Re: CP in Southern California

Steve Clancy (slclancy@uci.edu)
Thu, 10 Feb 94 10:48:16 -0800

Scott, I live in Irvine which is about 7 miles or so from L.B. You will be
closer to the ocean than I, but the water and climates are similar. The
water in Orange County can often be VERY hard. I never use tap water, but
always buy distilled water. If you buy it in the store, it goes for about
35-50 cents per gallon, or about 35 cents at the water vending machines.

>
> I will be moving to Laguna Beach in about a month and had some questions
> for the local growers.
> 1) How is the tap water quality in Orange County. Do you filter your
> CP water or is tap good enough. If filtering is no good, what do
> you do for pure water (since there is almost no rain to collect)?

>
> 2) The place I will be moving to is VERY close to the ocean (50 feet
> up a cliff). Would this proximity to the salt water cause any
> unusual problems? I know there was some talk lately about this but
> I never really saw a consencus opinion.

I'm not close enough to have had any experience, but I can tell you from
visiting the beach often enough that you can definately get some ocean mist
at 50 feet.

>
> 3) What is the best way to get my plants acoss country. Carl Gustafson
> was concerned that some kind of permit might be required. I have
> gotten different answers on this from the airlines, department of
> agriculture, etc. I think I will just try to put them in luggage
> for the airline. I would hate to have nepenthes hybrids confiscated
> because I can't document that they were not collected illegally. Am
> I being overly paranoid?

California has some definite laws about bringing plants in, but these are
usually concerned with vegetables and fruits. Years ago, I checked with
the State about bringing in some cacti from Texas, and they had no problem
with that. If you like, I could find out the number for the State Ag Board
so you could call and ask yourself.

>
> 4) I was going to ship the plants bare-root so will need supplies quickly
> when I arrive. Does anybody have a favorite nursery that they can
> recommend as a source for inexpensive Sphagnum, peat, sand, etc.

Most nursuries in the area carry dry sphagnum and peat and horticultural
sand or fine gravel as well as vermiculite and so on. I usually patronize
the Armstrong Nursuries in the area.

>
> Thanks,
> Scott Brown
> (hsbrown@arnold.princeton.edu)
>
> P.S. Are there any local CP societies in the area?
>

Well, of course there is Cal State Univ. Fullerton where Leo Song is :-).
Fullerton is about 25 miles from Laguna. Over the years, I have tried to
have meetings in my home and have actually had one or two for local CP'ers,
but I am not aware of anything official. When you finally make it to
Laguna, please give me a call at my office at Univ. of Calif., Irvine at
714-856-7309. Maybe we can set something up between the two of us?

-- Steve Clancy
Biomedical Library
University of California, Irvine, U.S.A.
SLCLANCY@UCI.EDU