Cape Sundew (Drosera capensis)
$18.00
A perfect beginner’s plant! From the cape of South Africa comes this marvelous sundew; a variable species that offers everything the plant lover could wish for. Cape sundews are large and handsome plants that are very easy to grow. They produce scores of showy pink flowers on tall stems and are easy to propagate. Their leaves move rather dramatically, and they are tolerant of a wide range of growing conditions. These are by far the most entertaining and popular of the Drosera. They will catch gnats, fruit flies and flies.
Ease to Grow: Very Easy.
Dormancy: No.
Native Range: Wet Bogs of the Cape region of South Africa.
Zones: 7-9 (6-10).
Drosera capensis or the Cape Sundew is one of the easiest of all carnivorous plants to grow. It is medium-size with long strap-like leaves, loaded with red tentacles. It has a nice overall green and red appearance and glistens brightly in the sunlight. Insects are lured to the plant and get mired in the sticky dew of the tentacles. The leaves slowly roll over on to the prey in about 30 minutes, creating an effective digestive pouch around the victim. Digestion takes a few days and the leaf uncurls to leave the prey remains behind. It is a tropical plant growing year round, as long as the conditions are warm and bright. In cooler temperatures it stops growing, but holds its traps. Here at our Nursery (Zone 6) it grows in some of the outdoor bog boxes, dies back in the Fall and re-emerges from the roots in Spring. It tolerates a wide range of growing conditions, but prefers open, sunny, boggy conditions in peaty soils. The flowers are a rosy-pink on tall, multi-flowered scapes. One or two flowers open each day for several weeks. It can flower at different times of the year, but more profusely in the summer months. It generously produces seeds that can be sown immediately or stored in cool, dry conditions for a year or more. D. capensis comes in many forms: red, white, narrow leaf, broad leaf, wide leaf, and giant. All are unofficial cultivars. It can become a wonderful “weed” in your carnivorous plant collection, and is an excellent terrarium plant. It is easy to grow and is a great beginner’s plant. This selection comes from seed, and will show some natural variations. For maximum effect use multiple plants in a 6″ pot. Plants vary in size from 1.5″-6+” depending upon availability.
Typically plants are shipped bare-root, wrapped in damp sphagnum moss. 3.5″ Potted Plants contain 4 or more plants. Photographs are representative of species, and not the specific plant shipped.
Height: 2″ – 6″.
Plant Type: Perennial, tropical.
Soil: Lower Bog Mix or General CP Mix.
Light: Bright indoors, full sun to partial sun outdoors.
Use: Grows well in the protected bog garden, greenhouse and indoors.
- Reviews (4)
Thanks for the follow up! I included pics from after potting the plants. The fly trap looked the worst of them, I think it got a l...More
Thanks for the follow up! I included pics from after potting the plants. The fly trap looked the worst of them, I think it got a little crunched in shipping, a couple of the mouths fell off. I don't think it will be life ending. But would love any feedback since I am still learning about carnivorous plants. I have a couple sundews already and a pitcher that have been going strong for about a year now, which is fantastic here in the dry mountains of Arizona.
Currently the bog is in a humidity controlled tent, the plants in there have plenty of gnats for the plants to feed off of and 16 hours a day of light from a t8 rig. The others are in the living room, also getting about 16 hours of good light from both indirect sun and supplemental led sources. I did deviate from your directions a bit, and mixed some parent material into the sphagnum moss. It's the same material my other existing plants came in and have been surviving in, and then I read your instructions on the fly trap and not to do that. It's a super low density, just what the sphagnum could grab for itself, and hopefully that won't be too detrimental to the plants because that would be awful and entirely on me. I split one of the sundews because it had three plants in it, and each now has its own pot. Other than that, I'm waiting a few days to see how the moss sets up in the baskets before seeing if there's any room for topping off.
Each container has a reservoir and enough distilled water that there is good contact between the moss and the water. Because where I live we have extremely low humidity most of the year, I tend to need to over saturate the plants, hence making sure they are sitting in something, but it's still a work in progress to refine the watering strategy to a science. I am hoping the long moss will help, but I may need to get new containers that work for the baskets sent so the water level can be higher and reduce loss to evaporation.
And thank you for the moss. I appreciate the extra as it has gone to orchids and my other carnivores. I'm not sure I could ask for a better outcome as a first time customer. Thanks for being an outstanding vendor.
Questions:
There was no list of the plants that were in the bog, is there any way to find out what they are? I work in permaculture and it's likely that I will wind up propagating some of the plants when the opportunity arises. Knowing which species can be helpful when trying to give them away. Plus learning how to identify is always a good practice when it comes to plants.
When I purchased the bog, the pictures gave the impression the kit would come in an actual pot, not only a hydro basket. Would it be possible to offer a pot that fits the basket too? Currently I'm using a dog treat container as the reservoir because it all fits quite nicely until I can find something more suitable for the long term benefit of the plants. It would have been nice if the bog had that included already, but not sure that is an option. And again it's my fault for not reading more thoroughly.
Would it be ok to follow up in a few days after they have had a chance to settle in and see if I need to take any further steps to make sure the plants have the best shot I can offer them?
If there are any questions I can answer about what I have done, please feel free to ask.
Hope you have a fantastic week,
Charles