Drosera hookeri

Care instructions

How we grow Tuberous Drosera?
In-vitro plants are acclimated in a Grow Chamber with controlled temperatures and humidity. This indoor setup ensure an easy adaptation to extra-vitro condition, guaranteeing the best conditions for plants in this delicate stage. All plants available at the Diflora shop have been acclimatized for at least 3 months. After this first step the plant is brought outside, under direct sunlight with the classic tray system as watering method and so, keeping always some amount of water in the tray. As with the majority of carnivorous plants, we use distilled water produced by our reverse osmosis system. We use this system only for easy to grow erect tuberous Drosera.
For rosetted-like tuberous Drosera we induce tubers formation in vitro and we acclimate tubers directly outside during the beginning of their vegetative season (from September)

Lighting:
Full sunshine during the vegetation months, which for us coincide with the months between September and May. In summer It’s not necessary to expose the pot with dormant plants (with only tubers inside) to full sun. Although tubers are very hardy it is preferable to place the pots under some shade during the summer months to prevent the excessive heat of a closed system such as a pot from damaging the tuber of the more delicate species.

Water and Summer/Winter management:
The tubers are a form of defense that these Sundews use to shelter themselves from the heat and dryness of the summer period. During the summer, the pots containing the tubers should not be watered because with too much water they could easily rot.
With the arrival of cool September we behave differently: we can start moistening the soil from above more frequently and then gradually watering from below, adding the classic 2-3 cm of distilled water in the saucer. In this way we will simulate the beginning of the rainy season and the tuberous sundews will sprout from the soil in a short time.

Substrate:
For less demanding tuberous sundews, the classic mix of 50% peat and 50% perlite is fine, however, almost all tuberous sundews grow on sandy soil so ideally use a mix of 30% acidic peat and 70% quartz sand.

Seasonality and temperatures:
Those tuberous sundews that are less demanding and can tolerate temperatures even around 10°C (e.g., Drosera foliosa, Drosera auricolata, Drosera hookeri…), grow just fine inside a cold greenhouse or double window. The classic places where we shelter subtropical sundews for the winter! Many growers use terrariums for the more demanding tuberous sundews, this solution is advisable only for prostrate-shaped sundews as upright tuberous sundews tend to grow too tall to manage inside an enclosed system.

Additional info:
For more cultivation information visit our care guides or use our plant care support by writing to ilpigliamosche@diflora.it