D. spatulata flowering

[shawnintland]

Help! My D. spatulata is sending up flower stalks and I am wondering if I should trim them before they open so that, like D. burmaii they don't set the plant back, or if they react differently? Looks like I only have a day or two to decide so would love feedback as soon as possible! This is the 'Pink flowered" variety from Athena and it's about 1 1/2" in diameter and has about 35 leaves right now. I'm also wondering if they will self pollenate from the single plant? Any knowledgable instructions welcomed!
Thanks,
Shawn

[arvin555]

Shawn, someone told me that almost all plants do slightly get reduced growth, etc. from flowering. On the other hand some plants don't really get affected much. For what it's worth all my Spatulatas are flowering, 4 of them, and some have multiple flowers. I let them flower because I like the seeds, and I do not see any problem with their health.

I am not sure what you call the technique of pollenating the flowers that bloom with whatever is blooming, regardless if it's the same plant or the other. But technically they can be self pollenating I understand, I've even used a toothpick to get pollen from a flower and pollenate the same flower. I have a few seeds for my trouble.

As of now I have 3 flowerstalks blooming in different stages, no obvious problems with the main plant. Plus Spatulatas I understand are not annuals anyway.

Still after all that I said, I hope the drosera experts in the forum will also comment.

TTFN
Arvin

[TS]

Hi Shawn, don't have to worry too much on the flower, spatulata flower freely, flowering actually don't effect too much on the plant growth. It normally self pollinate. Just ignore the plant, let nature handle it.

[strath76]

Flowering wont set the spatulata back. The flowers do self pollinate and the only problem you may have with this is that they tend to spread through all pots that are near them. If you don't mind having spatulata's in all your pots then just leave them, otherwise you will need to remove them prior to the seed pods opening.

[shawnintland]

Thanks everyone!
Shawn

[arvin555]

Shawn,

What I do is that when I know that all the flowers of that stalk is already dried and brown, I just cut them off and put them in a small container for further drying. Then I just shake them and all the seeds will come out.

Because of the generosity of my spatulatas, I am going to try to make a shallow minibog and sow the seeds in them and see if I can populate it with spatulatas first, then maybe I can transfer some VFTs, etc. in the future

I love spatulatas so I wouldn't mind if they are found all over my garden. We can just sell or give some off if they get too many.

By the way how old are your flowering Spatulatas again?

TTFN
Arvin

[shawnintland]

Hi Arvin,

Hmmm, I received the plant from Athena in March or April. Not sure how old it was then but it's really 'beefed up' even though it barely gets any direct sun. We have had a pretty wet year so I've had to keep 'em on my porch which only gets an hour of direct sun in the early morning. I've emptied a lot of my terrariums that were full of nep seedlings so think I'll try one out in the nursery laid on it's side to protect the Droseras and give them more full sun.

The mini-bog sounds great, but we are only a few months away from monsoon here so I'll have to wait to try it out! Hey, how did the big storm in the Philippines effect things where you are?
Shawn

[arvin555]

The big storm? The one that sank that ferry? It was gave us strong winds, and quite a bit of rain, but no problem in Manila... much. The rain actually flooded a container that had seeds, which probably caused it to only produce just one plant now.

As my CPs are grown on a veranda, I made sure that my prize plants were protected from the high winds, that included my sarracenias and some Neps. I lost a Nep cutting to the wind, either fell or flew off!

I posted a question in the forum about Drosera and too much rain, no one really replied, so I just left them as is, they get strong rain when it does rain. So far I think that the Capensis might not like to be pelted by rain, but it might just be coincidence. The D. Capensis, several plants have recently produced shorter leaves than before. I might consider protecting them from direct rain in the future by making a "roof" but we'll see. Your can probably design a "roof" over your bog garden for the monsoon season In Manila we are in fact in the monsoon season now

TTFN
Arvin

[arvin555]

My Spatulatas:

[shawnintland]

Hey Arvin, I just acquired a small piece of property upon which I am going to set up a small propagation area for Drosera and a few other CPs. My porch has been straining under the load! While not ideal, it does get more sun and I found another shop going out of business and wanting to sell a whole bunch of metal shelving racks at reasonable prices...so, here we go! I'm off with the crew to start installing a water system and the racks this morning though it will take a few weeks before the area is operational. I've also started a larger shade house structure here at my nursery which I hope will open up a little more space on my porch as well. Your D. spatulata looks like the same pink flowered variety as mine. Getting loads of seed off of the two recent flower stalks (10 functional flowers on the most recent stalk) so the propagation area should get off to a good start!
By the way, here's a link to some nice Drosera pictures with labeling; http://www.plantarara.com/carnivoren...ra/drosera.htm