Sundew

[dortyuz]

You can try Butterworts as well, spread a few of them between your orchids, but don't forget Sundews.

Drosera Capensis is far the easiest Sundew you can grow ever, it is very easy to grow from seeds also.

[jrod]

Hey, the plant you've got there is D. adelae. The biggest keys to keeping it healthy are clean medium, lots of clean water, and bright bright bright light. Brighter light than any Cattleya would ever want. Humidity isn't quite as important as high light, though low humidity will take some time for the plant to adjust to. Oh, and by clean water I mean very low dissolved solids, such as RO/DI water. Distilled is best. The best growing medium is a 50/50 mix of washed peat moss (check that no fertilizers have been added) and washed coarse sand. You'll find that any older leaves won't produce much dew, but all new leaves grown in brighter light will dew like crazy, and catch any bug that gets within about 3 feet. You can also tell if the plant is getting enough light because it will develop a reddish tint. Any section of the plant that's separated and placed in wet, clean medium will sprout new plants. Good luck, you'll never regret adding some CPs to your plant collection!

[IdahoOrchid]

I tried letting the plant be in the open but it desicated so fast that I was afraid of losing it. It even did not do well in a small open glass container. That is when I put the plastic on top, it was happy, happy, happy then.

Maybe I will try growing up one or two of the new plantlets in a more open condition to see how they adjust.

[jrod]

Yeah, the lower humidity will knock back any leaves that're adjusted to the higher humidity. Any new leaves put out in the lower humidity will be fine, though. Just keep the container soaked, and it'll pull through. These guys are tough! As long as it's in a bright spot, it will handle just about anything. If I get a chance, I'll snap a photo of mine. It looks a lot like yours, with all of its older leaves crispy from the drop in humidity when I brought it home from the big box store. It's also pretty lanky from growing in lower light as a younger plant. In bright light, it will grow in a compact rosette, never getting more than a few inches tall, but with a leaf span in the 6 to 8 inch range. It'll also keep putting out plantlets until it fills a container. Don't worry about repotting, though, or fertilizing. Their roots are mostly for anchorage and water intake. All of the nutrition comes from bugs on the leaves.

[Piper]

That's a great idea for fungus gnat control, but with my luck the sundew would be stuck to one of my cats!

McJulie

[Kerry]

They sound great, I will keep an eye out for these, as I am sure it could do me great favours in keeping down the fruit flies from my attempts at composting in the summer.

[IdahoOrchid]

That's a great idea for fungus gnat control, but with my luck the sundew would be stuck to one of my cats!

McJulie

Cats, um, good.

Catts, bad.

[pavel]

Steve, as jrod indicated, it was likely too fast a transition you originally attempted. It is like harding off garden plants that you started indoors. It takes some time to adjust. Start by leaving the lid/container mostly closed. Then over the course of weeks, leave the container more and more open.