Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 08:54:35 PDT From: "Chris Teichreb" <cteichreb@hotmail.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2805$foo@default> Subject: Re: Drosera and Utricularia intermedia
Hi Kit,
>
>More questions about Drosera intermedia flowers:
>
>Do they ever actually bloom? My plants have had flower stalks for
It may be that you're just missing the blooms. The flowers on
a lot of Drosera only open up for a few hours before closing
and wilting away. Also, lighting is important. If it's a nice
sunny day out, my sundews tend to keep their flowers open for
a bit longer. For the most part, I only get to enjoy sundew
flowers on the weekends when I'm not at work!
>
>Will these plants stop flowering? All of my plants seem to have third
>& even fourth flower stalks coming up.
If they're healthy and in proper conditions (which yours seem
to be), they'll flower for what seems forever. However, vigour
is reduced with each subsequent flower stalk, both the plant size
and number of flowers will drop. Personally, I let one flower
stalk come up on my sundews, and the rest get chopped off.
>
>Assuming they are okay, how will I know when the seed is ready to harvest?
>
Let the entire stalk become brown and dry. At that point, cut
off the flower stalk and place in an envelope in a dry area
overnight. The next day, you should be able to shake out the
dry seed and sow it or store it in the fridge. The seed is very
small, so make sure you don't have any holes in your envelope.
A white envelope is best, as the seed is black and contrasts very
well with the white.
>Questions about Utricularia intermedia:
>
>First of all, is anyone else growing this? I ask because it seems to
>be a fairly obscure plant.
I was growing it for a while. Depending on where you are,
it's not that obscure. At certain places around here, it's a
common pond weed.
>
>Barry suggested growing these as affixed aquatics, but mine don't
>seem to be very motivated to affix themselves. The few stalks that
>did affix themselves didn't stay affixed through Friday's
>thunderstorm. Is it worthwhile to poke one end of each stalk down
>into the muck, or should I just leave them be?
I'd just leave them. I've never found any aquatic utrics, in
the wild or in cultivation, that really like to be "stuck in the
mud" so to speak. Most of the time, Utrics are found along the
shorelines intertwined with cattails and Equisetum sp., as they're
blown into this area.
>have a layer of peat on top of the sand. Is it worth burying the peat
>under the sand, or is it okay as-is?
I grew mine using just peat. Barry's suggestion may be to avoid
the annoying habit that peat has to float bits and pieces to the
top. Not all at once, that would be too easy to scoop out, but
rather over the course of several weeks!
>
>Dormancy: the plan is to leave them out over the Winter, as I know
>they spend a lot of time under snow in their native habitat. Should I
>drain most of the water out of the pot, or just let it freeze? I put
>
I left mine outside in the winter, and they survived just fine,
forming turions that sank into the peat. I just let the water
evaporate, but didn't let the peat go dry. I didn't let the water
actually freeze. In the wild, the turions generally drop into the
sediment which stays unfrozen for the entire winter (this includes
Utrics in arctic locations). I personally wouldn't let the entire
container freeze over winter, this may be a little too hard on them.
Good luck!
Chris
-- Chris Teichrebhttp://www.geocities.com/cteichreb ("Coastal Carnivores", my homepage)
http://www.nurserysite.com/clubs/pnwcarnivorous (Pacific Northwest Carnivorous Plant Club)
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