Drosera Care Guide

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Drosera are the most diverse genus of Carnivorous Plant. They inhabit every continent except the Arctic. All Drosera produce a sticky dew which traps any insects that happen to land on them. Some species can then curl around there prey completely entrapping them. Due to there wide expansion across the globe different species have different growing conditions. I will only cover Drosera that will grow either in my cold greenhouse or the warmer greenhouse I heat to 8 degrees. There are plenty of free guides which will explain the best conditions for keeping each individual Drosera species. So some extra research is always helpful. 

I grow some of my Drosera in the cold greenhouse that isn't heated at all. This includes Drosera Capensis (all forms) and hardy Filliformis forms. These will survive frosts fine and will die right back and re grow again in the spring. I keep these a lot drier in the winter keeping them just damp to avoid botrytis. In the summer they grow using the tray method in a few cm of water. Most Drosera like bright direct sunlight. For these types I use a simple of mix of 50:50 peat and perlite. 

My other Drosera are grown in a greenhouse that is heated to a minimum of 8 degrees. These include Binata (all forms), Adelae, Scorpiodes, among many others. These are kept a bit wetter all year round as they don't particularly go dormant, however I let the tray dry out between waterings in the winter to help prevent rotting and botrytis. I tend to put these species in a sightly different mix with equal parts silica sand, perlite and peat. As with all Carnivorous plants these should only be watered with rain water (not tap water) or with water that has a low TDS reading.   

Drosera Binata and Capensis are by far the easiest species of carnivorous plant to grow and can often become weeds in collections. These will very happily grow in a windowsill in the house, outside or in the greenhouse.