Post by bluesboy on Jul 31, 2007 23:13:33 GMT
Hi All,
I just wanted to share quickly something that I've noticed over the years that I find very interesting, and testament to the incredible hardiness of plants, even ones, like VFTs, that the general public, and some beginner cp growers, find to be difficult to grow. I imagine that this phenomenon has already been noted by many others already.
Anyway, in one of my outdoor bogs here, outside of Philadelphia, I had for about the past 8 years, a thriving bog of temperate drosera, terrestrial orchids, vfts, sarracenia, kalmia, cranberry, etc.
For about the last 4 years I let the cranberry get out of hand, and it spread through most of the bog, but especially the area with the vfts. At first they had a season of just poking up out of the cranberry, which is similar to the conditions they have in the wild, where they compete with wire grass, etc, until a fire clears things, and then they take off in growth until the competitors return. That's nature, a cycle. But in my bog there were no fires luckily(it's about 30 feet from my house!) for me, but not for the VFT's. For 2 seasons there has been no trace of them where they used to be in the bog. Since the bog is very small(a 5 foot diameter circle) I doubt that I missed them. They stayed underground through winter, and the growing season, not one trace. I think that after the continual intense shading of the cranberry they went underground. This spring I decided to rip out all of the cranberry and what occured was very interesting. Since the past month, many mature rosettes of vft's have been popping up in the area they were originally planted! Everyone knows they come up in spring, but this is August, and they're just popping up. I think that they stayed underground due to competition, and through some kind of underground sensory, ie; warmer soil temp from no more shading, they knew that they could come up without getting killed from continued outcompetition. I imagine this may happen sometimes in the field; I also know that VFTs are very hardy plants, and in stores you can find dormant 'bulbs', and it makes me wonder how long those guys have been dormant. Anyway, just a cool thing I noticed, that some in the forum have also perhaps observed. The public by in large don't realize the tenacity of a plant, but those who do must be as amazed as me. Anyway, take care, Nick Haywood 'bluesboy'
I just wanted to share quickly something that I've noticed over the years that I find very interesting, and testament to the incredible hardiness of plants, even ones, like VFTs, that the general public, and some beginner cp growers, find to be difficult to grow. I imagine that this phenomenon has already been noted by many others already.
Anyway, in one of my outdoor bogs here, outside of Philadelphia, I had for about the past 8 years, a thriving bog of temperate drosera, terrestrial orchids, vfts, sarracenia, kalmia, cranberry, etc.
For about the last 4 years I let the cranberry get out of hand, and it spread through most of the bog, but especially the area with the vfts. At first they had a season of just poking up out of the cranberry, which is similar to the conditions they have in the wild, where they compete with wire grass, etc, until a fire clears things, and then they take off in growth until the competitors return. That's nature, a cycle. But in my bog there were no fires luckily(it's about 30 feet from my house!) for me, but not for the VFT's. For 2 seasons there has been no trace of them where they used to be in the bog. Since the bog is very small(a 5 foot diameter circle) I doubt that I missed them. They stayed underground through winter, and the growing season, not one trace. I think that after the continual intense shading of the cranberry they went underground. This spring I decided to rip out all of the cranberry and what occured was very interesting. Since the past month, many mature rosettes of vft's have been popping up in the area they were originally planted! Everyone knows they come up in spring, but this is August, and they're just popping up. I think that they stayed underground due to competition, and through some kind of underground sensory, ie; warmer soil temp from no more shading, they knew that they could come up without getting killed from continued outcompetition. I imagine this may happen sometimes in the field; I also know that VFTs are very hardy plants, and in stores you can find dormant 'bulbs', and it makes me wonder how long those guys have been dormant. Anyway, just a cool thing I noticed, that some in the forum have also perhaps observed. The public by in large don't realize the tenacity of a plant, but those who do must be as amazed as me. Anyway, take care, Nick Haywood 'bluesboy'
