Outrageous propagation on D. binata multifida "T-form"
Aelk@aol.com
Tue, 1 Aug 1995 17:58:15 -0400
Hello all. I've been growing cp for quite a while now (7 yrs), & have never
witnessed anything like this recent behavior on my D. binata multifida
"T-form" (or any other cp, for that matter). I grow my biggest specimen in a
3.5 foot high hexagonal aquarium, standing in about 4 inches of water (not
recommended, I'm just too lazy to bail it out every time it rains). It is
situated in a spot on my porch that receives full sunlight (which is
currently blazing in NJ) in the morning and indirect sun after 1:00 PM or so.
The stalks of the leaves are quite thick and dark red, but never manage to
grow more than 2 feet high. Due to the recent heat wave and my preoccupation
w/my job & the upcoming semester, I haven't been able to check on my plants
nearly as often as I would like to. Therefore I only noticed this behavior
today, about 10 days from the last time I checked up on this specimen. As I
mentioned, there have been sweltering heat (107 F) & frequent thunderstorms
in the last month. This resulted in a higher level of water in the tank than
usual, which caused the ends of the older leaves to become submerged once
they flopped over. That and the near 100% humidity inside the tank have (I'm
assuming) caused 8 new plantlets to start growing right off of the glandular
surfaces on the submerged leaves. They're all about two inches high now, &
have just poked through the surface of the water. I checked, they're
definitley drosera, but the mult. forms don't *multifidiacize* until they're
two years old or so, so I can only assume they are for now. I should note
that I kept about an inch of peat on the bottom of the tank for its
nutritional and acidifying properties (only after I dropped a packet of U.
volubilis seeds in the water & couldn't bail them out) -- the seeds haven't
germinated yet :-(( I should also note that any attempt to propagate this
plant by any conventional method has ended in embarassing failure. --A Elkin