Cut Back Your Cape Sundew

[@tironjr]

My Drosera Capensis red form died back so often and it came back everytime. I think Drosera Capensis is the Perfect Beginnerplant because it is unkillable.

[@OleanderSmoothie]

Damon's laugh is delightful, I love his humor!😂 It's good to know how hardy these plants are and that we can start fresh if we need to!

[@wasabijim]

I just got the narrow leaf Drosera Capensis and Drosera Capensis Alba as a birthday gift and I'm in love them! I've been watching so many of your videos and browsing your website and can't get enough. I'm going to try some more, possibly the Pinguicula cyclosecta and definitely a venus fly trap. I live in Socal so they will do great here.

[@mshanklin11]

I have two cape sundews that I bought from you earlier this year, and narrow leaf and a wide leaf. They are amazing and have grown like crazy! Thank you for sharing this video. I'm very attached to them now and I would panic if they looked like that. It's great to know that if that happens I can just cut off the top and they'll grow back!

[@peterphan227]

Ah I can't wait to do this. I've been trimming off all the dead leaves/branches. It will be satisfying to start fresh right at the soil level.

[@batteryweasel]

Don't forget to give us a 6 month update on this plant in april!

[@Frostfire40]

This is actually really useful to know so when I grow my cape sundew, I'm getting seeds in the mail soon, and it gets pretty big, I have the option of cutting it back to limit the size if necessary. Thank you for the info!

[@lovesyorkies3395]

I’ll bet the first time you did that was difficult to do. I absolutely love my droseras…I had some babies and after they got bigger, I gave a few away to friends (coworkers). I have two VFTs on my desk with a sign not to touch the traps but I do explain a lot of energy goes to the trap closing so I’d prefer to let them catch something on their own. I also have a drosera and 5 pings. I’m converting my coworkers into carnivorous plant parents slowly but surely. 😂😂😂 I have 10 different houseplants throughout my office so I need gnat control. 😆sorry been rambling on. Great video! Thank you!

[@California_Carnivores]

I love that you’re slowly converting everyone to carnivorous plant enthusiasts! They’re such fun plants to grow!

[@deydreamer]

That evil laugh is something else

[@ClausCarnivores]

Ahh I never did this with my sundews, but as you said, they mostly come back when they died. Also some other Droseras like aliciae or hamiltonii, slackii, cuneifolia die almost completely above ground and still grow some weeks afterwards from their roots.

[@twistedadrenaline6892]

I did this and was worried that it just died because the stump started turning brown, but now I have 2 little babies making their way up from the side of the old growth point!

[@flaviuskrakdaddius5854]

Capensis grow like weeds in my climate, but I've never tried this, and am eager to give it a go!

[@CTRCHOICE]

Can you do a video someday about growing various species via root cuttings?

[@MrsMelissaTroy]

❤ thank you for making this video! I just dug my sundew out of a trash bag after watching this video because I thought she was a goner! I replanted her, and you were so right, her roots were nice and big and long. I felt so bad for tossing her out and now I feel so much better. Fingers crossed for my Cleopatra! I also thought her long stem with dead leaves was a bad thing, until I started watching your videos. I had no idea that’s how she was supposed to look, I probably don’t have to cut her stem at all! These videos are very helpful! I am new to carnivorous plants and I just bought a new ceres sundew from you, so now hopefully I will have two sundews if Cleo makes it. A question please: what kind of green moss do you use on the top of your peat moss? And do you sell it?

[@California_Carnivores]

Your comments made me so happy!! This is why we make these videos!!! We have a natural little star moss that pops up in our pots and spread throughout the nursery. If you order from us, chances are good it’ll come on your plant 😂

[@andress.6508]

Favorite moment 2:12

[@sedumzz3289]

If it's just a very tall palm tree-like cape sundew, would it be possible to root the healthy top?

[@California_Carnivores]

They do eventually turn into little palm trees! You can stake them up and enjoy they’re weird little growth or you can repot them and try burying the stalks (this doesn’t always work well) or you can cut them back. If you cut off the top and try to root it, it can be very tricky because you have to stimulate root growth while the plant is maintaining all those leaves, which is tough!

[@cindymitchell5114]

I accidentally did this several months ago in my bog,now I have 5 sundew off the old root system!🙀🤩

[@d0peshow]

Balls of steel right there.

[@johnelliott7850]

Good tip. I've got a couple of species both claiming to be 'Cape Sundews' and/or 'South African Sundews', but I'm sure the procedure could apply to both (thank god for Carl Linnaeus).

[@NAYALDEV1]

Video of how it came back please!!!!!!

[@California_Carnivores]

Unfortunately we made this video a few years ago but if I do it again I’ll make an “After” video

[@thedohhh]

If the roots are coming through the bottom of the pot into the water tray, do i need to repot?

[@California_Carnivores]

Thats a good problem to have! I would re-pot that into a taller pot.

[@thedohhh]

@@California_Carnivores awesome. I repotted already!

[@jamiedruby9573]

How tall can a Capensis grow?

[@California_Carnivores]

Close to a foot tall before they fall over!

[@annturner7088]

I wish to know if moss growing on top of plant is good or bad ? As it seems to almost smother my pingicular and my Venus fly trap

[@California_Carnivores]

It can smother out smaller plants so we trim it back but it also holds moisture in really well so it has benefits!

[@ImDeskin_NotYou]

Hey! Ive got a stem on my Binata var. binata, and 1. I dont like it, 2. The plant is unhappy at the top, but ive been giving it 12+ hours of bright direct light, a constant 60+ humidity, and in water all the time. I get its dormancy, but it hasnt been getting colder in my house, and it sits under a 25W grow light......what do i do?

[@California_Carnivores]

It may need to go in the fridge to trigger a real dormancy but you could skip this. And if it’s growing kind of weird long leaves that aren’t dewy, the light just isn’t quite enough and you’ll want to increase the day length or move it closer to the plant!

[@unrealcow666]

Is it only cape sundew or all sundew?

[@California_Carnivores]

Some other sundews can do this trick too but you want to be careful; many of the rosetted ones will regrow and so will regia

[@UncleKai263]

What time of year would you recommend cutting?

[@California_Carnivores]

You can do it anytime but winter would be the hardest

[@meuandthelot]

🤺 Thank you 🤝

[@seizedcarcass8440]

Can I do this to any sundew? Like a spatulata?

[@California_Carnivores]

Only some sundews will regrow from the roots and spatulata can, not as reliably, but it can.

[@Tinka_109]

So if one strand on cape sunder starts turning black do we trim it?

[@California_Carnivores]

You can trim back dead leaves

[@Tinka_109]

@@California_Carnivores just the leaves or the whole stem of the strand that is black?

[@California_Carnivores]

@@Tinka_109 if just the leaf has died back, just cut that off. The leaves die back naturally over time. As long as the crown of the plant is healthy and growing, it’s happy and doesn’t need to be cut back at the stem 😊

[@Tinka_109]

@@California_Carnivores thank you!!

[@minidevil3211]

can i use live spham moss on my carnivores plants

[@California_Carnivores]

You can!

[@minidevil3211]

@@California_Carnivores for the hole pot two

[@HelgrafFireHammer]

I have a drosera Scorpioides I got a few days ago, and everything with it is going fine; didn't repot it, let it in the original peat, tray watering with distilled water, all that. But for some reason the tips of all the new growth on it is turning brown? The pre existing growth is doing fine but the new ones are developing brown tips. Someone suggested it could be hemic acid buildup but I didn't repot the plant, if it were that, wouldn't the pre existing traps also have that brown tip? I'm not sure what can be causing it though, so any help is appreciated :)

[@California_Carnivores]

They sometimes just do that, they’re not long lived plants and some will die back every year. It can be hard to figure out what’s normal and what’s caused by something controllable. I would make sure your temps are cooling down, and there’s a nice drop in the night time temps.

[@HelgrafFireHammer]

@@California_Carnivores understood :) thankfully I noticed some of the pre existing traps on it are starting to turn a bit red like on some photos so I guess its just acclimating to a new environment? Here's hoping it recovers!

[@California_Carnivores]

@@HelgrafFireHammer it could also be a summer dormancy. They usually look D E A D when they go summer dormant after a heat wave and it it alarming every time 😂

[@jamiedruby9573]

Wow thanks

[@enriquealvarez8786]

Mind blown!