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Post by Sockhom on May 1, 2008 14:22:30 GMT
Here is my plant, ready for another year of growth: François.
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fredg
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Posts: 367
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Post by fredg on May 7, 2008 12:27:54 GMT
I share your enthusiasm Francois.
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Post by Brian Barnes on May 7, 2008 19:17:49 GMT
Hi Fred! Your Darlingtonia look wonderful. ..If you don't mind me asking, what's your average temps on those guys. Any special treatment or do you just let them go on their own? Mine are declining as the summer approaches here in Florida. Chilled water, etc. does not seem to help, as I'm being overtaken by small, runty pitchers... Any advise? Thanks! Brian.
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fredg
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Post by fredg on May 7, 2008 19:37:16 GMT
Brian,
That colony is planted directly into a 4" deep tray of live sphagnum. I keep it on the bench in the sunniest part of the greenhouse. I just fill up to the top of the tray with water, topping up as required. The temp in the shade just now is approx 35C - 95F. In the sun it must be considerably higher. Darlingtonia don't seem to mind that, at least that clone doesn't ;D
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Post by Brian Barnes on May 7, 2008 20:42:56 GMT
Thanks for the info, Fred. I may try moving mine into a 12 inch net/pot, the kind sold in a local hydroponics shop, to improve surface cooling/evaporation of my media (LFS with a touch of perlite) Do you know what clone it is that you have? It's obviously very heat tolerant and... absolutely gorgeous! I think mine may be doomed here in the "Tropics" ;D Too much humidity it seems... Happy Growing, Brian.
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fredg
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Post by fredg on May 7, 2008 20:52:22 GMT
Thanks for the comments Brian.
As for the clone...... I'm afraid it's just the first one I got, no information to go on.
That clump centre back is the original mother plant, she looks OK for 25. ;D
Shame that as we're on opposite sides of the pond, I can't send you some of the youngsters I have in other colonies. I'm sure it would do well with you.
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kby
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Post by kby on May 7, 2008 22:59:34 GMT
Chilled water, etc. does not seem to help, as I'm being overtaken by small, runty pitchers... Any advise? Thanks! Brian. Hi Brian, Are there other signs of dis-health other than small runty pitchers (and how runty are we talking)? I realize that a completely happy plant should produce the tall pitchers, etc. However, I also had a clone at one point, probably back in the days when they were all field-collected (about 30 years ago ) and it produced stolons and bloomed, but always had the low pitchers. I'm sure it had a large one or two originally, but it seemed more or less happy for a number of years although it only produced the smaller ones. Reading seems to indicate that normal production is some taller ones at the beginning of the season and shorter ones later? Right now I'm just sort of coming out of dormancy. No frost so have all dozen or so small pitchers from end of last year and a couple of new smaller ones but hasn't gone to the tall ones yet. Last year one taller one (which I burned with the light as described in a different thread ) just after I got it from Cook's but short ones the rest of the season (about 8 or so it looks like).-kby
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Post by Brian Barnes on May 8, 2008 10:03:15 GMT
Hey Fred. Wow, she's 25? Not bad at all, especially after having so many kids! ;D Indeed, if you weren't across the Atlantic I'd love to have a few.... Kby, mine came out of dormancy this year and gave me two tall, monster sized pitchers and is now giving me the sideways runts around 4 inches long. The problem here in Fl. is that frequent watering breaks down the sphagnum media rather quickly. The Chilean and Canadian sphagnum moss turns to mush as a result, hence decreasing the aeration considerably. Plus, i only use RO water... I know of a long time CP grower in Daytona that had the same problem. His plants started with a bang, then produced smaller and spindlier pitchers that were more sideways than decumbent. Each year they got smaller until the plant died. I tried Darlingtonia once 15 years ago and they bit the dust in about two years, so this is my second and final attempt with this species... Happy Growing, Brian.
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fredg
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Post by fredg on May 8, 2008 13:37:36 GMT
Brian,
Could you please clarify something for me.
The LFS in your substrate is NOT alive?
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Post by Brian Barnes on May 8, 2008 14:07:42 GMT
Hi Fred. No, it's not...I used Chilean sphagnum and to my knowledge, it's sterilized before being shipped here to the US to kill any invasive weeds, i guess. It simply refuses to grow, at least for me. I'm presently looking for a good site to legally harvest a large potful of live Fl. short-fibered sphagnum to put it in. Plus, I think it will resist the growing media breakdown, since it's used to our crazy, hot weather. You, know....That's probably what's missing. A good LIVE media to grow in! Jeez, what's wrong with me... ;D And i've seen it in so many photos of the Genus in cultivation. A perfect example of what happens once you pass 40! Happy Growing, Brian.
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fredg
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Post by fredg on May 8, 2008 14:11:48 GMT
Brian, By Jove I think you got it. ;D I think I passed 40 too but I'll be damned if I can remember. I suppose that confirms it
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Post by Sockhom on May 8, 2008 15:24:39 GMT
Hey Fred ! I missed your pictures. What an impressive specimen. Simply gorgeous (25!! ). What are the taller pitchers you ever had? By the way, here is the pic of my Darlingtonia flowers: François.
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fredg
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Post by fredg on May 8, 2008 17:09:01 GMT
Francois, I have had the pitchers up to 3ft (90cm) but that was a long time ago. I had it in a large container something like yours at that time. I also syphoned off the water and refilled with fresh daily. Substrate was half live sphagnum half standard Sarracenia mix ( if there is such a thing as that) 2:1:1 peat/sand/grit. The plant was kept outside year round in semi shade. After a couple of years the plant began to look tatty ( not Jacques) after winter so I removed it from the large pot and into a tray of live sphagnum. I've kept them mainly in trays on the greenhouse bench ever since. The pitchers do not reach the former size only reaching 18 - 22" ( 45 - 65 cm) but they do attain that size and multiply far quicker than my former tub method. I have a colony in a half tub on the greenhouse floor in a peat / perlite mix, topped with sphagnum and growth is far slower. As mentioned, the mother plant in that photo is 25 years old but the rest of the plants in that tray are part of the result of 5 years growth, many others have been removed. Some of the removed plants, in an identical sized tray ,which should begin to look like the original by next year. Edit, I almost forgot to congratulate you on your own plant Francois. She's looking good.
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kby
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Post by kby on May 8, 2008 22:21:34 GMT
Hi Fred. No, it's not...I used Chilean sphagnum and to my knowledge, it's sterilized before being shipped here to the US to kill any invasive weeds, i guess. It simply refuses to grow, at least for me. I'm presently looking for a good site to legally harvest a large potful of live Fl. short-fibered sphagnum to put it in. Plus, I think it will resist the growing media breakdown, since it's used to our crazy, hot weather. You, know....That's probably what's missing. A good LIVE media to grow in! Jeez, what's wrong with me... ;D And i've seen it in so many photos of the Genus in cultivation. A perfect example of what happens once you pass 40! Happy Growing, Brian. I followed Barry's recommendations this time and used mostly perlite with some NZ LFS. But I circulate water through the pot so needed fast-draining media. The time before I'm sure it was in some combination of peat/perlite/sand as that was all I generally used before. I'm sure I had it about 5 years and it died to to some kind of neglect moving one way or the other across country; i.e. it wasn't just a slow demise getting smaller each year. It did, as I mentioned only seem to put out the lower sized pitchers but had flowered and did have active stolons while I had it.-kby P.s. but you probably shouldn't take my advice as I'm past 50
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Post by BarryRice on May 21, 2008 21:06:58 GMT
Uh, you followed my suggestions....? And what happened? Did it work? B
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