Re: Re: Pygmy Sundews

John Phillips (phillips@library.ucsf.edu)
Fri, 27 Oct 95 09:17:12 CST

I>
>D. callistos, unless I am very much mistaken, has very large
>orange flowers!
>
>These plants go dormant in summer in the southern hemisphere
>(sh). They produce gemmae during the winter (in the sh) then
>flower and then go dormant. I am surprised that your plant has
>not produced gemmae as all pygmy Drosera produce gemmae. Do
>plants in the northern hemisphere (nh) go dormant during the nh
>summer?
>
>Cheers
>Terry
Terry and Dean, Thanks for your answers, I think I've found some answers to
my confusing situation. Yes the flowers are orange, but being aa artist
specializing in painting landscapes and light, i tend to see colors a little
differently. But when you described them as large, I remembered some details
that may clear a few things up. My original 4-5" tall pot of D. callistos
are smaller than their children by gemmae who I sowed awhile back in a 14"
hemispherical pot with a very open perlite/sand and peat mix. The 14"pot sits
in a large saucer, and the soil conducts a large amount of moisture to the
surface where it provides a very humid microclimate w/o saturating the soil.
These sit outside in full sun from 1-2pm onward and are very happy, 3/4 to
7/8 of an inch across, but few flower and these haven't produced gemmae in
over a year. These do grow larger and fuller beginning in my fall when the
sunlight weakens.
Their elders in the smaller pot are smaller, 3/8 to 1/2 an inch across,
the flowers look much larger in comparison to these plants, and these
produce some gemmae. I was puzzled as to how to treat them because some
plants in the small pot are going dormant, some aren't, and the ones in the
large pot are going full steam. Perhaps the smaller pot and the larger
proportion of peat in the soil is making a difference. I'll try putting the
small pot through dormancy, let the others do what they want and see what
happens. But I am beginning to wonder if light and temperature matter more
than time of year in inducing dormancy. This could really confuse my plants
as I have a VERY mild climate where I live In Berkeley.
Thanks for the insights,