Yep, anamensis. This is a valid species name, but as to whether or not the
label is correct, quien sabe? That's what Senor Maharajh sent it to me
labelled as. It grows well---that's not the first cutting I've taken from
the mother plant.
>I found my poor S. psittacina infested w/ scale this weekend
>so I trimmed off all the infested leaves (i.e. all the leaves).
>What else should I do? The plant is dormant (to say the least).
Diazinon diazinon diazinon. I've tried it on every species of Sarr
without any problems. I used to try various nonchemical approaches with
this pest, but none are truly satisfactory. Put normal dilution Diazinon
on the plant, drench it! When I did it it was in the winter, the plants
were resting, I kept them out of sun for a few days, and didn't let too
much drain into the soil (while spraying I kept the pots sideways). For
non-chemical means, to get rid of scale you have to go nonlinear. Once,
out of perversity, I found if I cut ALL the leaves AND roots off a rhizome,
brushed it thoroughly with a toothbrush, and submerged it in living
Sphagnum (above the water line), the scale was killed. Of course, I only
had a 25% survival rate (even that is surprising!) and the plants took
2.5 years to really recover. Anticipate possible Sphagnum damage with
Diazinon. Malathion wettable powder (WP, 25%) might be better if you can
get it.
I just found some scale on my B. gigantea but it's not bad enough for me
to use chemicals yet. And I don't know what B. gigantea would do with
chemicals. Speaking of B. gigantea, I read that some time ago Allen Lowrie
found a white flowered form. I'll have to ask him about this next time
I write. Said it was growing well.
I think Slack recommends submerging S. psittacenia thru the resting period.
This is a pretty good way of drowning scale. Wiggle the leaves around
underwater so that most of the air comes out.
>are up to no good down there but I havn't been able to pin down any cases of
>real worm damage.
>
Yeah, but you'd probably have to change the water a lot to keep it from
getting ycchhy.
we'll try repotting it into a normal large pot (it's currently in a hanging
Don't forget it's natural for the D. binata types to go dormant for a
few weeks or months in the winter.
I recently sent off a letter of inquiry to the "Hobby Greenhouse
Association," which has a quarterly magazine devoted to building,
equipping, and operating small hobby greenhouses. Since it is so
general in scope, there are articles on cactus culture, African violets,
orchids, Bonsai, etc. but it looks like a good resource for the small
greenhouse grower. Probably useful even if you just had a little window
greenhouse or temporary poly-film structure. 10$ US, 14$ foreign and I
think probably worth it.
BAMR
P.S. For Rob M. and any other growers who have these plants, I think it's
interesting that my D. intermedia `Cuba' is forming hibernacula. Being
from a possibly tropical location this is not a given. Are there cold
places in Cuba? Also, my strange capillaris `Long Leaf' clones (which
look a lot like a rotundifolia or intermedia hybrid) are not making them.
This last pair of plants is really a strange one. They look a lot like
intermedia. I refer to the `Long Leaf' as a pair of plants since
one is from Paul McMillan and one is from Rob M. Now I'll have to watch my
clones of D. intermedia `tropical' carefully.