Re: D. anglica dormancy

John Taylor [The Banshee] (s883351@minyos.xx.rmit.OZ.AU)
Sat, 16 Nov 91 22:21:07 +1100

Our Pinguicula vulgaris (or is it an alpina?) also had a confused growth
cycle this year. We potted up the hibernaculum, which spends the winter
in a plastic film container in the fridge, in early spring. After
growing a few leaves it decided to go back into dormancy, so we waited a
bit and dug it up and popped it back in the fridge. A month or so
later, I checked up to see if it was OK only to discover that it had
changed its mind and started growing - in a air- and light-tight
container at less than 4 degrees C! Its now back in the greenhouse
again and after suffering from a bit of paleness and a dead leaf or two,
it seems to be growing OK.

I mentioned a while ago that Utricularia dichotoma seems to respond very well
to cold treatment to induce flowering. At present, only one of the two forms
in the greenhouse has flower stalks (two), whereas those in the mini peat-bog
have dozens (both forms). I think I'll put the potted plants out next winter
to see if it really works...

Barry - planted your D. intermedia seeds today. No sign of life yet - sure
they're not duds? ;-)

Also potted up the 8 new Utrics. and the Drosophyllum seeds (we're
trying the "Slack-pot" method). The U. graminifolium accidently lost
its biggest flower stalk (about 7 flower buds) :-( Apart from being a
bit squashed, the plants seem to be in reasonable condition. Has anyone
heard of a U. longifolia "miniature form"? (I thought that it might
have been U. calcifida mislabelled, but Fred offered us some of this
too... Maybe its U. alpina :-) )

>>seem to be in reasonable condition. Has anyone heard of a U.
>>longifolia "miniature form"? (I thought that it might have been U.
>>calcifida mislabelled but Fred offered us some of this too... Maybe
>>its U. alpina :-) )
>
>
>Yeah, I've got something from Christoph Belanger he calls something
>like that. I've no idea what it is yet. And since it probably will
>never flower I doubt I ever will. He *says* it has blue flowers which
>puts it on a very short list, excluding calycifida and alpina.

The blue flowered one could be var. forgetiana (I forget the correct
spelling, but it *really* is something like forgetiana!), which is
mentioned in Slack's second book. It also says the longifolia is a
variable species.

>ARRGH! Red mites remain on the U. longifolia in spite of manual and
>chemical attacks! I've now thrown the entire plant away except for a
>tiny bit which was underwater. Time to start all over.

Well, our (normal?) longifolia has had trouble with large purple/red
blotches on the leaves, which I discovered had fungi/mould on them.
I've sprayed it with benlate (a rather old mix, but anyway...) and
hopefully this will fix it.