Question
Hey, I am 11 years old. I own a broad leaf cape sundew, and I grow it inside my screened patio, where it gets about five hours of filtered sunlight from the east. It grows in a four inch pot, with sphagnum moss.    .The cape grows alongside a pygmy sundew.  The cape sundew was my best sundew out of the three sundews that I own.  The cape sundew was the best of the sundews, because it had three heads and plenty of dew.  I went on vacation for 2 weeks, and then... BOOM!!!  When I got back, every carnivorous plant was fine ( thank goodness for rain and big saucers )  except for the cape sundew. Two out of three heads were dead.  The cape sundew lost most of it's dew and the leaves are beginning to deform.  I've tried to propagate leaf cuttings.  Do you know what happened or have any advice.

Answer
Hi Nathan,

Unpot your plant and inspect the roots and stem of the plant.  It sounds like a cutworm (a type of catepillar) may have attacked the plant.  Remove it if you see one.  After that cut the entire top off of the plant, repot it with the roots barely visible on the soil surface.  You should see multiple new shoots in about 3 weeks.  It may be a good idea to spray with a systemic insecticide such as Bayer Rose and Flower spray.

Good Growing!

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