Question

D. scorpiodes   Species: Drosera scorpiodes
Issue: D. scorpiodes appears to be dying off.
Lighting: Terrarium - flourescent light - about 11 hr per day
Region: Living room :)

As the scorpiodes continues to grow upward, the leaves seem to die off faster than plant actually grows.  

All plants have produced gemmae and continue to produce gemmae, which you can see scattered around the plants pictured.

I top water the plants every few days, and I've tried reducing the amount of light (I have other plants in the terrarium though).  There is about an inch of water in the terrarium at all times.

I also noticed this same behaviour when I had the plants outside for the summer.  (The pot on the left in the pic actually had two plants, but one died off in the summer.)

Please help!  These are among my favourites!  :)

Take care, and thanks in advance,
Susan

Answer
Hi Susan,

This is pretty normal behavior for D. scorpiodes during the winter.  What you'll want to do is keep them a little drier.  Let all the water in the tray disappear before adding more, and keep only about a 1/4" of water in their tray.  The plants you're loosing could be from rotting out.  D. scorpiodes can live for many years forming long stalks.  Usually after the gemmae are done forming they go back to regular leaves again.  Depending on what kind of lights you are using in the terrarium, get them very close; this plant is used to strong sunlight.  If you are using regular T-12 or T-8 standard fluorescents, get them within 3 inches of the tubes.  If your lights are T-5's, about 6-8 inches away.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com