Question
             I have a few questions to ask you about the Cape Sundew.  I got my
Cape Sundew in August.  I guess it was young when I got it, b/c its roots were
small and thin.  I had to repot it a few days ago, b/c of a problem it was
having.  Before I tell you the problem, I wanted to mention to you that now
most of the roots are thick. I guess this means its older.
         My first question is how deep should the sundew be planted? When I
potted my sundew, I only planted the ROOTS beneath the soil. The entire
STEM is above the soil.  Should part of the stem also be beneath the soil?  
        I live in NJ. I had my sundew outside in full sun, up until the second
week in october.  It had experienced night temps down into the mid 30s.  The
problems I am having have to do with the lower part of its stem.  A few
months ago, on the lower half of the stem, the petals on the stem turned
orange brown and appeared to be dry like an onion peel.  I think this
happened when it was cold outside.  Is this normal?
       My sundew in now in my house with my cactuses under a 4' shoplight
with 2 -40 watt florescent tubes.  Before I got the light, my sundew didn抰
have dew for a few weeks. When I first got the light, the sundew was 8 inches
away from it.  There's still wasn't dew, so I moved the sundew 2 inches closer
to the light.  (6 inches away from the light) I noticed that old leaves began to
die and the tips of leaves that hadn抰 developed yet turned black.  I  am not
sure, but I think this happened when I moved it closer to the light.  Was 6
inches too close? Also on the petals of the lower stem, they looked like they
were becoming very dry and there was a little white on it (like mildew).  
      Although the light may have burned some leaves, I've never seen it's
leaves look so nice- a few new leaves began to grow that were bright red and
began to get dew on them.  Just in case it was too close to the light, I moved
the plant back to 8 inches from the light.
    I thought the bottom of the stem was drying out because it was exposed
to the light, so I added more soil (peat and perilite mix) to cover the bottom
of the stem.  A few days later I noticed that many old and new traps were
dying and twisting. Underneath the new soil I added, the old soil was soaken
wet, and also the bottom of the stem was now very wet and dark brown.  
Some of the petals on the stem also fell off.  Was this rot?
       I repotted the sundew to try to fix this problem.  I hope I didn't damage
the plant by doing this- I took tweezers and pulled the remaining petals off
the bottom of the stem and scraped the bottom of the stem with a paring
knife b/c I was trying to get rid of what I thought was damaged parts of the
stem.  
      The plant's roots looked good to me.  There were not mushy at all. They
were thick and dark brown. Are they supposed to be dark brown?  I took my
paring knife and also scraped at the top root a little too b/c it was wet and
dark brown in color. Maybe it was dark brown b/c it was wet??? Underneath
the dark brown colored root was light brown.   I hope I didn't damage the
plant, but I thought it had rot and I read that you need to remove rot with a
knife.
         The plant seeems ok right now.  The plant appears to be growing and
there抯 no longer any twisted leaves.  The bottom stem is also no longer wet.  
It just doesn't have any more petals on the lower stem.  I hope this is ok.  
Thank you.


Answer
Hi Jennifer/Tracy,

You have quite a bit going on in this question, so I'll speak generally about Cape Sundew care, since much of what you are experiencing is normal.  You technique just needs some tweaking.  Also, I'll address care of your flytrap and Purple pitcher plant also.  Be sure to visit our caresheet pages at http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets also.

1.  Cape Sundew.  Your Cape sundew (Drosera capensis) is a sub-tropical plant, so bringing it in was good.  They will return from their roots from brief freezes, but will die in harsh freezing weather.  The appearance of your plant the way it's growing is very normal.  As Cape sundews age they get a long stem on them age.  Often the plant will send thick red roots down from the stem also since they can have a scrambling habit in nature.  When they start to do this you can either decapitate the plant and root the top, after which the bottom part will send up multiple new shoots.  You can also repot it in a larger pot and just bury it deeper which will often make them perk up.  Don't worry about the roots too much.  If you see some that are obviously dead cut them off, but often it's hard to tell.

For lighting your two-tube light set-up is fine.  Make sure the pot is sitting in a shallow water tray and the soil is staying wet.  Put the plant within 3-4 inches of the light and leave it.  No moving it around.  Normal appearance for the Cape sundew should be green leaves with dewy very red tentacles.  If you get a little leaf burn because of the plant having weak pale green leaves, just cut those off.  Don't fall into the "move it here, move it there" trap.  Plants hate that since they never have a chance to adapt to the local microclimate.

With the little babies developing on the soil just wait until they are big enough to easily scoop up and transplant into their own pots.  Don't worry about feeding.  You are more likely to harm them than help them when they are tiny.  Feeding is always the least important thing about carnivorous plant care.

2.  Venus flytrap and Purple pitcher plant, Doodlebug hybrid.  Unfortunately, if you had left your plants outside they would have been just fine. These plants are all U.S. natives and need to experience seasons.  Here in our nursery we have already had several frosts and all of our flytraps have dead leaves on them with a few short green ones still present for winter.  Most of the pitcher plants have browning leaves and have stopped growing--just as they should be.  All of these plants can easily tolerate temperatures into the low 20's and upper teens or even colder if covered for the winter.  Now that you have them indoors the care will be different and a little more attention will need to be paid.

First, cut off any leaves that are brown.  Go ahead and put them back in the cold window.  You want them to be cold since they need to be dormant this time of year.  Just make sure they are damp, but not waterlogged.  Now just check on them from time to time to make sure you're not seeing mold.  Also cut off any leaves that brown. Spraying them with a sulfur-based fungicide is also a very good idea.  If you try to keep your plants growing under your light, a good chance exists you'll loose them next year.

Come spring, when nights are staying above freezing, go ahead and put them back outside to stay.  Be sure to visit our care pages and look at the winter pictures.


Good Growing!

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