Re: Mexican Pings

Barry Meyers-Rice (barry@as.arizona.edu)
Wed, 13 Nov 91 18:32:08 MST

>No CaCO3 added to water, though Joe Mazrimas swears by this method (CPN, ca.
>1978) but uses agricultural lime (Ca(OH)2). I remember reading in CPN that
>vermiculite is a special soil aeration medium in which the CaCO3 or Ca(OH)2

Something that perplexes me about this, and I don't know enough chemistry
for the answer.... It seems to me that peat is pretty darned acidic, and by
adding a little bit of CaCO3, which is pretty insoluble to boot, you wouldn't
do much to change the soil acidity. So, I contemplate several options...

1)In spite of my intuition, the soil does become alkaline.
2)Instead of needing alkaline, the Pings benefit from the Ca++ ions.
3)This is something ineffectual the CPer does to please him/her self.
4)Something else is going on (aka the cover your a** possibility)

Comments on acid/base reactions, Rob M? On the usefulness of Ca++ to plants,
Mike?

>On a similar subject, do crosses with bicalcarata inherit the fangs?

Yep! Now what you need to do is cross bicalc with a Nepenthes with a
broad, shiney red lip at the entrance. (I think it's called the peristome).
That would be pretty obviously carnivorous!

>Thanks John. Barrys computations sent me into a tizzy
>of math anxiety unmatched since I took calculus. I don't

Critics, critics, critics. :)

BAMR