Grower Interview: David Flocken

This is part of a series of conversations with other growers about their experiences growing carnivorous plants. It's always useful to see how someone else does things! The full series can be read here, or by grower at the Series page.

David Flocken is a sundew grower and Drosera capensis enthusiast living in Utah. We've chatted about plants on Facebook and elsewhere, so we decided to do a Grower Interview for the blog, the first in a while. Hopefully we'll get back to doing these a bit more regularly!


Sundews Etc.     So Dave, thanks for sitting down for an interview.
SE     I'm glad we could finally work out the logistics!

David Flocken     No problem, thanks for having me I'm pretty excited.  
DF     And yeah we were all over the place there for a minute.  

SE     We first chatted on TerraForums a bit ago about Drosera capensis, why don't you talk about what you're doing with that species right off the bat.  

DF     The first thing I'd like to say about the species Drosera capensis is that it's one of the most overlooked species in the hobby. However, to me, the plant continues to interest me all these years later.

SE     It's a wonderful plant.  

DF     Drosera capensis, in its many growth forms, varieties, unofficial cultivars has a very Dionaea-esque feel. Right now I'm trying to acquire as many types as possible, but have been particularly enamored with a recently discovered variety "Big Pink."

D. capensis "Big Pink" as grown by David Flocken.

SE     That's a hybrid of the 'Albino' cultivar with the red form, right?  

DF     Yes, that's the conclusion a few growers and myself have come to, though it's not completely confirmed. We'll have to sort that out with manual and purposeful hybridizing of capensis 'Albino' and the "All red" plants – presumably all true red forms originate from Gifberg South Africa.  
DF     And the "Alba" is a variety which occurred and only occurs in cultivation.  

SE     I've been researching the all-red variety and yes, all the full-red plants in cultivation come from Gifberg, and were collected by Eric Green.

DF     "Big Pink" differs from "Red" in it's growth rate and a lowered ability to produce anthocyanin in the leaves, this causes a blotchy or oftentimes "pink" coloration.  

SE     That sounds pretty cool. How many different forms of D. capensis are you growing currently?  

DF     Currently I'm growing "Wideleaf", "Bainskloof", "Alba", "Typical", "Narrowleaf", "Big Pink", and "Red" but at least 10 more varieties are sitting idle as seed in my fridge, along with many, many thousands of typical seeds.  

SE     Cool. What sort of goal do you have in mind with this research, if any?  

DF     Well for one, I hope to describe and officially differentiate the many unofficial statuses of these plants. Glean a new variety from typical seeds (just through brute force of growing many and looking for good traits)
DF     I hope to make interesting crosses, one I'm working on right now is "Big Pink"x"Wideleaf" using two of my most beautiful specimen plants.  

SE     That sounds like a lot of fun.  
SE     What's your growing setup like?  

DF     Well I have my outdoor grow which rests idly in dormancy in our unheated garage, whilst my indoor setup is downstairs; which I primarily use to grow Drosera and Cephalotus.  
DF     We have a cool basement, which I use to my advantage. The grow chambers can get rather hot as they are essentially 4 foot t8 lights resting over various plastic and glass terrariums.  
DF     I use reflective material like mylar and tinfoil to keep in the light, but nothing too special.  

The Cephalotus grow tank.

SE     I think cool temperatures are often overlooked as a factor for lots of sundews.
SE     There are lots that don't appreciate it hot, especially at night.

DF     I agree, I've noted this in species like capensis, regia, adelae, spatulata. In fact there isn't a single species I can think of aside from burmanii maybe that doesn't dew up more, or color up more, from lower nighttime temperatures.
DF     Across the board carnivorous plants seem to benefit from a cooler resting period.  
DF     What about your pygmys? Do they need that temperature drop? I've always wondered about those guys.

SE     They definitely don't mind it. Certainly if we have a prolonged hot spell there are species that go dormant.
SE     Although I live in the inner Bay Area, so I basically have a tropical highland climate, which is almost cheating for carnivorous plants.
SE     Always cool, but almost never down near freezing at night.  

DF     That's quite the contrast to where I live. We're what you call an arid sub-tundra desert. Right now it's 20 degrees outside, and dropping.
DF     Which leaves me incapable of growing almost any sundew outside in a non-bog environment.  

SE     Yeah that would complicate my growing situation significantly, hahah.
SE     When did you get started growing carnivores?  

DF     Growing up I was always that kid, or that family rather, with the snake or the tarantula. Always looking for that novelty plant at the convenience store.  

SE     Oh, so your family is in to similar stuff.  
SE     That must be nice.

DF     Oh yeah, despite their groans and occasional complaints my family has been extremely supportive throughout my growing career. My dad even gets involved in the building projects from time to time.  
DF     I must have been around 12 or 13 when I first emailed "Sundewman" seeking out help to not kill my lowly Drosera spatulata.

SE     Oh man, Aaron May. What a hero. His site is what got me started too.  

DF     I agree, shout out to Aaron. He's been the reason more than once I was able to re-enter the hobby.  

SE     So you're a sundew guy, like Aaron and I then.

DF     Oh yeah, while interning at Meadowview Biological Research Station, Phil often called me a "Dew-head" always looking for his "Dew-fix" often seeking out his "Daily-dew" and many others I'll not say here.  

SE     Hahahahah that's great.  

DF     And honestly, those little globular beads at the end of those tentacles have gotten me through a lot. They certainly speak to simpler times when I was just starting out in high school.  

SE     How was interning at Meadowview? That must have been awesome for a carnivorous plant enthusiast.

Dave in Virginia, looking at a clump of Drosera capillaris (not pictured).

 DF     Meadowview was a fantastic opportunity, I worked at the site called Joseph Pines in Northern Virginia. I did restoration work relating to Longleaf pine, and their associated habitats. So I saw some amazing Sarracenia and bog habitat while I was there.
DF     If you're ever in Virginia, both Meadowview's nursery in Fredericksburg and Jospeh Pine's preserve in Disputanta are a must-see.  

SE     I'd love to visit.
SE     A trip to the southeast is definitely on my radar in the next few years.  
SE     What plants do you grow besides your D. capensis collection?

DF     Well after Meadowview, I've become invariably hooked on Sarracenia, particularly flava, give me anything flava. I have a sizable collection of Cephalotus, a few hundred venus flytraps (sigh), and my most recent obsession of germinating and raising Drosophyllum.  
DF     Along with many other South African sundews, I feel capensis is the staple of my collection.

SE     Hahah oh man. That sounds like a lot of plants. How much time do you spend with them in a given week?   

DF     I'd say they get about 4 hours of truly useful care during the week, and seemingly endless (probably 15 overall) of endless tinkering.  

SE     You feed your sundews, right? What do you use?

DF     I have an obsession with feeding my sundews. Sometimes I think the plants secretly hate me for it. I feed them ground freeze dried blood worms.

SE     Do you rehydrate them or grind them, or just apply as-is?  

DF     In the morning I go into the basement and begin feeding. I use the grow lights to wake myself up in the morning and treat a little bit of seasonal depression.  
DF     I tried rehydrating for a while, but that was too much work for the amount of feeding I did.
DF     Then I tried grinding the food and mixing it with water in pipettes which also took too long.

SE     One must always weigh how useful something is against how likely they are to actually do it.  

DF     So now I just grind it up in my palms, and dust it onto the leaves seems to be the fastest method for me if you account the food preparation time.  
DF     Unfortunately I've developed a death-like allergy to the stuff.

SE     Oh no!

DF     The things we do for our plants am I right?  

SE     Absolutely.

DF     Regarding the large amount of feeding, I've noticed a huge amount of growth and speedy development.
DF     So it's not all crazy (I hope). 


SE     Yeah, feeding is a huge factor I've noticed.  
SE     How much does your collection cost you on a monthly basis?  

DF     It's hard to say without accounting for things like energy costs from the lights and mental strain on my family, but I'd say at least 40-50$ a month.
DF     Luckily I can counteract that with small time seed and plant sales.

Using sewing string to mark the cross-pollinated flower.

SE     Yeah that's the good move.
SE     Make it all equal out.  
SE     Are there any carnivorous plant societies in your area?

DF     Ah, I knew we'd get to this, and sadly no there are none.  
DF     You'd be hard pressed to find any Utah growers unfortunately.

SE     That's too bad.  
SE     You should take some of your extra flytraps and D. capensis to like farmers' markets and try and entrap people.  

DF     Not a bad idea, who knows what will come of it in the coming years.  

SE     Well, at least there are forums and Facebook and all that.  

DF     I'm glad you mentioned that since forums and online sharing were my upbringing in this hobby.  

SE     We're very fortunate to have the online resources that we do. It makes it a lot easier to get into the hobby and get better at it.  

DF     Yeah, I didn't believe you could grow anything outside in my climate until I consulted the forums. It turns out a desert is just fine for many species like Drosophyllum.

SE     So you have good success with Drosos then? I've been meaning to try that plant.

DF     Being a dew-head, Drosophyllum is a most wondrous plant indeed.  
DF     And so tolerant of the dry and high-altitude conditions here. Even in the dead of summer they're plugging away.

Drosophyllum doing very well in Utah.

SE     That's awesome. I should give that one a try. I keep putting it off.  
SE     Do you have any big goals for your collection in the next year or so?

DF     I'm hoping to work on the space and logistics of my collection coming up. Adding new setups before acquiring new plants has been a challenge I mean to tackle this coming season.

SE     Are you going to donate any seeds during the ICPS Holiday Seed Drive?
  
DF     Yeah, along with my annual giveaway of Drosera indica seeds, I hope to send them a couple thousand. Hopefully they don't have too many at the moment.

SE     It never hurts to donate! I'll be rounding up a lot of my seed as well.

DF     Sounds like you already have the burmanii covered? I'll have to round up some capensis seeds as well!

SE     Send whatever you can spare I reckon!
SE     Finally, before I let you go, I seem to remember that there was talk of you starting a blog sometime in the near future...  

DF     Oh, the blog! Your site, growsundews.com and the Carnivore Girl have all got me excited about making my own blog.
DF     Something that looks really nice where I can post and keep track of my random plant activities.

SE     You should do it, blogging is great.
SE     It's great to be able to search your old posts and look through your old pictures.

DF     Oh yeah, I feel it's a better place for that than forums. And like your site it's a great place to get some attention towards sales and trades. I'm sure your blog has accelerated your hobby to new levels.
DF     I hope to do the same with mine which will be called "Dave's Dews."

SE     It certainly makes me keep trying new stuff and documenting it!
SE     Awesome, let me know if/when that gets started, and I'll share it on the blog.  

DF     Thank you I certainly will. I expect it will be up an running by this coming year 2016.  

SE     Great.
SE     Thanks for doing an interview! Any last words of wisdom for fellow growers?

DF     Thanks so much for having me!  
DF     To the CP community I'd just say I love you guys, a lot of you don't know it but you've helped me through so much. I also hope you'll all join me in the quest (shenanigans?) to revive Drosera capensis to the status it deserves.

SE     Amen to that. Thanks Dave.

Nice mix of species in Dave's indoor growing area.

Layout of my indoor growing area

Before we get started on the post – check out the ICPS Holiday Seed Bank Drive on Facebook. Have you collected your seed to donate yet? Join the Facebook event for more information! Use the hashtag #ICPSHolidaySeedDrive to share pictures of the seed you're donating.

I've had a few people ask me for pictures of my setup in recent months and I've held off on posting any because it was a real mess. Distilled water jugs and old shipping boxes everywhere, supplies scattered everywhere – it was pretty embarrassing. Yesterday, however, I bit the bullet and tidied it all up, so here we are!

Home sweet home.

The spot on the right is for lower-light plants.

I grow my sundews, pings, and utrics under lights in my garage. I live in the inner Bay Area, so temperatures are always pretty mild, and even during heat waves there's generally a nice night-time temperature drop in the evenings to the 50s or 60s. My garage is consistently the coolest room in the house during summer, which is good, since pretty much everything I grow looks better when it's cool. I use steel wire shelves from the Home Depot for 2 of my growing areas, and a homemade frame on an old table for the other. There's about 6 sq. feet of growing space under each set of lights.

My camera did not enjoy taking this photo.

I use T8 fluorescent bulbs as my light source, using a common shop-light fixture. I covered the reasons for this choice more extensively in my Cultivation Guide: Light part 2, but the basics are that T8 bulbs are nicely-situated on the efficiency/attractiveness/cost/ease of sourcing matrix. T5s are more efficient, but quite a bit more expensive. LEDs are probably going to be the the obvious choice in the future, but for right now fixtures are expensive, hard to find, and sometimes of dubious use for plants. The main problem with fluoros is that they degrade fairly quickly. I need to replace quite a few bulbs this upcoming year.

My light intensity may be higher than necessary, but this won't hurt the plants. It ends up being about 2500 lumens per square foot of growing space. I could do better if I used reflective material on some of the sides, but that makes it harder to access my plants, which is part of the reason I haven't done so yet. I think anything about 2000 lumens/sq. ft. is probably a very good amount of light.

Milk crates: natures building blocks.

To control my lights I use a very basic analog timer attached to a power strip. As you can see, I've already maxed out this power strip, so if I want to get any more lights out here I'll have to figure something out. I can adjust the photoperiod by moving the pins on the timer. Right now it's at 12 hours per day. I think I'll drop it to 11 soon and then leave it for winter.

On the plus side, the pygmies are looking great.

For trays I use Sterilite containers of various sizes. They actually make for a fairly efficient use of space, but there are two main problems. First, as you can see in the above photo, they degrade quite quickly under high UV light. This tray has only been in use for a year and is falling apart. I keep putting off replacing it, and I know I'm going to regret it. The second problem is the trays are significantly taller than the pots I use, which can make it a little less nice trying to look at my plants. I'm still looking around for a better solution. The standard nursery trays aren't a great fit because of the dimensions of my growspaces. We'll see.

The most important aspect of my growing areas is that they are low-maintenance. The garage is great, because I don't have to worry about spilling water or anything like that. I'm also fortunate that I live in a mild, relatively humid climate (usually between 20% and 70% humidity), and I also don't grow any very finicky plants. That's the real trick.

Apparently Drosera sessilifolia flowers open early in the morning, which is why I never catch them.

Flowers!

Cultivation Guides: Building a better outdoor growspace

This is part of a series of posts describing various aspects of cultivation, which will hopefully be useful to new growers trying to solve the challenges of growing carnivores, and experienced growers who are always looking to improve their collection. The full series can be read here, or by topic on the Series page.

I've complained in the past about the state of my outdoor growing setup. It's been pretty uh, primitive for a while.

This was definitely a "path of least resistance" setup.

Well, I recently did a trade with a fellow who was downsizing his collection and I wound up with 7 more Sarracenia, so it was time to upgrade. Luckily my roommate TJ is a great project buddy, and he's always down to help out with the plants.  Here's the teaser from a couple posts ago:

Joining the 2x4s to make a platform.

And the progression:

Putting up the outer walls.

Inner walls to make 3 sections.

Strengthening the corners.

One of the 2x4s used to join the platform together.

Up on the cinder blocks.

The full pond liner.

A quarter of the liner.

Fitting the liner into the segments.

Adding water to fill the lagoons.

The plants all in place.

We started with seven 12 foot pressure-treated 2x4 boards, which we used to make the platform. It wound up being 12 feet (~3.6 m) long and about 25 inches (~64 cm) wide. We had some leftover 2x4s from an earlier project that we cut into 4 pieces and screwed onto the boards to join them. The outside walls are made of some leftover plywood that we cut into boards 6 inches wide and then sanded down so there were no sharp edges. If we hadn't had plywood we would have bought some 1x6 boards. We screwed those onto the platform and joined the corners with some braces. The inner walls were leftover hardwood boards.

The platform is just resting on top of the cinder blocks. It's heavy enough to be pretty sturdy, and the only thing I could see knocking it over would be a big earthquake, in which case I'll have bigger problems than dealing with my Sarrs. The liner is a 10x13 foot pond liner by Pond Life. I cut it into quarters so I could use one for each segment. It's not currently secured to the platform, since I just wanted to get this up in advance of the storm we're going to be getting this weekend. Once everything dries up TJ and I are going to cut some strapping and use it to screw the liner onto the sides. I'll post an update when we do.

We got all the materials from Home Depot. Here's the cost breakdown:

$60 – 7 12" 2x4 boards
$15 – 9 cinder blocks
$60 – 10"x13" pond liner

$135 – total

We didn't have to buy boards for the walls, or any of the hardware for the job. In terms of tools, we just used a circular saw, a power drill, and a power sander, although I did most of the sanding by hand while watching the Super Bowl in the garage. Assuming you have a drill and a saw I bet you could do this for under $160.

Look at all that space I have now! I'd been putting off getting more Sarracenia and Dionaea and temperate Drosera because I didn't really have any place to put them. That's certainly not true any longer.

I think I'm going to call this grow space the Lagoon. TJ and I also planning on building a bit of a windbreak to provide shelter to the plants growing in the lagoon. Then we'll be in business!

Pinguicula laueana x emarginata in bloom

Ping flowers are great. My Pinguicula laueana x emarginata has opened up.

This is a very bold flower for such a cute plant.

My girlfriend said this one looked like religious iconography. I can see it, with the blocky shapes and the cool venation. The plant itself is also looking great.

They've responded well to being fed.

That little offset is getting bigger. Also, check out the spur on the flower.

Nearby, the Pinguicula esseriana are coloring up and looking adorable.

These have such a nice little stacked rosette.

I traded one of the plants in a big trade (that I'll talk about soon), but these two are getting really pink and it's adorable.

Another pink ping thing is this little leaf pulling from Pinguicula 'Pirouette'.

Teeny tiny plantlets!

This pulling was stupid easy. It makes me want to propagate more pings.

Speaking of flowers, the Drosera anglica CA x HI from the Summer Batch is blooming.

This looks like it's gonna be a pretty big bloom.

That's a pretty quick turnaround from leaf cutting to mature plant. I'm gonna sow these seeds to see what comes up. Apparently selfing this guy will show a decent amount of variation, so I'll have to sow some seeds and see.

Finally, I've got a project out in the backyard.

Things are brewing.

More updates as events warrant.

Cultivation Guides: Light, part 2

 This is part of a series of posts describing various aspects of cultivation, which will hopefully be useful to new growers trying to solve the challenges of growing carnivores, and experienced growers who are always looking to improve their collection. The full series can be read here, or by topic on the Series page.

This is part 2 of my Cultivation Guide on light, which is probably the most important factor in ensuring your plants are healthy and attractive. Part 1 focused on diagnosing whether your plants receive enough light, and what changes you can expect with higher light levels. This post will focus on the technical details of my own lighting setup, as well as some notes on cost and efficiency.

Setting up indoor lights doesn't have to be exorbitantly expensive, but it will cost a bit in setup. My first set of lights cost about $150, including the cost of building the frame to mount the lights.

Taking photos of lights is an exercise in futility.

I use 2 of these Lithonia 3-bulb 4 foot T8 fluorescent light fixtures from Home Depot. As you can see, it is a hanging shop light, so you need something to hang it from. I built this frame out of inexpensive 1x4 and 2x4 lumber, plus a coat of stain to make it look nice.

While this frame has worked well, I think that a better choice for people who are looking to start growing indoors under lights is one of these shelving units:

These shelves are great, and versatile.

This was also a Home Depot purchase, and was about $100. It comes with 5 shelves, but I'm only using 3 right now (and only have lights on 2 of them). This is a sturdy, classic choice for a grow shelf. It's east to hang the lights (if you buy a couple of S-hooks) and each shelf is just the right size for 2 of my fixtures.

The tubes I use have an output of around 2700 lumens, and my growing area is about 6 square feet under each set of lights. I use a mix of warm and cool bulbs, ranging between 3500 k and 6500 k. Most plants grown under these conditions seem very satisfied with the light conditions. The heat buildup hasn't been too much of an issue, although I think my living room could afford to have a bit more air circulation during the summer for my plants to be at their happiest.

A lot of people want to know what lights to use. I've looked at T5 fluorescent bulbs as well as doing a bit of research into LEDs, and right now I'm firmly in the T8 bulb camp. As I mentioned in my post about the last BACPS meeting, current research suggests that T8s are more photosynthetically efficient per watt than broad-spectrum white light LEDs. I know this is a subject to a bit of controversy, so I'm not going to get too much deeper into that until Drew's paper is published next year.

However, it's undeniable that fluorescent lighting is much more common than LEDs, and is cheaper and easier to set up for someone with no electrical knowledge. T5s are somewhat more efficient than T8s, but not by much (I would save maybe $20/year with high-output T5s), but the fixtures and bulbs are more expensive and harder to find than T8s. One thing to keep in mind about fluorescent lights is that the bulbs see a dropoff in output in a fairly short time period, and should be replaced every other year at least.

One thing you'll definitely need for your lights is a timer.

Timers can get very sophisticated (and expensive) but that's not super necessary for most growers.

These are available from Amazon and aren't too expensive. I hook mine up to a power strip and then plug the lights into that.

The grow rack keeps everything in one place.

I was giving the plants a 16 hour photoperiod, and recently dropped it down to about 11 hours (in 3 stages or so). I'm not 100% sure this is necessary or beneficial – we'll see how my plants respond over the season, and then maybe next year I'll keep it much more constant.

One thing the reduced photoperiod definitely accomplished was reduce some costs. With a 16 hour photoperiod, running 18 tubes, I was using about 300 kW-h per month on my lights, which added about $50/mo to my electricity bill. Now with a 11 hour photoperiod that's down to a little over $30. Obviously this is a limiting factor in the number of plants I can grow. I don't really want to add another set of tubes at this time, so interested in building a protected space for outdoor growing soon. We'll see how that goes.

One thing which can definitely improve the efficiency of your lighting (and possibly save money) is some reflective material around your lights. I don't use much – just a bit of foil on two sides of one of my growing areas – but it can definitely make less light go farther. Mylar is a better choice than aluminum foil. Remember though, that reflective siding reduces airflow and increases heat buildup, so factor that into your design.

Keep on shining.

Growing under lights isn't for everyone. However, if you can't grow out in the sun (because of a lack of space, or because your climate isn't appropriate for some species) it is definitely preferable to a windowsill. It makes a huge difference in plant health, and is not too expensive with a moderately-sized collection. I'd love to hear what sort of lights other people use to keep their plants happy.

Cultivation Guides: Light, part 1

 This is part of a series of posts describing various aspects of cultivation, which will hopefully be useful to new growers trying to solve the challenges of growing carnivores, and experienced growers who are always looking to improve their collection. The full series can be read here, or by topic on the Series page.

I've been trying to write a post about light for sundews (and carnivorous plants in general) for a while. I'd started several posts and then shelved the idea for later – it's a pretty big subject, and I definitely don't have the definitive word on it. However, I've been getting a number of requests lately to talk about my setup, specifically my lighting situation, so I've got to tackle it.

I'm going to make 2 posts on the topic. This one will deal with the overall importance of light, and how different light levels will affect your plants. Part 2 will deal with technical specs, including which lights I use, how I position them, and how much it costs.

Carnivorous plants need a lot of light!

My lights light up the whole room.

It's not too expensive, but there are costs. I'll talk about that next time.

In general, carnivorous plants are found in areas that are poor in nutrients but rich in sunlight and water. That's sort of the whole thing about carnivorous adaptations: they trade photosynthetic efficiency for the ability to get nutrients from bugs.

I don't believe sundews can be successfully grown on windowsills, or even in most greenhouses. Windowsills usually only offer 3-4 hours of direct sun (at most) and the vast majority of greenhouses have some degree of shading to help manage heat. I'm far from an expert, but most pictures I've seen of sundews grown in greenhouses are under-colored with lackluster dew production. I'd love to hear from growers who have figured out how to grow Drosera in a greenhouse environment, by the way!

How can you tell if a sundew is getting enough light? There are 3 main things to look at: robust, upright growth; reddish coloration somewhere on the plant; and lots of big dewdrops on the leaves. Consider this Drosera capensis:

A D. capensis growing in good light conditions is very lovely.

The leaves are upright and thick. On under-lit D. capensis you usually see the laminae (the part of the leaf with the tentacles) curving downwards (check out this photo from Wikimedia). The tentacles are deep red, and the old growth gets quite red. The dew is robust enough to stand out in contrast to the rest of the plant.

I think color is the number one indicator if you're wondering about your light conditions. Dew production can be reduced by low humidity or too much wind, and other things can mess up leaf growth, but if there is no red color on your sundew you can safely assume that it's under-lit. Even D. capensis 'Albino', a cultivar that is defined by its lack of red pigment, gets a pink blush in the tentacles if properly lit.

This plant also hasn't been fed much recently.

Of course, you need to go on a species-by-species (or cultivar-by-cultivar basis), but the above picture shows about the minimum of red coloration you should see in your plants. The Drosera adelae I recently posted about is another example of a plant that has at least a bit of red color (I would really like to see that one get redder, actually). Others, like Drosera ultramafica x spatulata and some forms of Drosera burmannii get deep, deep red in bright conditions, and having any green on the plant at all suggests it could use more light.

Plants grown in higher light conditions will also tend to be more compact than those that are somewhat under-lit. Consider this clump of Drosera capillaris.

The perspective isn't the best, but the leaves are flat against the soil.

With more light they get much more upright.

The first picture is from January 28th 2014, shortly after I bought it from California Carnivores at the winter BACPS meeting. The second picture is May 23rd. The color is certainly a lot better. Also the petioles are shorter, and the plant is smaller over all. Now, I've heard things about growth habit like this being influenced by light spectrum, with blue light affecting growth differently than red light. This is still something I'm investigating, and frankly I don't have the resources to test it thoroughly. Still, the tendency I've seen is for plants to get more compact under brighter light.

Providing a proper amount of light is one of the most important things you can do to make sure your plants stay healthy. Light-stressed plants are more susceptible to water stress and pests, and are harder to keep in cultivation. When looking to perfect your growing environment solving the light question is one of the most important to answer.

More to come in part 2.

Shuffling around the growspaces

For some time now I've been dissatisfied with how my plants are arranged in their growspaces. Some spots were crowded, others had lots of wasted empty space. Yesterday I had a couple hours free to fiddle with things, and while it's not 100% optimized, I feel like things are in a much better way generally.

First up was my first growing area. This spot saw the most reorganization, because it houses my Drosera 'Marston Dragon', which is huge, and my collection of Utricularia, which are weeds (and therefore housed mostly in solo containers).

Here's a shot of the first area before reorganization.

This arrangement was very ad hoc, and I'd never cared for it.

As you can see, the lights are very high, to accommodate both the D. 'Marston Dragon' on the far right, and the two Drosera binata clones in the tray, which were both growing up into the lights. As a result, the shorter plants were getting much less intense light. Also notice how much empty space there is around the D. 'Marston Dragon' and the utrics. Waste!

And here it is after reorganization.

It's still got problems, but this is a lot better than it was.

While the lights are still high, I was able to raise the milk crates with some lumber, since the two D. binata clones are living down on the right with my D. 'Marston Dragon' and the utrics. I also moved down my Drosera spiralis, which is getting really tall. Incidentally, I also took the opportunity to remove a grassy weed that had taken root in the pot. As in, its roots were 2 feet long and had gone all around the tray. Hopefully I don't find it popping up elsewhere.

While this still isn't as efficient a use of space as I'd like, I do have a lot more room in the large tray to expand. The main difficulty has been fitting the Dragon in with other plants. Also, I need to find some small square containers for utrics that will fit together more nicely than the round ones I have.

The second growing area didn't go through as much of a shift, because it was being more efficiently used to begin with. Here it is before.

This area had always felt cramped when it was like this.

And then after reorganization.

Everything feels airier and less cramped now.

The primary change is that the tall-sided tray on the right has been swapped out for two shallower (and thus easier to access) trays side-by-side. I've also moved some shorter plants from the first area over here, and took some of the taller ones from here over there. Generally, plant density has increased, which is made easier by the fact that almost all the pots in here are square.

My favorite change though was a total accident. In order to get better access to the plants, I raised the lights in front up 4 inches or so, while leaving the back down low. It made a world of difference! I can see my plants better, reach in to access them for feeding, it's great. Ever since I'd filled this growspace I've been frustrated with how difficult it is to enjoy the plants I have growing in here, and this has made it so much better. What a simple fix.

Now, it has also lowered the light level for the plants in front. We'll have to see how that goes, but I suspect it will be fine. This is always a tradeoff when growing plants under lights, and it has to reflect why you are growing them. I know some people use LEDs to grow, in order to give plants more of the red and blue spectrum they need. LEDs are more efficient than fluoros, and the plants probably appreciate it. However, I grow my plants because they are beautiful, and I want to have them on display to be admired whenever, not bathed in weird colors. Therefore, I sometimes sacrifice optimal lighting for better aesthetics. If I were growing commercially I would absolutely use LEDs for propagation and growing out, weird light colors be damned.

In any case, that's what I think about lighting. Here's my propagation area, the only change to which has been that now its even emptier. Before:

This area really needed the least work.

And then after:

It feels so empty.

I clearly need to get more plants into propagation.

I'm glad I got my growing areas in order. I'm much happier with how they look, and am looking forward to getting more plants to fill them up even more.

Finally, an update on the Summer Batch. While I was moving things around I peeked in to see if there was any more action. Several of the leaf cutting strikes had gotten markedly bigger, and the Drosera tokaiensis and Drosera capillaris seedlings are much more noticeable. In addition, I noticed a strike on...Drosera venusta!

D. venusta leaf cutting reaching for the stars.

I also noticed new strikes on Drosera madagascariensis. Looks like I've got some new plants on the way :)

The Summer Batch

Sown/Started:

• 7-9-14 Drosera intermedia 'Cuba'
• 7-9-14 Drosera burmannii Humpty Doo
• 7-9-14 Drosera tokaiensis
• 7-9-14 Drosera capillaris Alabama
• 7-9-14 Drosera adelae
• 7-9-14 Drosera anglica CA x HI
• 7-9-14 Drosera madagascariensis Masoala, Madagascar
• 7-9-14 Drosera venusta

Germinated/Struck:

• 8-4-14 Drosera anglica CA x HI, struck. Date approximate.
• 8-11-14 Drosera tokaiensis, germinated.
• 8-11-14 Drosera capillaris Alabama, germinated.
• 8-11-14 Drosera madagascariensis Masoala, Madagascar, struck
• 8-11-14 Drosera adelae, struck
• 8-14-14 Drosera venusta, struck

Grower Interview: bluemax

This is part of a series of conversations with other growers about their experiences growing carnivorous plants. It's always useful to see how someone else does things! The full series can be read here, or by grower at the Series page.

I first encountered bluemax posting about petiolaris sundews on Terra Forums some months ago, and he kindly agreed to sit down with me on IRC for the first in the Grower Interview series of posts. He chose to be referred to in this interview as "bluemax," which is the name under which he is active in CP communities on the internet. We chatted last night, and he very kindly also shared a few photos of his collection. Enjoy.


Sundews Etc.       So, thanks for agreeing to chat about plants for the blog.

bluemax       Sure. I'm looking forward to it. I can always chat about growing cps.

Drosera paradoxa grown by bluemax.

SE       How long have you been growing carnivores?

BM       Well, this is my third stint. I had a very unsuccessful run when I was a pre-teenager then began again when I was in my 20's and then 25 years later this session began.
BM      So about 4 years this last time. A lot has changed.

SE      In terms of hardware/technology?
SE      Or the plants that are available?

BM      Yes :)

SE      Hahah

BM      When I was growing in the 70's there were only 3 species of Nepenthes I could get ahold of and I had better connections than most.

SE      Wow.
SE      What sort of plants do you grow? Is there a specific genus you focus on?

BM      I now focus on sundews but I grow a bit of many genera.
BM      I also grow utrics, pings, a few neps, drosos and Byblis. Oh, and sarrs.

SE      Well we all end up growing Utrics :p
SE      I'm also a sundew fan.

BM      Sundews are the coolest!

SE      I love how diverse the genus is.
SE      So many different adaptations to different conditions.

BM      Yes, they come in so many shapes and sizes.
BM      I'm also a big fan of the humble vft.

SE      How big is your collection, roughly?

BM      If I gave it in square footage it wouldn't amount to much, being a 55 gal and a 10 gal terrarium, and then some very large and smaller pots outside.
BM      How about you?

SE      I have 6 or 7 pots outside in a couple trays, and several trays inside under lights.
SE      Something like 35 species
SE      How many species/clones do you have?

BM      I counted 29 a few months ago but I missed some and I have gathered a few more since then. It never ends.

SE      Hahahah of course not.

BM      One of the great things about Drosera is they mostly don't take up a lot of space.

SE      Absolutely, that's part of why I grow them.
SE      What are your growing environments like?

BM      The big terra is sub-tropical with moderately high humidity. The smaller 10 gal terra is the 'hot tank' that I grow petiolaris 'dews in. The out of doors is temperate with cool winters and moderate summers, and lots of rain.

A variety of sundews growing in bluemax's larger terrarium. Apparently it's much more full these days.

SE      You live in the Pacific Northwest, right?

BM      Right.
BM      Do you focus on any particular groups?

SE      I'm a sundew grower.

BM      S. African? S. American? US?

SE      I've got mostly subtropical species right now, but I'd very much like to start growing petiolaris 'dews soon.

BM      Petiolaris sundews are a rational project for any intermediate/advanced grower.

SE      I like Sarracenia because they're so striking, but I'll need to work out a less expensive water source if I want to expand my collection.

BM      That would be a limiting factor if I couldn't collect rain water as the sarrs do use a lot of it.

SE      I was just going to ask if you collected rain water.
SE      So you use that for all of your plants?

BM      Yes, I use rain water almost exclusively these days.

SE      Hahah that must be nice.
SE      How much time do you spend with your collection each week?
SE      Like, actively.
SE      Propagating/feeding etc.

BM      Good question. I think it averages 3-6 hours. There's always something to repot and when that builds up the time I spend might increase.
BM      But I deal with them in some capacity pretty much daily.
BM      I'm always watching for some seeds or other to sprout out.

SE      Sure.
SE      What's your least favorite CP chore?
SE      I really dislike preparing media, but that's probably because I haven't developed a good system for it.

BM      Hmm. Mixing media can be a task. I really dislike dealing with pests, which fortunately hasn't happened this year.

SE      Yeah, I haven't had many problems with pests so far. What sort of pests do you get?

BM      Often in the fall when I bring plants in to winter indoors I will bring aphids with them. Also I sometimes have to deal with chewing pests in my bog pots outside.
BM      On the plus side I usually bring springtails indoors when I bring in plants.

SE      Springtails! My 'dews would love that.

BM      Springtails are easy to culture indoors and are the best for feeding 'dew seedlings.

SE      How do you deal with the aphids?

BM      I generally use Bayer 3-way as I find systemic insecticides are most effective. The stuff is very toxic and kills springtails too.

SE      You use T5 lights in your terraria, right?

BM      Yes. But if I were setting them up again I would probably use T8s as they are cheaper and easier to come by. The larger size isn't too much of a problem to me.

SE      Huh, that's good to know.
SE      I use T8s but have been thinking about using T5s on upcoming grow spaces.
SE      T5s are cheaper per lumen, but I don't spend too much on lights anyway.
SE      How long a photoperiod do your indoor plants get?

BM      For the subtropicals it varies from about 10 hours in winter to about 13 hours in summer. I like the plants to have seasonal changes.
BM      I often have problems getting rid of the heat produced by the T5s.

SE      That's good with the petiolaris dews though, I imagine.

BM      With the petiolaris tank the heat of the lights is fine as long as the cover glass doesn't get too warm. If it does it shrivels the leaves and tentacles of the plants.

SE      Interesting.

BM      So I have to allow enough space from the lights to the glass.
BM      With a taller tank this wouldn't be an issue.

SE      Do you grow any pygmies?
SE      I was just wondering if the photoperiod changes result in gemmae production.

BM      All I have is scorpioides. I suspect someday I will grow others.
BM      When the photoperiod drops in the winter – that is when I adjust it – the scorps do produce gemmae. I would like to avoid that as they take months to recover.

SE      Speaking of lights and stuff, how much does your collection cost you per month?
SE      In terms of lighting bills, media, new plants, etc.

BM      I've never added it up. I buy media sporadically and I really don't run that many tubes. I mostly use peat and that is still only about $10 for a large bale of compressed material.

SE      That doesn't sound too expensive.

BM      The only time I feel the expense is when I am setting up a new large outdoor pot.

SE      Probably less than $40/mo, huh?

BM      I would think so. Also, if I am to replace old florescent tubes that can get expensive. I really need to do that soon.
BM      It would be interesting to do an entire year's expenses and see just what I spend.

Drosera dilatato-petiolaris growing in bluemax's "hot tank."

SE      What do your family/friends think about your hobby? Are you in any CP societies?

BM      My family and friends view me as sufficiently eccentric that it is to be expected, I'm guessing. :p I do get complements, tho'.
BM      I am sort of a co-founder of the Portland Area CP meeting group. We do meetings every month at a local pub. It's a ton of fun.

SE      That sounds great.

BM      It happened very spontaneously after a few of us made some in person plant trades.

SE      Part of why I'm doing this interview series is to get more grower interaction.

BM      The reason I dropped out of growing cps the last time, in the 80's, was because I had no interaction with other growers.

SE      I know when I was first starting out it would have helped to be able to ask people questions about solving specific problems.
SE      Speaking of, do you mix/prepare your media in any special way?
SE      As I mentioned, that's my least favorite part of growing plants.

BM      I have variations for different genera/ species. My standard is peat with recycled glass sand and perlite. I wet the perlite down and just stir the ingredients together in a large enough container. If I am on top of it I put the resulting mix into a large screen collander and pour water through it to drain off dissolved impurities.
BM      You get less 'green slime' this way but it's not too intensive. For outside plants, which get top-water, I don't rinse at all.

SE      No really intensive washing, then.
SE      I have a hard time pouring water through my media, I think it's too heavy.
SE      My current bale of peat is very fine.

BM      Maybe if you used more sand or other added materials to break it up some?

SE      Yeah I'm going to try upping my sand ratio for my next batch.

BM      What are your favorite species right now?

SE      I love Drosera burmannii.
SE      I started some from seed back around Christmas, and they've grown so quickly.
SE      I also like pygmies, especially Drosera allantostigma.
SE      It's a really pretty sundew.
SE      How about you?

BM      I like burmanii, too. I am looking forward to trying sessilifolia.

SE      I'm trying to get my hands on some sessilifolia.

BM      Right now I am very focused on petiolaris sundews but that will surely shift.

SE      Any particular favorite in that group?

BM      I don't think so. When I go down the list I really like each species a lot. I am very fond of paradoxa especially.

SE      Are there any big goals for your collection in the next year or so?
SE      New grow spaces, plants to acquire, anything like that?

BM      I am still looking for the species I don't have of the petiolaris sundews. Overall tho' I am hoping to grow healthier/bigger plants in that time. I always find some challenges to deal with and I want to find solutions, ha!

SE      Yeah that's sort of how it goes.

BM      How about you?

SE      I'm going to either start a high-temp petiolaris tank or a cool highland setup soon.
SE      Depending on whether I decide to start with petiolaris 'dews or Orchidiodes utrics/S. American 'dews.

BM      Those are both cool and interesting projects.

SE      Can you think of any mistakes you made growing CPs that you've learned from?

BM      It is hard to focus in on one or two, ha! So many mistakes but lots of learning, I hope.

SE      What's your favorite part of collecting carnivorous plants?

BM      A great question.
BM      I think sharing experiences, images or conversation with others who also collect them. It multiplies the experience, which is pretty amazing even before.

SE      I like how active they are.
SE      They feel very alive and responsive, besides just being very interesting to look at.

BM      I agree. It adds to the aliveness a lot for me.

SE      I think it makes them especially fun to trade and discuss, because it feels like you meet a new personality whenever you get a new plant.

BM      Yes, a new species is a whole new world.
BM      Of favorite species I would like to add D. slackii. They never bloom for me but they get freakin' huge.

Drosera slackii grown by bluemax.

SE      Hmm, D. slackii.
SE      That's one of the winter-growing S. African species, right?

BM      More of a standard sub-tropical. Mine really do well when it is hitting 90 in the terra every day. They like a lot of humidity.

SE      I'll have to seek it out.
SE      Well thanks for sitting down for an interview!
SE      It was fun.

BM      You bet. I enjoyed it as well.