Drosera seedlings

**Drosera**s are the easiest carnivorous plants to propagate from seed. This is the ideal season for them to germinate under natural light, in a mini-greenhouse. After a few weeks in warm, humid and bright conditions, you should see a lovely carpet of plants emerge…

Looking at these pictures, you realise how important it is to identify the seeds and the locations of the seedlings properly! At the top is Drosera capensis ‘Albino’, and at the bottom, Drosera aliciae. These seedlings are no more than 2 mm in size. Generally speaking, all young Drosera plants produce small, spatulate leaves that are not very characteristic of the species. The colour does not vary much, unless they lack red pigmentation, as is the case here with our Drosera capensis.

In a few weeks’ time, the leaves will start to develop. It will then be time to think about thinning them out…