RE - D.cistiflora

bertozzi.terry@wpo.pi.sa.gov.au
Thu, 01 Dec 1994 09:30:55 +0930

Clarke,

>I though I would once again raise the question of the treatment
>of Drosera cistiflora in dormancy, if indeed it is supposed to
>have a dormant period at all.

It certainly does have a dormant period.

>My seedlings of D. cistiflora (sown Spring 1993) appeared to be
>dead when I decided to repot after drying them off during Summer
>along with my tuberous species. There were no signs of tubers,
>nor anything else living - just some dried stems. Nevertheless,
>I tipped the whole lot into a pot and resumed watering. A few
>days ago, some growth appeared, so I am still far from clear
>what the growth pattern of this species is - the dried material
>must still have had some life in it. I have some more seedlings
>sown in Spring 1994 - I don't know when next Summer comes
>whether to dry them off or to keep watering.

I treat my D. cistiflora like a tuberous species. It get watered
by the local opening rains and then stands in a tray of water
over the growing season. When it starts to die off, I remove the
pot from the water and dry it out totally.

I think the confusion whether the pot should be dry or just moist
stems from people losing their plants after hot summers. Just
remember, in the case of tuberous Drosera, the tubers are often
quite deep where the temperature is stable and cool compared with
the topsoil. If you place your pots in the coolest part of the
greenhouse, say under one of the shelves out of direct sun, then
you won't get an increased heat load on your tubers and dry them
out. I think that the same applies to D.cistiflora.

Must be doing something right, it got big enough to flower (for
the first time) this year, unfortunately I didn't get any seed :(

Cheers
Terry