Mine are doing the same too. I have some scorpiodies which produced gemmae a few weeks back. I thought they were dying but they have started to sprout back into life again, and the gemmae are now turning into small plantlets.

They are kept in my bathroom along with a couple of nepenthes, with no extra light apart from through the window. This leads me to believe yours with the advantage of extra lighting will probably survive.

I'm no expert though. The likes of mutant hybrid and petolaris will be more help?

Happy new year.

Actually I have not yet grown pygmy sundews, however; I remember reading that they produce gemmae when about to go dormant. A dormant pygmy sundew probably does not look as good as when it is in full growth. Petiolaris will have more precise info on them.

In my experience, when my pygmies start to produce gemmae. They stop producing new leaves to replace the ones that get old so the plant gets that withered look. But once its done making gemmae, it will immediately start sprouting new leave to replace the old ones. So its normal for the pigmy sundews to get that shriveled look when its int eh middle of producing gemmae.

DonÂt worry, your plant will recover in no time. Increasing the photo period should do the trick.

icenine, I don't know alot about pygme Drosera, but IMHO your plants will be much happier with a bit more light. I use 2, 100 watt equivalant (26 watt) compact fluoresents in both of my 10 gallon tank hoods.

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GE CFL bulbs are available in the prefered 6500K color twin pack at Walmart for about $6.50. It is a very tight fit, but as you can see from the photo, they will fit. I'm certain your CP's will love the extra light.

Yeah, i figured that since they were putting all that energy into gemmae, new leaves kinda take a back-seat, if you will. Many thanks to everyone!
To anyone who doesnt have a pygmy sundew, i highly recommend getting a pot of them, they're some of the cutest CPs I've ever grown....not that i've grown many.

I really don't know or haven't noticed a correlation between gemmae production and a weakening of the parent plants, as one expereinces with VFT and flowering. I do strugle with D. scorpioides and dichrosepala, during the summer. The nitidulas, pulchellas, palaceas, etc... seem to do better. I do notice that simply bumping a giben pygmy sundew can lead to death, presumably to root disturbance. They are horrible shippers, with gemmae being the only effective way of propogating and shipping. All I can say is to reserve gemmae each year to ensure plants for next.

For grins and chuckles, here's some pictures:

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Mousing over the picture should give you the name.

I have a D. Nitidula x ericksoniae, and it seems that gemmae season is over. They keep producing flowers, but I would really like some gemmae so I can have more plants. Right now I'm giving them bright, humid, warm days, cool evenings conditions. Is gemmae production random, or do I need to change the conditions in order to get them?

Gemmae is season is generally during the fall, but a friend of mine gets D. scorpioides to produce gemmae in late summer and into January. He sent me my first gemmae in late January of 2004. I still have D. allantostigma gemmae in a crown. It isn't random but can be a good 6 month season.

Petiolaris, nice plants.