intro
Kenneth Leong (eng-ktml@manta.jcu.edu.au)
Fri, 22 Apr 1994 11:59:00 +1000 (+1000)
Hi,
My name is Kenny. I was first interested in carnivorous plants when
I saw a picture of a Venus flytrap in a magazine. The fact that this
plant had moving parts to trap an insect amazed me. This first knowledge
of cp's happened a long time ago when I was in primary school. It was
not until high school when I learned that a few of my friends were
growing carnivorous plants as a serious hobby that I really got
involved. They gave me the Venus flytrap which I always wanted, some
Drosera and also a few Nepenthes. The flytrap and Drosera didn't survive
although I tried to give them good humidity in a terrarium growing in
peat. I tried to grow more but without success so I stopped trying
because I am the type of person who doesn't like to see plants die or
'suffer' as I couldn't simulate their habitat.
However, the Nepenthes grew very well in Townsville, Australia where
I live. I had a good collection of Nepenthes until I came back from
holidays one year, in which they all died because my mother didn't give
them enough water. This was very devastating and I stopped growing them
until recently. That is, I have begun a postgraduate course in
electronic engineering at James Cook Uni of North Queensland and have
found that I have some spare time to get back into the hobby. At the
moment, I keep only Nepenthes and will order some Sarracenia soon. There
are very few good outlets in Australia, but I found one good one called
Carnivorous and Unusual Seeds run by Fred Howell in South Australia. He
stocks many genera and with good supplies. My plants are kept in full
shade but with fairly bright natural light inside my house. The humidity
is low and I use handsprayers to mist the the plants occasionally. The
plants enjoy the warm temperatures here and it does not get very cold
even in winter (say average of 15 degrees C night time temp in winter).
Summer temperatures range from about 35 degrees celsius to about 40 C
and winter gives about 10 deg C minimum.
I am just an amateur grower and I am glad I was kindly informed of this
group by a current list member (Perry Malouf).
Great to have joined this list.
Kenny Leong.