Date: Wed, 15 Jan 1997 18:48:37 -0400 From: Rand Nicholson <writserv@nbnet.nb.ca> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg206$foo@default> Subject: Re: cold and darlingtonia
>> I was wondering what experience growers out their have with
>> the effects of ice on Darlingtonia. I left my plant out
>> last night (we are experiencing freezing weather here in
>> the S.F. Bay Area). This morning I went outside and found the
>> half inch thick layer of "live" sphagnum moss growing
>> ontop of the 8 inch pot frozen hard as a rock. The water
>> the pot was standing in was also frozen solid. The cobra
>> lily is potted in a plastic pot in 1:1:1 peat/perlite/orchid bark
>> mix. If the media froze, have I lost the plant?
>> wishing I'ld brought the cobra lily indoors last night,
>> --Zachary--
>
Hi Zachary:
Worry yourself not.
As long as the plant does not dry out from wind, it will ignore temps down
to -25 C (from experience). If the plant is frozen, try to keep it that way
for as long as possible. If it is mature, it may have a better blooming
season when it reinitiates growth in the spring and watch out for rhizomes
coming out of the soil. I have found that, if Darlingtonia has a good
dormancy period, it will put out suckers, bloom quite nicely, and grow like
a weed in the early part of spring.
I lost mine due to a vacation and a heat wave co-inciding two years ago.
Keep the roots _cool_! Especially when it is in a growth spurt. I use ice
cubes.
Rand (in Canada)
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