Question
I bought a Sundew plant (Drosera Capensis) from a nursery in a fair condition due to there limitations. People tell me to use neem or sulfur based fungicide but I want to make sure this time I am using the right one and the best one for white mold that killed the last Drosera Capensis that I had. If neem is the best then which brand is the best to use. Or if sulfur is the best, which brand is the best. Keep in mind that I can only purchase the fungicide from a Lowes or Home Depot and not on-line. Can you reply as soon as possible to my email because I had to travel and pay a lot of money for this plant and I really don't want it to die like the previous one. Thanks bud

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Answer
For immediate treatment, a fungicide should be used that does not contain copper. Those that contain sulfur will work, and neem products are reported to work but I have no experience with them. The fungicides Captan, 3335 Cleary and Domain are often recommended by carnivorous plant growers.

Fungus growth and infections rarely occur when Drosera or Venus Flytraps are grown under good conditions. Fungal growth is encouraged  when the medium is too wet for too long, when there is little air movement, and when temperatures or either very warm or fairly cold.

The main thing to remember is to use a growing medium that is not inclined to become and remain soggy (avoid using pure sphagnum peat moss with nothing else added, for example), and to try to keep it moist but not wet all the time. It helps to water thoroughly, but then to allow the medium to dry until just moist (or on the dry side of moist) before watering thoroughly again.

The container should allow water to drain from it, or if undrained, the water should be removed (with a small siphon tube, for example) and replaced with fresh water regularly. Occasionally the growing medium should be flushed several times with fresh water to avoid stagnation and remove any buildup of dissolved solids (mineral salts and other chemicals which can harm most carnivourous plants) and fungus and bacteria.

For Drosera and Venus Flytraps, if watering them by placing their container in a bowl or tray of water, it's best not to allow the  containers to sit constantly in water, especially if the containers are small. For large containers (6-8 inches (15-20 centimeters) tall or more), it is not as much a problem for the container to sit in water, but for smaller containers it saturates the growing medium around the root zone and on the surface, and can easily promote fungal infections, especially if there is little fresh air movement and is cold (such as during dormancy) or very warm.

Either water from the top and allow water to drain from the container without collecting in a tray or bowl, or water from below by setting the growing container in a tray or bowl of water, but then either removing the tray or bowl, or emptying it of water, once the growing medium has sucked up as much as it can hold, which usually takes only a few minutes to a few hours, so that the growing medium can begin to dry until just moist before watering again.

Sarracenia can withstand and grow well in wetter conditions than Drosera capensis or Venus Flytraps, but even they can succumb to fungal or bacterial infections if the medium is not flushed regularly with a fresh change of water to prevent it from becoming stagnant and anaerobic (saturated with water but without air, which promotes the growth of certain very destructive bacteria).

It is so rare for me to have a fungal infection in my plants that I don't even currently have a fungicde at hand to treat such infections. The few fungal problems I have had over the last 5 years or so I caught early and treated only by changing the conditions under which the plant was growing, not by treating with chemicals. But chemical treatment is called for if the problem is acute.

My own rules to avoid fungus in Venus Flytraps and Drosera--
* Use a growing medium that does not stay soggy too long (one of my favorite growing mediums is 5 parts sphagnum peat moss, 3 parts silica sand and 2 parts perlite)
* Grow the plants moist, not wet
* Plenty of fresh air movement to avoid a concentration of fungal spores (avoid growing in terrariums or enclosed spaces with little air flow)
* Fresh water regularly and occasional flushing of the growing medium with several consecutive changes of water; planting containers that allow water to drain from them (in undrained containers the water must regularly be removed (poured out or siphoned out) and replaced with fresh water).
* When the plants are cool to cold (such as during dormancy for Venus Flytraps (D. capensis does not need dormancy)) make sure that the growing medium is even less wet most of the time than it is when temperatures are warmer.

Fungal infections can be devastating once they begin to thrive, so quick treatment with a fungicide can be necessary. But once the fungus is killed, consider changing the growing conditions to avoid fungal outbreaks in the future.

Good luck and best wishes,
Steve