TUBEROUS DROSERA

Tuberous droseras are all from Australia. There cultivation is near the same as pygmy droseras but their habit is different.

They grow in winter and sometimes in autumn during cool and wet season. Australian winter is not very cold. Some will bloom at the beginning of their growth others at the end. At the end of spring because of heat and lack of water they will slowly go dormant. All the aerial parts of the plant disappear. There is only a tuber left few centimeters below ground surface which will grow back the next season.

Their cultivation is not very difficult if you respect this cycle. The most difficult is to start with a tuber from Australia when you are in the North hemisphere. In that case it's better to have a short growing period and a long rest the first year. Transition to dormancy is the trickiest part. Tuber must be kept damp but not too much nor dry. If the plant has caught lots of insects it will produce new underground shoots, some new tubers which could start growing immediately or the next year. They need a lot of energy to go through the dry season. You can sometime feed them with something like aquarium fishes dry food.

- Drosera erythrorhiza ssp. magma is my first tuberous drosera!

- Drosera peltata ssp. auriculata is rather easy and small.

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Drosera erythrorhiza ssp. magma :

It produces a rosette of 3 to 5 leaves and as they have opened flowers appear. They smell very good! If it had eat enough it will produce new tubers and with little chance you will see an other plant growing at the end of spring.

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Drosera peltata ssp. auriculata :

At the beginning it grows in a rosette but finally produces some erected scape with its triangle like leaves. I grow them from seeds and it's probably the easiest tuberous drosera even if it took few month.

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Last modification on Saturday 08/02/2008
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