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Intro / Photos / Info / Growlist / Sales & Trades /
Wanted / Links / Contact
WELCOME TO SUNDEW MATT'S
CARNIVOROUS PLANT WEBSITE
INTRO: Thanks for visiting my web page. My name's
SundewMatt and I'm a carnivorous plant (CP) grower from the Northeastern U.S.
I have been growing carnivorous plants indoors in terraria, under
artificial lights, for many years. I started when I was only 12 - I'm now
almost 30.
I am unique among CPers in that I specialize in sundews
(Drosera). The sundew's leaves are covered with many sticky
tentacles - when an insect lands on these tentacles, it gets stuck. As it
struggles to escape, it gets covered with adhesive and digestive enzymes which
eventually help to break down the insects body so that the plant can absorb
nutrients it can't get from the nutrient-poor soil in which it grows. Many
of you know of the Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). This plant is
said to have "active traps" because of its moving parts. While sundew
tentacles often slowly fold over their prey, they are considered "passive
fly-paper traps". Although it's not as much fun watching sundews catch
their prey, they are, in my opinion, much more beautiful than any other
carnivorous plants.
Sundews are quite diverse - they come in all
different shapes and sizes and can be found all over the world. They have
adapted to a wide range of conditions. Many grow in permanently wet areas.
http://www.budget.coms, particularly Australian tuberous and South African summer-dormant
species, experience seasonal drought and go dormant when it's dry. There
are temperate species from North America and Europe which form tight, protective
buds called hibernacula in preparation for the cold winter. Tiny pygmy
species from Australia often grow no larger than a dime and reproduce asexually
by means of gemmae. I concentrate on growing plants from South America
and Africa as they are rare and unusual yet easy to grow under the
conditions I can provide. I also grow a variety of other"tropical"
Drosera, such as the northern Australian petiolaris complex.
It is likely
that there are sundews growing somewhere near you! In fact, there could
even be new species in your part of the world waiting to be discovered! Of
course, if you find plants growing naturally, it is best to leave them where you
find them - plants collected from the wild rarely survive the trauma of being
dug up and transplanted to what are always less than ideal conditions.
It
is a personal goal of mine to promote interest in this beautiful genus of plants
and preserve them in cultivation for years to come. Most people think they
need a greenhouse to grow carnivorous plants. This may be true of pitcher
plants but is not the case for sundews. While greenhouses cutlivation is
easy, many sundews remain small and are ideal for indoor plant growers with an
eye for unique indoor plants.
Unfortunately, I don't have much
spare time these days. So, here are some links to places where you can
find answers to many of the questions you might have.
Intro / Photos / Info / Growlist / Sales & Trades /
Wanted / Links / Contact
All text and images are Copyright SundewMatt and may not be copied without
permission.
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