Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 13:29:11 -0000 From: Nigel Hurneyman <NHurneyman@softwar1.demon.co.uk> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg319$foo@default> Subject: Re: U arenaria
If you realy want to kill Utrics, try earthworms! My previously thriving
colony of U bisquamata was rapidly downsizing, so I had a poke around
to identify the cause. The first leaf I looked at was not attached to a root
and had a tiny, translucent baby earthworm apparently attacking it. The
second leaf was the same, as were all the leaves. I couldn't find a single
root. While the loss of a 'weed' like U bisquamata doesn't grieve me, the
loss of the only plants I had of the form with slightly forked leaves does.
I can't understand how the worms got there - it must have been quite a
trek from my contaminated pygmies.
Theoretically, I wonder whether adding earthworms to Sarracenia pots
might be a good idea. They should aerate the compost and improve
drainage, and bury dead vegetable matter before it attracts fungus. And
when they get too rampant, you just pick them off the surface and drop
them in a pitcher. And for those in the UK where earthworms are under
attack from New Zealand Flatworms, it can even represent a valuable
resource towards conserving earthworms (the latter is mild humour at
my expense on behalf of professional conservationists).
Apparently we Brits now have Australian Flatworms to contend against.
These are apparently smaller, pinkish and altogether more effeminate
than their New Zealand relatives.
Regards, NigelH
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