Question

cape sundew leaves   "Send me a photo of your Cape Sundew.  I need a baseline to figure out what condition your plant is in to get a better idea of how to proceed.  Just because of experience, what you see and what I see are going to be interpreted different.  This will give me a much better idea of how to help you."

Ive attacherd a photo of my cape sundew, unfortunately i have a poor camera, and the plant is small. Its hard to see detail, so i just put my hand behind to contrast the leaves.

I searched for a similar pic to them on the internet and found one that looks like it, though this pic is not mine- http://0.tqn.com/w/experts/Carnivorous-Plants-711/2010/11/drosera-capensis_3.jpg

Even the upside down "J" shaped new leaves have black tips on them and they havent even grown out yet.
OF the 2 visible black tip leaves in the pic, the right one was actually one of the really small upsidedown j shapped leaves sprouting from the center when i first got it. It grew in with the black tip. and the ones in the center, though too small to see on camera also have black tips

Answer
Hi Vincent,

Thank-you for sending the photo.  This helps me immensely.

Did the plant look like this when you got it in the mail from the nursery you ordered it from?  It has been in very low light, and excess humidity.

Here's what you can do.  Cut off all of the leaves except those on the growing crown of the plant.  Leave the undeveloped ones in the center of the plant.  What this does in cut down on transpiration and helps the plant focus on new leaf production.  Put your plant under the light as I mentioned before.  Give it about two weeks and you should see quite an improvement.  You may need to adjust the light height some to fine the place that works best for the plant.  If possible, the "Daylight" type CFL is going to give much better results than the warm or soft white types normally used for home lighting.

Just an FYI for submitting photos.  If your camera doesn't have a macro setting, move back so that the subject is clear.  We can zoom in with the computer.  Put your camera on it's highest resolution setting if it has one.  A distant clear photo is easy to work with.  A close fuzzy one isn't.


Good Growing!

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