Question
QUESTION: Perhaps a month ago, I bought a Drosera Aliciae from Sarracenia Northwest.  It's still in the pot and soil it came in, so I don't know what media it is.  I put it in my terrarium and it's close to a 6200 lumen fluorescent light, about 5 or 8 inches away.  The pot is in a plastic bag.  The bag is not secured or anything, only enough to serve as a water tray, so air and light are not blocked, and the bag only goes halfway up the pot.  I only water it enough with distilled water to see it flow from the bottom into the bag, which isn't a lot of water.  I live in Connecticut.

As a result of this care, the Aliciae is growing fine, and as the leaves age, they turn blood red.  They've gotten redder than when the plant came in the mail.  The leaves are even standing outwardly on their own rather than laying flat on the soil.

My only concern is the lack of dew.

ANSWER: Hi Talisha,

Go ahead and remove the plastic bag and give the pot an actual tray.  Could be that it isn't wet enough since sundews like having their soil wet.  How long is your light on each day?  It should be on for about 14 hours each day.  Lack of dew is almost always a light issue since the dews is manufactured directly from photosynthesis.  On Drosera aliciae, the new leaves coming out should look reddish with dew on tentacles.  If the new leaves are pale green, it's not getting enough light, and you might also consider moving it closer to the light.  If you get a chance, feel free to send a photo.  That will help me with diagnosing problems.

Good Growing!

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

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The lights are on for about 16-18 hours per day.  The leaves ARE reddish when they grow, just without dew.  I'll repot the plant into something larger with its own tray, and if this problem isn't corrected, I'll contact you again.  Thanks!

Answer
Hi Talisha,

As Jeff mentioned, lack of lighting is usually the number one culprit for a dewless sundew.  Given that you're using two 40-watt fluorescent tubes placed 5 inches above the plant for 16-18 hours per day AND you're  only seeing red dewless new growth, then we can assume that the lighting is adequate in this case.  The red leaves in your new growth will attest to that.

Another factor that affects dew production is temperature.  If the temperature is too high or too low, dew production slows down.  Drosera aliciae grows in the mountains of South Africa, so it likes it a bit cooler than other tropical sundews.  I suspect that the temperature in your growing area is a bit warmer than it prefers, especially with the lighting as you've described above.  

The ideal conditions would be mid 70s during the day and low 60s to upper 50s at night.  If the temperature rises above 80癋, you will see less dew production.  In our collection, we see this plant slow down in the summer months when it's really warm and increase in growth during the winter months when it's much cooler in our greenhouse.

So before repotting your plant, adjust the temperature.  You can do this by removing the plant from any terrarium-like setting and placing it in a sunny south window.  Another option is to place decrease the daylight hours to 12-14 hours per day and/or increase the light distance 6-8 inches.  You'll need to play around with the lights to see what combination will help decrease the overall temperature.  (While fluorescent lights don't produce as much heat as incandescents, they still produce heat.  So always take the heat from your lights into factor.)  

With these adjustments, you should see dew production resume in a few weeks.  Keep in mind that carnivorous plants grow a bit slowly, so it sometimes takes this long before you see any improvements.  Patience is indeed required.

Save the repotting as a last resort.  Repotting your sundew will surely set it back.  Besides, your plant isn't exhibiting any symptoms that would make repotting necessary at this time.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin