Question
Florida Giant sundew s
I have many of these in my bog garden, peat/sand mix at the top and peat/perlite/sand below fresh this season, full sun 9-10 hours a day, soil kept moist not waterlogged with water of 50-52 ppm TDS. All seem to be growing normal except 2 whose leaves are growing all twisted and curled. One older one started out with this weird growth and seems to be straightening out as it gets bigger except the leaves are fatter than normal. The one in the picture is the smaller of the two. They both are producing plenty of dew and catching lots of bugs, I just wonder if you might know what caused them to grow like this, could it be aphids or some other kind of damage? Perhaps seed cross-pollinated with the cape sundews growing in the same bog (don't know of this is possible)? They were transplanted from old bog to a new one when just beginning to sprout at beginning of spring.
AnswerThank you for uploading the photo. It helps me out a lot. Your plant is showing classic signs of aphid damage. Aphids will often attack the young new growth. You won't always see the aphids because as the leaf matures, the aphids move on. They don't attack mature leaves, only the young developing leaves.
Spray your plants with a topical or systemic insecticide. Watch our video podcast for more information about using insecticides on carnivorous plants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbRCdJ8ZNF0
Good growing!
Jacob Farin
