Sundews come in many shapes and sizes but they all have one thing in common, dew. The majority of sundews have a long petiole with a "pad" on the end, as pictured here. The pad can be round, oblong, wedge shapped, among others. But the terminology is the same. A rare few do not have petioles, or it is very short. Those without a petiole have dew covered leaves, like Filiformis.

click for bigger pic

The sundews glisten in the sun, fooling insects into thinking their dew is nectar. When they land or crawl onto a leaf they become stuck. Most sundews will move more dew covered tentacles to further ensnare the prey. Some sundews will actually wrap their leaves around it. Pictured is a basic padded sundew. Once the prey is caught its held tight while the plant usually excretes more dew. The dew also has digestive enzymes that break the soft tissue down. Then its absorbed into the plant through special glands (Sessile glands) in the pad or leaf. You will be stunned with how large the prey can be. Cape sundews can take down the largest dragonflies!

The deeper their dormancy the less light is needed. A garage or shed makes an excellent location for dormant plants. Plants that maintain their leaves through the dormancy should be placed near a window where they can get a little light. Sundews that truly go dormant do fine without light, treat them with a fungicide though. Pictured is rotundifolia after it has entered dormancy, this is one capable of withstanding deep hard freezes.

The hardest part of dormancy I have found is how moist to keep the media. Storing them in bags in the fridge is easy for the truly dormant ones. Leaving them outside for a natural dormancy is harder. If the media becomes too wet the sundews will rot and die. Too dry and they die. You need to keep the media just moist, never standing in water during dormancy. You can check out the "Winterization" section for more info, the detailed flytrap-in-the-fridge instructions applies to hard winter sundews too.

I have found most dormant sundews to be happy next to cold draft producing windows in the winter time. Anyplace that leaks some of the cold air in should do as long as it gets some sunlight too, or you help with flourescents. Keep the plant very close to the window so it gets the maximum amount of light and draft. A lot of light isn't needed. Preferably this area stays several degrees cooler than the rest of the house all the time, especially at night. This works exceptionally well if you can slightly crack open the window too. For some of you this is an ideal setup. Keep the media just moist and no more, not standing in water for sure.

For those lucky few that do not see winters get below 60°F, dormancy could become a problem. I would get sundews that either do not require a dormancy or go truly dormant. Sundews that can take temps well below freezing are truly dormant and can spend their dormancy in the fridge.
If your on the border you may squeak by. Just make sure to adjust the lights so they know its winter. When growth slows keep them drier and as cool as you can, leave them outside at night or by an open window. Keep them out of direct sun and any other heat sources during the day. When normal growth resumes go back to your normal growing methods. Often this is enough to get them by, at least the ones that maintain their leaves throughout the winter. Optionally you can collect seed or take cuttings to keep them growing year round as the older ones die.

As with everything else, don't let dormancy become too difficult. The plants know they need it and they will try to enter it. The #1 thing is the light duration. As winter comes the days get shorter and thats how the plants gauge what season it is. Almost everywhere the temps will start to cool, at least to some degree, this helps too. The sundew will slow or stop their growth, or form hibernating crowns as pictured above. All you have to do is keep them alive during this time, which means not as much water. Try to keep them noticeably cooler and more often than not it will do the trick. If they stay dormant for a few months then you did it, simple as that.

WATER - The most important thing about water is the type to use. I personally use reverse osmosis water. Distilled from the store and rain water are also acceptable, if they are sodium free. Make sure it says "Sodium Free" right on the front of the jug. If you have very many plants a reverse-osmosis under the sink model from Lowe's/Menards/Home Depot/etc. will pay for itself pretty quick. Make sure to figure in the upkeep costs.

The other thing about water is how much to use. Use a plastic pot with drainage holes and place it in a plastic water tray. Keep at least a 1/4" of water in the tray at all times, more if in bright light. The more light the more water can be tolerated. If sundews are not in high levels of light you have to be careful not to over water or the roots will rot. When grown inside use 1/4" of water in the water tray, replaced after it has evaporated, generally works well for 4" pots. For 6" pots 1/2" to an 1" will do better. The goal is to keep the media moist at all times but not wet. Some sundews do not handle overhead watering well.

To date I have not found one sundew that does not grow happily in moist media. Some people recommend growing some species in wet to semi-aquatic media. I have found this totally un-necessary, even deadly to plants grown indoors. Just keep the media moist and they will do fine. Otherwise you risk root rot, especially when growing them indoors.

Then you get into the top or bottom water argument. Tray watering is bottom watering and pouring water on the soil is top watering. There are many ways to do both and some are certainly better than others.
This is my take on it:

Indoor Grown Sundews:
Inside plants are not as healthy/hardy as plants grown outside. They need to be kept drier than plants outdoors or their roots will rot. So I recommend using the tray system and not watering over head in these conditions, especially with sundews. It helps the top stay drier which prevents crown rot too. Over watering is a major cause of death to Sundews grown indoors. Just make sure you don't let the media dry out or the plant will die.

Outdoor Grown Sundews:
Sundews grown outside are healthier, hardier plants in general. They are not as prone to rot. They get rained on, wind blown and a whole host of other natural occurring phenomena. So pouring a little water on the top of the media is generally not going to hurt anything. Just be careful not to pour to fast or the media will be washed away and the roots upset. Make sure you don't create a hollow area under ground hugging rosetted sundews, especially under the ceneter. Use the tray system too, keep them in standing water all the time during the growing season.

Don't make watering Sundews harder than it is. It's easy to become overwhelmed if your new to carnivorous plants. All you need to do is use acceptable water (bottled/RO sodium free) and keep the media moist. Thats really all there is to it. Lack of water can be noticed and corrected before perma-death sets in. Over-watering leads to death most often with no chance at recovery, mainly due to root rot.

If something bad ever happens and you think you will loose the plant take a cutting. Use the best looking leaf and hope for the best. Cuttings are covered in the propagation section of the website. Since sundews are so easy to propagate you should never have just one of any of them. I generally take a cutting or two whenever a new plant is introduced to my collection to ensure it stays part of the collection.

SOIL - Sundews evolved to eat bugs to make up for the nutrient poor acidic soil they naturally live in. Regular dirt or potting soil kills sundews fast, and never use fertilizer. I use 40% Sphagnum peat moss and 60% perlite, sometimes 1/4 part silica sand. You can mix in 25% long fibered sphagnum moss and/or use it for a top dressing if you like. I like doing both with Sundews. Make sure you get pure Sphagnum peat moss, you don't want Miracle Grow or any other chemicals mixed in with it.

If you use sand make sure you use silica sand. Make sure you don't inhale the dust from the sand though. You can grow almost all of the Sundews in pure long fiber sphagnum too, some sundews prefer it.

The more sand you use the faster the media is going to dry out. For this reason I never go above 50% sand in any media.

If you don't use sand make sure over half the mix is perlite, 40/60 or 30/70 peat/perlite. This mix is acceptable for sundews and flytraps. The perlite allows for plenty of air pockets and good drainage which helps keep the roots from rotting.

The majority of small pre-moistend peat bags are contaminated. Get the dry sphagnum peat moss that comes in bails. If a bail is to much for you we sell smaller quantities in the Web Store section. Or click HERE to go directly to Soil.

LIGHT - Some Sundews do not require bright light, but not many. D. Adelae can survive happily in fairly low light conditions, an excellent windowsill candidate. Sundews generally grow in the shade of another plant or other obstacle in the wild. Bright shade to partial sun generally works fine for the vast majority.

I grow most of my sundews under fluorescent lighting. If fluorescent is the primary source of light use two 40 watt cool white 4' bulbs within 8" - 14" over the plant. An economical shop light works well for this. Put the light on a timer to go on and off with the sun. Most sundews will appear to have reddish glue drops if they are getting enough light and some will develop color in the leaves. So long as they are producing dew the light is generally fine, some produce clear glue drops.

Direct sun and/or excessive temps can burn the dew off sundews. But most will acclimate fine into full sun, or close to it, if given a chance.

Watch the leaves, short tight compact plants mean to much light, or the plant is spending all of its energy producing more plants. Long thin (stringy) leaves generally means not enough light.

Signs of too much light are leaf tips turning brown (also a sign of low humidity) and yellowing of leaves or red spots on the leaves. The leaves generally get red splotches, then turn red, then brown and die prematurely. If this happens to old leaves its often not a big deal, but new ones should do fine. If the new ones still have problems you need to reduce the light. Proper acclamation will prevent burning, or at lest minimize it.

HUMIDITY - Humidity is not an issue for most of the sundews. Light is what gives them the ability to produce dew, not humidity. Generally 35% and better is fine once they get acclimated to it.

Drosera Adalae - Adalae can grow happily in low light conditions, shaded areas and flourescents work great. Keep media just moist, these can take drier conditions than any cp I have come across. Do not let it totally dry out though or it will die. They are a bit finicky, pestacides/fungicides can kill them but they generally return from the roots. If this one dies always give it time to come back from the roots, its excellent at it.

click for bigger pic

Forked sundews - This group of sundews need a lot of light. Grow outside in partial to full sun. They can all tolerate very wet media but only require it moist. They will all benefit from a brief moderate winter lasting a couple months and cooling to 50°F or so. Drosera Binata and Dichitoma can handle brief frosts. Look best in hanging pots.

Drosera rotundifolia - They do best in long fiber sphagnum moss. One of the most cold hardy sundews, capable of withstanding temps to -50°F.

Drosera linearis - Dormant temps need to remain below freezing for 4 - 5 months.

Drosera Filiformis, both tracyi & filiformis can tolerate winter temps down to 10°F.

Drosera intermedia (Temperate Forms) can tolerate winter temps down to -50°F just like rotundifolia. Some of these go dormant and some do not so make sure you know which type you are getting. Some say grow these waterlogged, I find it not needed, but generally tolerated in sandy media. I grow them the same as the rest of the sundews.

D. Intermedia

The Pygmy & Tuberous Sundews need a summer dormancy. These have growing conditions that are a bit different from most sundews. Please use the link above for their growing instructions.

Most sundews will grow happily in a bog or mini-bog garden outside. With the wide variety of Sundews you should be able to find some that can grow outside year round where you live.

Make sure to label your sundews and keep track of their growing needs. The growing information generally comes with the plant or is provided at the time of purchase. This will help if you have problems with it later. Plus if you want to trade later it helps to know what sundew you have to offer.

Some of the easiest sundews to grow are: Alicia, any of the capes, any of the forks, spatulata, nidiformis. They all self seed so its easy to keep them in your collection, and they are easy to grow. Peltata is the easiest tuberous sundew in my opinion. Most sundews are fairly easy to grow but those listed are the most forgiving. Plus they come back from their roots extremely well if you accidently kill them.

Just use the correct water and media, keep in bright indirect light, fill the water tray and refill after its empty, and you'll be amazed how easy most of them are to grow.