Keeping your D. burmanii alive year in year out

Article Date: 13 September 2008
By David Tan

Revised version here.

Drosera burmanii is found in tropical climates including Malaysia and it is considered an annual plant, meaning it grows for only a couple of months in the year during the rainy season and dies off after it flowers and when the soil dries up. When the next rainy season comes, the seeds from the previous season will germinate and the cycle repeats itself.

However, I have found that D. burmanii can be kept alive and thriving for years and does not need to die  after flowering. Here’s the trick:

Do not let the plant flower when it is still a small plantlet as flowering uses a lot of resources from the plant. This will cause them to die after flowering. Cut off it’s flower stalk when it is about to shoot up. When is is about the size of a 20 cent coin (RM) or just a little smaller than 1 inch in diameter, you may allow it to grow its first flower stalk. What I do at this time is to feed my D. burmanii regularly to help replenish its energy. At the same time make sure it get lots of sunlight and clean water.

Once the flower blooms I increase its feeding routine daily. Basically I feed it as much as I could without  causing the leaves to rot from over feeding. Small ants fed to them constantly and daily works well. The ants are small and they get digested within 24 hours so I can feed again immediately after that and I can place a few ants in one leaf. Dried cubifex worms also works well if you cannot find ants in your house. You can get these from fish shops. My plants seem to love them, but it must be given in very small quantities.

Usually, D. burmanii will continuously give out flower stalks, sometimes as much as 2-3 flower stalks at a time. Cut off new flower stalks that grows right after you allow it to flower and set seed. This is to allow it to reuperate. Usually I cut off the next 2 consecutive flower stalk after it’s first flower allowing the third flower stalk to grow. Then I repeat the whole process again.

So far non of my D. burmanii dies when I do this. I find that they do not die this way and can be kept for many years. At the same time you’ll have a constant supply of seeds. If the seeds do not germinate for me, I am not worried as I still have the mother plant with me and I can always wait for the next batch of seeds and try again.

After a couple of years your D. burmanii will look elongated and above the ground as the old leaves dies and new leaves grow on top of it. My good friend Tiong Soon calls his… D. burmanii aka “coconut tree”! You can just add more media to fill up the pot until it covers the old leaves… and… Walla!… it looks like a D. burmanii again.