a burmanii, to see whether or not they actually needed food to survive, and the dews without food started getting really vibrant then they crashed real hard, meaning they flowered and left seeds and died. None of the seeds were viable, the ones that I fed were a little less colorful, and they kept growing normally like a sundew should, and BOY! They spread fast. keep in mind I was using the same conditions for both but I was treating them differently, they were only separated by a thin divider from a cardboard box. But honestly I use the water propagation method for flower stalks and leaf cuttings, it is easier and a lot cleanlier.

I was doing the experiment on only the typical form of drosera burmanii. It acted just like a drosera regia. I’ve heard back and forth stories saying that it needs a source of food to be able to keep actively growing, so that’s why I was saying that. Of course capes don’t care and neither do many other species of drosera. But those two just do not do very well without some sort of a food supply. It’s a night and day difference for me. I replied to the other post about the capes.

I hope your day is well.


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I did not know that about burmannii. Good to know, thanks for sharing.

The day is...going. Gotta go do my civic duty in a little bit then on to the dentist for an annual checkup (gotta keep these pearly whites gleaming, ya know! ).

Intheswamp wrote:I did not know that about burmannii. Good to know, thanks for sharing.

The day is...going. Gotta go do my civic duty in a little bit then on to the dentist for an annual checkup (gotta keep these pearly whites gleaming, ya know! ).

That’s something to do, honestly you have much more to do than me. I am going to sleep, I am more of a nighthawk than a morning person, I had another cup of coffee a little later than I should’ve. I have already told my friends to leave me alone once again because I’m going to be asleep until 5 in the evening. I love my sleep. I put my phone on silent and I wake up to more than a thousand texts from a whole bunch of people who don’t seem to be very happy anyways.

I get the usual, "where are you?"
"Hey can you swing by my apartment to hangout"
"Get up!"
"Why didn’t you do this?? It’s getting late!"
"Where is my charger?"
"Where is my lighter??"
"Can you come into work in about an hour? We are short staffed"

I have a premade response for all except the last which is : "LEAVE ME ALONE!!! I AM SLEEPING. UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET EVERY LAST NERVE OF YOURS TO BE ANNOYED, LEAVE. ME. A L O N E ! ! !"

Because they all sleep at night and I don’t.


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Intheswamp wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 1:14 pm Well, there's two ways of looking at it. From what I understand, sundew flowers don't zap the strength from the plant like flytrap flower stalks do. But, if you wanted to start new plants from the stalks I would think it'd be about the same as for flytraps...cut into 1" to 1-1/2" sections, if they're lengthy. The best chance of producing new plants is with young stalks...maybe 2-3 inches long. Water propagation should work or sticking them end-first down into some sphagnum moss, either dried or live moss. I've had my best results from using live moss. Starting from cuttings (leaf, stalk, pullings, etc) is "vegetative" propagation as opposed to propagation by seeds. You get fewer plants from cuttings but you get plantlets that get big faster, usually stronger, and are identical clones of the mother plant.

The alternate option to taking flower stalk cuttings would be to let the flowers grow, be pollinated, and produce lots of seeds. Some types of plants can be "seedy" in that they produce and scatter seeds around their pots into other plants' pots. You have the possibility of created tons of seedlings...if you need tons. Also, the subsequent seedlings can have characteristics of plants many generations in the past, even to the point of looking very different from the mother plant...the seedlings will not be clones of the mother.

So, it's not necessary to cut the flower stalks unless you just want to. To cut or not to cut...that is the question. Wait, no it's not , it's "...when's the best time to cut the stem?". I'd say when the stalks probably anywhere from 1-3'ish inches tall. Once the stalk gets older the chances of "striking" goes down.

I'm basically a rank newbie that likes to run his mouth so take all of the above with a pinch of salt. Maybe there's something there that you can use, though. Best wishes on what you decide and if you do take cuttings on them striking nicely for you!

This is really informative, thank you so much! I'm an even newer newbie than you but you've explained it really well. Especially the clone vs not... clone part (as you can tell, I'm great with words).

Greenleaf_999 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 4:51 am

Intheswamp wrote:Well, there's two ways of looking at it. From what I understand, sundew flowers don't zap the strength from the plant like flytrap flower stalks do. But, if you wanted to start new plants from the stalks I would think it'd be about the same as for flytraps...cut into 1" to 1-1/2" sections, if they're lengthy. The best chance of producing new plants is with young stalks...maybe 2-3 inches long. Water propagation should work or sticking them end-first down into some sphagnum moss, either dried or live moss. I've had my best results from using live moss. Starting from cuttings (leaf, stalk, pullings, etc) is "vegetative" propagation as opposed to propagation by seeds. You get fewer plants from cuttings but you get plantlets that get big faster, usually stronger, and are identical clones of the mother plant.

The alternate option to taking flower stalk cuttings would be to let the flowers grow, be pollinated, and produce lots of seeds. Some types of plants can be "seedy" in that they produce and scatter seeds around their pots into other plants' pots. You have the possibility of created tons of seedlings...if you need tons. Also, the subsequent seedlings can have characteristics of plants many generations in the past, even to the point of looking very different from the mother plant...the seedlings will not be clones of the mother.

So, it's not necessary to cut the flower stalks unless you just want to. To cut or not to cut...that is the question. Wait, no it's not , it's "...when's the best time to cut the stem?". I'd say when the stalks probably anywhere from 1-3'ish inches tall. Once the stalk gets older the chances of "striking" goes down.

I'm basically a rank newbie that likes to run his mouth so take all of the above with a pinch of salt. Maybe there's something there that you can use, though. Best wishes on what you decide and if you do take cuttings on them striking nicely for you!

Actually, you are right about clones vs seeds. Seeds take longer and clones are very fast. It is because the clones take the energy from the mother then they separate on to their own, kind of like a persons life. And yeah you are also correct about the flowering part, sometimes they can be death blooms though meaning that they can be the last of them. I did an experiment 3 years back with a burmanii, to see whether or not they actually needed food to survive, and the dews without food started getting really vibrant then they crashed real hard, meaning they flowered and left seeds and died. None of the seeds were viable, the ones that I fed were a little less colorful, and they kept growing normally like a sundew should, and BOY! They spread fast. keep in mind I was using the same conditions for both but I was treating them differently, they were only separated by a thin divider from a cardboard box. But honestly I use the water propagation method for flower stalks and leaf cuttings, it is easier and a lot cleanlier.


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Thank you! Very informative.
My friend's flytrap hasn't eaten in 2+ years and it's still alive. I'm honestly shock.

Thanks everyone for chiming in, lots of useful information to be noted. I also enjoyed the conversation that went sideways.
Been so busy that one stalk is practically flowering now so I guess I'll leave that one and try to cut the other and see how it goes.