>On August 24, Barry Meyers-Rice wrote:
>
>>The plants are in a container about 15 cm deep. The planting medium is a
>>50/50 mix of peat moss and perlite, with a top dressing of pure perlite to
>>make the soil nice and white (to minimize solar heating of the medium).
>
>Could the perlite-topped soil possibly be the cure to overheating of
>Darlingtonia roots?
>I just lost about %70 of my seedlings probably to high root temps, and I'm
>not gonna waste any more $$$ on seeds unless I can solve that problem.
I grow my Darlingtonia in a mix of 75% perlite to 25% sphagnum moss in a 14
inch paper pulp pot in a large saucer. It's getting direct sun after 3:00,
and a misting of 1/4-1/2 strength fertilizer every couple of weeks. To keep
its roots cool, I pour a gallon of cold water through the pot when I get home
in the evening. I have a container underneath the saucer to catch the
overflow which I use to water my less heat sensitive cps. It's still only a
baby (3 inch pitchers) but its growing so fast I'm thinking of moving it
into a sunnier location. A top layer of white gravel would have been more
convenient for watering from the top, perhaps white or light gray granite
gravel would help with the heat?
John Phillips Email: phillips@library.ucsf.edu
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