> Illumination is a VitaLite, photoperiod is about the same as outdoors,
> but the sundews can't seem to "catch" anything. Fruit flies, ants etc.
> can walk right off.
Hi Pat,
>From my experience, I think there are two reasons for this problem.
First of all, some sundews produce lots of dew only if they receive
sufficient light, and it sounds like yours are not if you've just
got them under a VitaLite. I had my Drosera capensis and D. aliciae
in a terrarium similar to yours, placed in a south-facing window,
where they received direct and diffused sunlight for most of the day,
and they eventually became less and less dewey and lost a lot of vigor.
When I took them out of the terrarium and put them right out in the sun
on my balcony, the leaves developed a nice red color and became covered
with large dew drops. I would suggest that you either multiply your
light bulbs by two or even four-fold, or take the sundews out of the
terrarium and place them in full sunlight (Placing the covered terrarium
in the sun can raise the temperature too much and scorch the plants. If
you want to put the whole terrarium in the sun, take off the cover. The
humidity will most likely be high enough for these plants even without the
cover if you keep enough water in the bottom.) The same goes for your
flytraps - they may look like they're doing fine now, but without several
hours of direct sunlight each day, the leaves will start growing
more and more scraggly with smaller, weaker traps, and they will
eventually die.
The second thing to keep in mind is that the size and strength of the
bugs a sundew can catch depends to a large extent on the type of sundew
and the size of its leaves. Even at their healthiest, my D. capensis
has never been able to catch anything much larger than a gnat or a
mosquito. Fruit flies, house flies, and ants are quite strong and can
usually struggle free. Your flytraps will care of these.
Best regards,
Gordon Wells
Instituto de Robotica e Informatica Industrial
Edificio Nexus, planta 2
Gran Capitan 2-4
Barcelona 08034
SPAIN