It was dormant for around 6 months. The main signs of dormancy that I
can remember is that it stops growing, and fails to replace the leaves
that die back along the stem. I think it then starts dying back from
the tip towards the base - if you're lucky the plant will produce a
shoot before the "death zone" reachs soil level... Our plant had around
6 inches of green stem above where the shoot was produced (about 1-1.5
inches from soil surface). The new growth is around 4-5 inches long.
>>Yippee! Our Polypomphlox tenella plants are sending up flower stalks, so
>>there is a very small chance that we might have some seed to spare in a few
>>months.
>
>This may be a tricky plant. If I were you I'd resow every bit of it yourself.
Doesn't seem to be that tricky to grow - the small clump of plants we
had self-sowed and is growing strongly. I can't remember whether we
treated it as a normal Utric. (i.e. standing in water year round) or
let it dry out over summer... The plants in the wild near us are
growing in a mud/sand soil along with D. pygmae, which turns rock hard
in summer so the second method might be best.
Speaking of seeds, the D. peltata seeds are currently in the collection
phase - you don't get as many seeds per pod as a Sarracenia (approx.
250 seeds per pod for our S. purpurea ssp. venosa plants last year),
but since there are around 6 pods per plant, there should be enough to
go round.
>It's funny---whenever you two talk about seasonal plants like
>Sarracenia I always have to stop and add six months to the date to see
>if it makes sense. Right now my Sarracenia are producing seed and
>slowing down in growth, while the leucs are in the middle of their
>second (and superior) crop of pitchers. I don't know what kind of
>Sphagnum you grow, but it sure doesn't sound like mine. I encourage
>Sphagnum to grow in my Sarracenia pots, as does Don Schnell and many
>other growers I know. I have about three unidentified species with my
>Sarrs and I think they benefit from it. I don't know what bush moss
>is, and even if you described it I doubt it would be familiar.
>Probably another one of those wacky divergent evolution things that
>happened since your continent decided to go solo.
"Bush moss" is a general term I use for any moss which isn't sphagnum
moss :-) I'm not sure what mosses you have growing in the U.S., but the
types of mosses that cause problems are those that are found growing on
rocks, trees, in lawns etc. Most have fine thread-like "leaves",
forming dense mats that form a distinct layer on the soil surface
(making it easy to remove). Apart from smothering the soil, the moss
shrinks when dried out, leave a gap around the edge of the pot. This
also occurs with peat, but peat will expand again when soaked in water -
the moss doesn't. The shrinkage also causes the moss to lift away from
the peat below, causing most small plants (e.g. pygmy Drosera) that
survive being smothered by the moss to die from lack of moisture.
Live sphagnum causes very few problems, but most of the sphagnum in the
pots in the dormant/dead variety. Of the little that does grow, the
tips tend to turn black as if burnt, although the pots containing only
sphagnum moss (e.g. Cobra lilies) seems to grow without many problems.
I'll see how the moss-free pots perform, and possibly replant fresh,
live sphagnum if the results aren't up to scratch.