hello,
these plants are "easy" to cultivate if you know the conditions they need :
full sun, hot, and very humid

as I was I Europe, I had many good results in cultivating plants from the
Drosera petiolaris complex : I cultivated plants from seeds, and also plants which I bought from professionals. in Europe, we don't have the hight temperatures which these plants need. nor the humidity !
that's why we cultivate them in terrarium, under artificial light
here is a good example :
http://www.karnivoren-in-kultur.de/web/Terrarium.jpghttp://www.karnivoren-in-kultur.de/web/Terrarium1.jpghttp://www.karnivoren-in-kultur.de/web/Terrarium2.jpghttp://www.karnivoren-in-kultur.de/web/Terrarium3.jpghttp://www.karnivoren-in-kultur.de/web/Terrarium4.jpghttp://www.karnivoren-in-kultur.de/web/Terrarium5.jpghttp://www.karnivoren-in-kultur.de/web/Terrarium6.jpghttp://www.karnivoren-in-kultur.de/web/Terrarium7.jpghttp://www.karnivoren-in-kultur.de/web/Terrarium8.jpghttp://www.karnivoren-in-kultur.de/web/Terrarium9.jpghttp://www.karnivoren-in-kultur.de/web/Terrarium10.jpghttp://www.karnivoren-in-kultur.de/web/Terrarium11.jpgI don't know the climate in which you live...try to put the plants in full sun if possible, they need it all the year round : these plants have a life cyclus which depends of the amount of light they receive to grow, or to enter into dormancy...dormancy is the false word for
D.paradoxa, because it can grow all year round if it have very good conditions.
in fact, the plants from the
Petiolaris complex have a dormancy period, but some plants grow only more slowly or stop their growing... and
D.paradoxa is one of them.
most of the plants from the
D.petiolaris complex dry out when they are in dormancy, or regress to a minute small plant, but some of them keep their leaves alive, like the plants you intend to grow up.
the life cyclus of this plant is the following :
it grow during the hot, and humid, and sunny periods of the year. if the plant experience a period of lower daylight during a long period, or coldness, it stop it's growing. as soon as the higher temperatures arrives, the plant grow again.
they need full sun, and temperatures about 30°C to 35°C during the day, and warm nights during the growing period. they grow in a mix of sand and peat, or sand and peat moss, or pure peat moss :
>>>during the growing period, the humidity level must be hight : 70% is a minimum to have good grow. the pots in which you cultivate your plants need to be taken very humid during this period.
>>> during a period of lower light level or cold periods of the year, the plants can survive dryness of the atmosphere (like during a "dry & cold season") , or low temperatures like in "winter" (10°C is the minimum, under this temperatures the plants are damaged) .
these
two examples of periods during which the plant can stop it's growing shows how highly adaptive it is : that's why I talked about a "easy to grow plant" before.
but you must keep in the eye that you need to keep a balance between water, light and temperature :
- if you live in a area where you have cold temperatures during winter and hight humidity, the plants need less water : the more cold, the less water, it may dry out if it's very cold, but there is no risk ! give the plant more light, if needed artificial light. the atmosphere can also be dryer, there is no problem.
- if you live in a area where you have dry and cold periods, the plants need also more light, but also more water : keep the soil damp, but don't let it dry out ! also, put the plant in a humid atmosphere, or vaporize them
attention, during cold periods, they are very sensitive to molding

keep humid, but not too much ! they'll survive if the atmosphere have 50% of humidity with no damage.
to grow them from seed, the easiest way to cultivate them is to grow them hot and humid during a minimum of a year.
you will override the normal rest period of the plant, but this is without consequences.
good luck
