Question

D. ordensis  

D. ordensis   This is my D. ordensis plant which I've had for about 1 year.  It keeps putting out leaves, but does not seem to want to produce the sticky pads on the ends of those leaves. Those that are evident in the photo never amounted to anything more than a dry brown bit at the end of the leaf.

During the winter it was growing in a west facing window and once the weather warmed up, about May or June I moved it outside where it gets direct sun early in the morning and late in the afternoon.  It is shaded during  midday by the patio umbrella for the table it sits on.  I did notice that when I moved the plant outside after a week or so the leaves tended to be more curled towards the center of the plant and not laying flat along the ground as they had prior to that.

I keep the plant moist, but not always sitting in water; I let the saucer dry up for a day or 2, before filling it up again. Should I be trying to provide more humidity for this plant?  When I purchased it, it came with a vented plastic cup on the pot and there were many leaves with the sticky pads at the ends of them.

I live in Vancouver, British Columbia and water the plant almost exclusively with rain water except for the odd time in the summer when I use tap water (15.0 ppm TDS). The plant is still in it's original pot and potting medium.

Answer
Hi Anne,

Drosera ordensis is one of the Woolly sundew group.  These plants come from Northern Australia and are used to bright sun, very warm temperatures, and sometimes low humidity.  That's why they have the hair, just like Sagebrush and other Artemesias.  You want this plant in direct sun, and you shouldn't let it drop below 70 degrees.  Your cool nights in British Columbia are probably what's giving you problems with this plant.  Here in Oregon we've found that we need to keep most of these plants in hot house conditions for them to do well.  They do well in our sundew house during the summer, but suffer in the winter when we keep conditions more suitable for South African sundews.  This plant is not a great windowsill candidate due to it's temperature requirements.

Good Growing!

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