I have been growing this beautiful sundew for many years and find it to be just as easy from seed as it is from leaf cuttings, albeit much slower. The methods I will explain are what has worked for me and may be different for the next grower. They are based on personal observation over several growing seasons.
I started out with a young plant purchased at a local cp meeting. It was still in its rosette stage in late winter/early spring. I immediately repotted the entire soil ball into a deep 6" pot taking care not to damage ANY roots. The plant was placed on the greenhouse bench in very bright light and watered by the tray method.
Somewhere around mid June the plant sent up a single flower spike with 2 buds. These took a rather long time to mature given the enormous size of the actual flowers. The day the first flower opened was a work day and I knew I would miss it if I didn't take a few hours off in the afternoon. I wanted the flower to open and cure before I attempted any pollination efforts. By the time I got home, around 12:30 pm or so, the flower was fully open. It was huge. Somewhere around 2 1/4 inches diameter and deep magenta.
I immediately reached for the tuning fork. I use this to self pollinate the byblis plants and have been successful with the procedure so I gave it a try. Upon doing so I saw great puffs of pollen release into the air. Make sure you turn off any circulating fans in the greenhouse or take the plant to a separate draft free area. The plant immediately developed a very large seed pod over the next month. When the pod was ripe I harvested the seed and sowed many directly in the same pot with the mother plant and the rest in pre-prepared pots of peat/sand (50/50).
At this stage I withheld all water from the pots allowing them to remain bone dry for the entire summer/fall until around the middle of December when I began misting the pots to slowly dampen the soil. Over the next 2 months I increased the water until the mother plant resprouted (single rosette 1st year, 6 rosettes 2nd yaear). It was also at this stage that I noticed tiny green sprouts all over the soil of all the seeded pots. The seed had indeed germinated.
In simplest terms I treated this plant and its seed exactly like I do for my Drosera peltata. I figured the plants would be dropping their seed at the start of their summer dormancy and needed a hot dry rest period until the following year. I can grow literally thousands of peltata this way and it worked splendidly on the cistiflora. During the summer rest period I placed all the pots of cistiflora, peltata, and the like in an area where no other seed from Drosera or Utrics could contaminate them. All seed came true.
Propagation from leaf cuttings is even easier. Just clip off leaves from the rosette stage and lay them across moist substrate. It only takes a few weeks for them to sprout new plants, and these too should be treated to the same dormancy conditions regardless of ther size. On a personal note....if any of my plants of cistiflora or peltata have not shown any signs of dormancy by mid-late July then I force it regardless of how good they look. These dormancy/rest periods are crucial if you want bigger, healthier plants the folowing year. Again...this is observation based on at least 3 full growing seasons. I just remove the pots from the water tray and let them dry out naturally until they are literally solid bricks. I do this every year, and every year they come back bigger and better. It's hard to believe that their hairlike roots can survive through such extreme conditions, but they do.
I hope this can help you somewhat. If not then at least I got to hear myself talk ;) If I left anything out or you need more info just ask. Best of luck and best of growing.
Sincere regards,
Phil Faulisi
Morgan Hill, California
