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Carnivorous Plants

Sun dew and pitcher plant help please!

10 years ago

I have 2 Sun dews and a pitcher plant not sure the kind. I got them about 8 months ago at a plant expo and the guy said stick them I'm your pond with full sun and leave then alone. Well I have done that and they look awful my Sun dews little sticky things drop into the water and rot off, more grow but they end up dying to. I don't know what to do with them is it maybe the light since my trees got full leaves they do get less light or is it my pond which is kind of neglected this time if year because the 105 temps make it green and evaporates its water really fast is it everything I am doing lol Amy help would be appeciated thanks

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Comments (7)

ken2256
10 years ago
hi raylynn, First thing i would do is get them out of pond and into some peat moss mixed with coarse sand or perlite. pot them up with the mixture and set them in saucers with rain or distilled water, not so deep that the sundews tentacles touch the water. set them in the sun and make sure you keep water in the saucers. good luck ;-)
raylynn2
Original Author
10 years ago
They are in pots of peat moss that they came in should I repot them and also how much Sun is to much u can move then to my back porch that gets full sun most if the day is that alright.
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you should also mist the plant's leaves with purified with a small water spray. this will help the plant to aquire some humidity to its new surroundings. at first, mist it in the morning, gradually.. mist it in the mornings and nights. the plant will benefit from this mist since it will create some humidity around it. where your plant is growing, looks like a perfect view. Nepenthes love bright light(not full sun) they do much better as an indoor windowsill plant. i bought a nepenthes a year ago from home depot, the plant was pretty large and it cost me $ 5.00. I had to repot it since the container was way too small for the size of the plant. The plant had NO pitchers what so ever, just some healthy green leaves and some drying dead leaves.. It took some time for it in order to make pitchers. So i repotted it, and then watered it.. i mist it everyday once a day in the mornings. adter a few months, it started making nice speckled pitchers.
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raylynn2
Original Author
10 years ago
They are in pots of peat moss that they came in should I repot them and also how much Sun is to much u can move then to my back porch that gets full sun most if the day is that alright.
ken2256
10 years ago
Hey Ray, the peat moss should be fine,but when they were in your pond how deep were they in the water, you should only need the water depth about an inch up the pot, to keep the peat moist.the pitcher loves sun and so do most sundews, should be fine on a porch with light.let me know how you make out.
raylynn2
Original Author
10 years ago
They are in there all the way, the guys said the deeper the better. I will definitely move them today and get them on the back porch. I will keep everyone updated thanks for the help :)
ken2256
10 years ago
hey ray, sounds like they were basically drowning. ;-) not that they cant get submerged, but prolonged is not good either. ok, good luck
hunterkiller03
10 years ago
Here's a question I would ask, do you add fertilizer to your pond? Because if it's a just a normal pond with lily pads & other aquatic plants. Not to mention if you have fish in it. Then it could simply be that you put your plants in a nutrient rich environment & even alkaline. And since you let your pond evaporate, I can imagine there is a build-up of of minerals & other salts. Hence why your plants are not doing so well, even if you planted them in sphagnum peat moss. They have soaked up all these salt & now it is ruined for carnivorous plants.

Member ken2256 advice is sound, so that is the 1st step you can do to rescue your plants. But we have to know what you have. We are assuming that you may have Sarracenias but what if you have a tropical Nepenthes, we might give you the wrong advice that will kill your plant.

Carnivorous plants grow in acid rich bogs, or nutrient rich fens.

I don't know what kind of sundew plants you have, unless you can post a picture of them. But most sundews can survive being submerged. And if you have North American Sarracenias & not tropical Nepenthes (there have been some people that not knowing what they have thought Nepenthes were sarracenias & were growing them wrong. So we need a better description what you have). They often grow in environment that normally get flooded.

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