> From: JRoegner@AOL.COM
>
>
> - I agree whole heartedly with you on not collecting plants from the
> wild.
> The best way I see is to increase the availability of plants for the
> collector.
> In my own personal experience I've had to get most of my CP's
> from fellow collectors (indeed I once sent you e-mail pestering you
> for some plants) My biggest increase in species was some seeds sent me
> from the other side of the planet by a very kind fellow collector !
The largest CP source has been the "wild" for me. I say "wild" because
while the plants are/were growing in these spots as wild populations
the locations themselves are no longer wild. "Soon to be a parking lot"
is were almost every single S. leucophylla I have came from. These
plants had reached the end. Their seeds were not going to leave the
site as it was hemmed in by roads and the rhizomes I took would not be
doing very well under the layer of asphalt. I really can't say I've
saved them, but they are going into their third year past the one during
which they were scheduled to die as rest of the hundreds in that popula-
tion did. Scraping some Drosera out of a roadside ditch isn't going
to have an impact any greater than someone squishing them up by walking
along the road...
When I first started with this hobby I did take a some of plants from
truly wild locations. I mean a total of four individuals living in
my collection. Now if I see a unique trait in a plant I *might* take
cutting depending on the number of growth points the plant has. A large
S.flava can have dozens and dozens of growth points. I try to get the
people I am with to use this method also and most often they do.
Looking through wild populations is the only way 'new' types of plants
are going to be found. Yes, now and then you might get an anthcynian
(sp?) free seedling but would people be growing yellow and orange flowered
S.psittacina if none looked and then took? Same for those red,red,red
S.flava.
Barry, when and if you get that all green S.leucophylla, chances have it
that it will be of wild stock. Someone will probably be out in the field
taking photos when they notice that a particular S.leucophylla has got a
green/yellow flower instead of the usual dark red. This *is* how 'new'
forms get into cultivation-no other way. This is how I got a cutting
of a S.minor which has a very distinct purple shading. When it does
flower, I plan to self it and distribute the seeds. If it does prove
to be unique, then this will be how it got into cultivation. The
parent plant is still in the swamp minus a crown, which I'm sure has
already grown a replacement. The worse that might have happenned is
that one of thousands didn't flower the next spring.
Now that more people are growing these plants better methods for
growing them from seed can and are being developed. Andreas W. has
mentioned a way to get full grown Sarracenia in three years or so.
Perhaps if there were well known ways for people to grow these plants
*quicker* they would not so ready remove already grown plants from
the wild.
> availability of these unique plants to the general public. I feel that if
> they advertise more they will see great profits and benefit the hobby as
> well.
> Well, thanks for listening.....
> Joe
Yes, but only if the plants would grow faster. I imagine this takes
alot of the profit away... I don't really see much money in selling
CP. I grow these plants because they fascinate me and I love to watch
them grow.
Dave Evans