As Michael mentioned, we've had some freak weather in the Western U.S.
I was out of town for the holidays, but apparently parts of Tucson got
6 inches of snow!!! This is a town in which perhaps once a year we'll
get 1/4" of snow that melts by noon.
>AZ it is very hot indoors even under flourescent lights. If the lights are
>turned on in the night rather than the day, some of the heat problem can be
>is most likely to be around to enjoy the plants.) Have u tried this, Barry?
Yeah Mike, I have subjected my plants to lots of strange photoperiod
experiments. The terrarium in my office is on a reversed schedule
right now for two reasons. One is that the fixtures are cheap and buzz
and drive me crazy, so I have them on when I'm not at work. Secondly, I
tend to get distracted by them when I'm working! Timers to turn lights
on and off are cheap and cost about $11 (US) around here.
>I doubt that there is anything that will kill a D. capensis :-)
Well, Paul, I can tell you that my `wide-leaf' clones of capensis are
VERY fragile. I have killed Many of these!
>civilized mentality, it still is a great place to be if there aren't any
>Arizonians nearby!
Thanks a lot, Michael! (sniff) :-)
Well, as I said, I'm back from the holiday excursions and useless
observing trip to a rainy mountain. No science done. My mailbag was
quite full!
In my off hours on the mountain I brought my tool chest and took
advantage of the relatively mild temperatures in Tucson by ripping out
the electrical system in the Greenhouse and rewiring it with a much
better thermostat. I figured out a way to use a single thermostat to
A)power the heater if it gets too cold
B)Power my cooler at low speed if it gets too hot
C)Power my cooler at high speed if it gets even hotter
I am pleased with myself.
I notice that with the onset of cooler weather I'm starting to get some
flowering in my Utricularias. Namely, the livida that I have from
Gordon and Rob are flowering, and the graminifolia from Rob is producing
inflorescences as well. This is the plant that we thought was
reticulata for a while. The plant that Paul McMillan has that HE
thought might have been reticulata is going to flower as well...possibly
more graminifolia? Paul got his "reticulata" long ago from WIP, and I
bet that that's where Rob's clone originally came from (so many trades
ago). My B. gigantea continues to grow, as does my D. regia. The B.
liniflora `Kununurra' that I grew from seed from Allen is about to
flower, and I can say that it is noticeably different from the liniflora
clones that are commonly in cultivation. The plant is a little taller,
by about 30%, but the internodal distance is greater, so the plant has a
lankier look (although it is robust). The stem is also rather reddish,
producing an interesting colour contrast. I haven't caught it in flower
yet. I'll keep you posted on flower morphology and seed production.
The seed production on my D. indica is good. I have decided that this
is a very nice plant if you can get it to flowering size. It needs a
big pot, though, as it topples over early on (and that is in full sun).
I talked to Gordon Snelling last night. He verifies what Michael said,
i.e. he's doing alright in spite of the freezes he's been having. He
said that it did set his D. petiolaris `Kununurra' back a bit. Well,
that's all for now. I have to go and work on my class syllabus for
Astronomy 101.
Barry
P.S. Earl, are you growing the standard form of D. capensis? That's a
super easy grower...