New camera!

Yesterday I got a new phone, which is to say I got a new camera. I actually got this phone specifically for the camera, because my old phone really struggled to focus on close-up objects. This one does it beautifully! To celebrate, I've created a post of flowers – just the sort of thing I would really struggle to photograph with my old device. Here's to more closeups in the future!

Drosera callistos with the lovely orange and black.

I love the adorable dots on Drosera helodes.

The focus ended up being on the upcoming bud on this Drosera sessilifolia.

So much for cutting the flower stalk off my Drosera spiralis.

I had to bend this Drosera natalensis stalk away from the lights to get a picture. Lovely!

Utricularia heterosepala is a very nice, creamy pink color.

Utricularia lateriflora is a wonderful species. So glad I got it!

What more can I say about Utricularia longifolia?

Byblis liniflora always looks so unearthly.

I think Pinguicula laueana × emarginata has one of the prettiest flowers in the genus.

Pinguicula gigantea is so cheeky.

Pinguicula 'Aphrodite' and Pinguicula emarginata are just hanging out together.

Whew! That's a lot of flowers!

It's really good to feed your sundews

I've been very good about feeding my sundews lately. I've been able to give a number of them good solid feedings, and am planning on doing more going forward. One of the good things about feeding is that it really increases seed production. When I really got into growing sundews I wanted to get a decent stock of seed available to sell, since finding seed to buy was difficult when I first started collecting. I should be updating my sales page with additional seeds soon.

One of my favorite species to feed is always Drosera burmannii, since they always respond so dramatically to being fed.

You go little guy!

Check out that brand new leaf on D. burmannii (Gunung Keledang). This is the first feeding for these seedlings. Should be able to do even more feeding soon.

These D. burmannii (Hann River) flowered out a bunch, so they were really in need of a feeding.

Nice new growth everywhere.

All the pale leaves are new growth from feeding. That one plant on the left of the picture is what happens if you let D. burmannii flower out without feeding – they sort of melt away by blooming themselves to death. Whoops!

The closely-related Drosera sessilifolia is almost as enthusiastic about feeding as is D. burmannii.

I love me some Drosera Subg. Thelocalyx.

I still need to see if heavy feeding can get these guys to size up. I haven't yet met Fernando's challenge.

Drosera natalensis tan up really well when they're not fed, but it's fun seeing the color contrast after a round of new growth.

So dewy!

This is a very nice, low-maintenance pot of plants. It just sort of does its thing, which is great.

I've also fed my pings, and been pretty good about taking pullings lately. Look at this brand new baby Pinguicula gigantea.

Soon I'll be propagating pings properly, just you watch.

The other plantlets in the pot are only 6 months old, and they're already pretty big. Pings are really fun to propagate.

Finally, the one group of plants I never have to think about are my Utricularia, especially the terrestrial species. Generally you just need to leave them alone, keep them wet, and let them colonize the media. Then eventually you should get some flowers.

One of my favorite species of Utricularia, easy.

Utricularia pubescens! Funny little flowers and weird "leaves" (utrics don't technically have leaves as such). Unfortunately it's really hard to take a picture of the leaves, but there's a great picture on this page of Barry Rice's Carnivorous Plant FAQ. I wish this pot wasn't quite so mossy, but I certainly don't mind the flowers!

Aphids: My Tiny Foes

This aphid thing is getting out of control.

Aphids all over Drosera capensis Baineskloof.

There are several pots in my collection that look like this. Limited applications of Pyrethrin haven't proven effective, and I'm not willing to use it more heavily, considering that several different species reacted poorly even to the light applications. I've ordered some Bayer 3-in-1, which is a rather toxic systemic. Luckily this is my indoor collection, so I'm not too worried about hurting pollinators or anything. I just...I need to get rid of the aphids. I've been busy lately, and the aphids are just another discouragement when it comes to spending time with my plants.

Okay, let's cheer ourselves up. I've got a couple Drosera tomentosa germinations!

It's easier to see if you click through to the large sized photo.

Just a couple, but this seed sat around for a while before I got around to sowing it, so I'm happy with anything.

I picked up a really nice wide-leaf Drosera capensis on my last visit to California Carnivores.

I feel like more people are digging D. capensis lately. That's awesome.

Big, strappy leaves. You can never have too many D. capensis varieties.

My Drosera ultramafica × spatulata was looking spectacular so I had to take a photo.

A prize-winning plant! Love this hybrid.

Easily the brightest red plant in my collection, and an easy grower to boot.

Finally, my Drosera natalensis pot is also looking excellent during this period of neglect.

Fluorescent lighting really shows the dewdrops well.

So dewy and perfect! I like the nice color contrast with the moss as well.

Okay, I feel better now. I'll feel a lot better once I get this infestation under control though.

Flowers!

There's a lot in bloom right now. It's spring!

Drosera helodes.

Sarracenia flava.

Drosera omissa with lots of flowers.

Utricularia calycifida.

Drosera sessilifolia (probably).

Utricularia subulata.

Drosera natalensis.

And it's not just carnivores that are in bloom. Peep this Cleistocactus tupizensis.

C. tupizensis.

Nice!

Flowering age: various Drosera

Let's do a little overview of how long it's taken various of my plants to grow to flowering size, either from seed or from leaf cuttings.

I started Drosera burmannii, Drosera intermedia 'Cuba', and Drosera capensis 'Albino' at the very end of 2013, and they all germinated in mid-January of 2014.

D. intermedia 'Cuba' was the first to flower, on the 11th of April, only 3 months after germination.

D. intermedia 'Cuba' seedlings, mid-January 2014.

D. intermedia 'Cuba' flower stalk, 4-11-2014.

Then we had the D. burmannii flowering on the 16th of May, 4 months.

D. burmannii seedlings, mid-January 2014.

D. burmannii flower stalk, 5-16-2014.

The D. capensis 'Albino' took the longest, sending up a stalk on July 4th, just under 6 months.

D. capensis 'Albino' seedlings, mid-January 2014.

D. capensis 'Albino' flower stalk, 7-4-2014.

Last spring I got some Drosera natalensis seeds from Natch Greyes, which germinated in mid May of 2014, and started blooming just a couple days ago, on February 13th, 2015 – 9 months. Bear in mind though that these guys got no food for the first 3 months of their lives, and then had a huge growth spurt once fed.

D. natalensis seedlings, mid-May 2014.

D. natalensis flower stalk, 2-13-2015.

Another really speedy plant is Drosera sessilifolia. The seeds germinated on September 21, 2014, and with a lot of feeding the first ended up blooming on February 11th, 2015 – just under 5 months to flowering size.

D. sessilifolia seedlings, 9-21-2014.

D. sessilifolia flower stalk, 2-11-2015.

Those are the only plants I've started from seed that have bloomed, but I do have a couple of species blooming right now that I propagated from leaf cuttings. First is Drosera ultramafica × spatulata. The cuttings struck in mid-June of 2014, and the first plant flowered on February 12th of this year, 8 months total.

D. ultramafica × spatulata strikes, mid-June 2014.

D. ultramafica × spatulata flower stalk, 2-12-2015.

The cutting I'm proudest of is the Drosera anglica CA × HI, which is one of the best plants in my collection. It was one of the earliest strikes in the Summer Batch, on August 4th, 2014. I noticed the bloom stalk (already well developed) at the beginning of February of 2015, so it probably started blooming just after the new year. That's only 5 months, and it's a big, strong plant.

D. anglica CA × HI strike, 8-4-2014.

D. anglica CA × HI flower stalk, 2-2-2015.

So here's how it all breaks down:

From seed:

• D. intermedia 'Cuba': 3 months
• D. burmannii: 4 months
• D. sessilifolia: 5 months
• D. capensis 'Albino': 6 months
• D. natalensis: 9 months

From cuttings:

• D. anglica CA × HI: 5 months
• D. ultramafica × spatulata: 8 months

I remember when I was first getting into growing plants the idea of waiting for 4 months to get a mature plant from seed seemed like forever, but at this point I'm already thinking things like, "Well next season when my pygmies produce gemmae..."I hope this post encourages some people to try out starting new species from seed. It's not very difficult (I still need to write up a Cultivation Guide on it though) and it's extremely rewarding to watch the seedlings grow up.

The most important thing to remember in any propagation effort with Drosera is that feeding is crucial. The reason that my D. natalensis and D. ultramafica × spatulata lagged behind the others is that they weren't fed all that much early on. Even just 2 or 3 feedings of seedlings will give them a huge boost in life. Good luck!

(P.S. – Sorry for the week of silence here on the blog. It's been a bit hectic here at Pinkhouse lately. Luckily that means I have a lot of new stuff to talk about!)

Revenge of the bugs

I was looking over my plants yesterday and noticed that my prize-winning pot of Drosera burmannii was looking terrible.

What a bummer. My prize-winning plants!

I couldn't figure out what was going wrong...until I looked closer.

This little guy sure just set up shop like it was nothing.

It's a caterpillar! Probably the same species as the one that was inhabiting one of my Drosera binata back in August. I watched it chewing away on my prized plants for a second before extracting it. It did not want to be extracted, but it is a caterpillar and I am a dextrous ape, so it wasn't much of a contest.

It was pretty small, a bit more than a quarter inch (.5 cm) long.

It was able to move very quickly within the little tent it had made among the leaves of my D. burmannii, but once out in the open it was fairly sluggish.

I looked around for signs of any more, but I think this was the only one. Of course, I was left with the problem of what to do with it. Luckily, being a carnivorous plant hobbyist gives you all sorts of ghoulish solutions to bug problems.

I checked back today and yes it did successfully begin digesting.

I hope my D. burmannii are able to bounce back.

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P.S. Check out how big my Drosera natalensis seedlings have gotten.

Feeding just makes such a difference.