Hey everyone, asking for help with my Dewy pine (Drosophyllum lusitanicum). I got it in August 2024 and potted it in a very large 12 inch terra cotta pot.
I used a mix of:
– 1 part peat
– 1 part perlite
– 1 part pumice
– 1 part sand
– 1 part lava rock
I keep it under a small grow light running 12 hours a day, a few inches above the top leaves.
I know keeping this plant outside is ideal (I live in a mild climate), but I selfishly like to keep my carnivores inside my apartment so I can admire them every day.
My dewy pine grew about 20% larger in the first 6 months, then it just stayed about the same, fluctuating larger or smaller depending on watering.
I water it with RO water (<15 ppm) about once a week, just enough to soak the area around the base. Probably 250 ml or so. I monitor and feel the base of the terra cotta pot to try and prevent overwatering, but it is possible that water has been accumulating and rotting the tap root. Or maybe I’ve been underwatering and it’s dried out. Really can’t tell.
I spray it with Maxsea fertilizer every 1-3 months.
I also stick a couple ants or other bugs I find on it every few weeks.
In the last 2 weeks, the leaves started wilting and looking dry. I gave it a water, then suddenly all the leaves turned dark brown and it looks almost dead.
Attached are pictures now, pictures from February 2026 when I trimmed the dead leaves, and pictures when I first got it.
Any suggestions for how to revive it?
by CharizardInDaPaint
9 Comments
Yeah that thing is gone
I wish I had some useful information but I’ve been struggling as well with the Dewy Pine . They are probably the most finicky of all the Carnivorous plants I have
How cold did it get? Looks like there may have been cold damage or some fungal infection
Why did you trimmed the dead leaves? I knew that they help to retain the moisture in the base of the plant.
Dewy pine bends the leaves when needs water, but at that point soil usually is very dry. It’s easy to overwater it, you really need to forget it for some days after watering, more so with that tall pot which probably retained too much water, even if in the upper section the soil is dry.
Also, is Maxsea fertilizer really necessary? Did you saw a noticeable improvement with it?
Like others have said, she’s gone. Sorry for your loss.
As to why, dewy pines are extremely finicky and any small change will kill them. Could have gone down too low in temperature too fast from water temperature, a fly landed in the soil and disturbed the roots too much, it didn’t appreciate people mentioning daylight savings, it remembered that you repotted it months ago and died out of spite, a plane flying overhead was too loud and disturbed the roots, or many other possibilities.
Il mio l’ho da circa un anno, normalmente è in un davanzale esterno a sud ben illuminato ma con solo poche ore di sole diretto. Lo scorso inverno però l’ho ritirato anche io all’interno, da me le temperature scendono sotto lo zero (0°C). In un primo momento l’ho messo in una stanza con una finestra rivolta a sud ma con meno sole, ha cominciato a deperire molto velocemente come il tuo! Spostato immediatamente in un terrario dove ho soprattutto pinguicule, con led bassa potenza multispettro più due growlight sansa, si è subito ripreso e durante l’inverno ha anche fiorito più volte! E devo dire che non sono stato molto attento a quanta acqua gli davo.
Sicuramente, come dicono tutti, l’overwatering è mortale ma a parte questo, da quanto ho potuto provare, è fondamentale molta luce e un buon livello di umidità dell’aria (che dovrebbe essere uno dei modi che nativamente usa per vivere nel clima mediterraneo).
It does look dead. I have grown quite a few Dewy Pines, and I want to say you haven’t necessarily done anything “wrong”. It appears to have had a fungal infection. The species has the potential to be short lived and can be quite finicky.
About 7 years ago, I spoke with Peter D’Amato (RIP) about how I could reduce my Dewy Pine attrition and he recommended keeping the plants outside. The indoor seedling I grew from seed were prone to sudden death, perhaps from lack of airflow encouraging fungus? I did have more success with growing the plants outdoors. Some of the plants would live for 4-5 years but they never lived much longer than that. And some (most?) would die after a year or two. It’s just not very long lived in cultivation. It also seemed like pruning off the dead leaves would increase mortality, so I stopped doing that. Plants in larger pots also live longer.
I watered my Dewy Pines more frequently, but I had to do that because they were outside. I used both terra cotta and ceramic pots successfully. California Carnivores has replaced the perlite in their media with pumice, so they now recommend 2 parts pumice instead of 1 part perlite and 1 part pumice. Growing Dewy Pines from seed is challenging yet rewarding. Maybe you can try that next!
They normally don’t last that long in the wild and die once they flower. I would probably just appreciate the time you had with her and buy another friend. That’s a pretty tall pot for her — next time I’d get a shallower terracotta.
Ya unfortunately it appears to be a goner.
I’ve been growing dewy pines for about 4 years now and I don’t think you were watering enough for how big of a pot it’s in. I usually water from the top and I have it in a tray. I water until there’s about half to an inch of water in the tray, which would be closer to 1000+ ml. I don’t water again for about a week or so depending on how hot it is outside but usually 4-7 days. They do still like to be moist but not water logged like sundews.
Here’s a couple of mine from last summer, I lost the big one this year as I was testing leaving them outside all year here in BC. The small one lived but the big one died, I think due to being too dry when we got a brief freeze. 12″ and 8″ pots for reference.
https://preview.redd.it/y4px9apmpeyg1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d530b9178fdf15dae12345deaafcd41f62ad594