Bonsai Sarracenias (was re: Sarracenia questions)

From: L235@aol.com
Date: Fri Mar 21 1997 - 06:51:40 PST


Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 09:51:40 -0500 (EST)
From: L235@aol.com
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1028$foo@default>
Subject: Bonsai Sarracenias (was re: Sarracenia questions)

Wim Leys responded (hi, Wim):

>> I find that plants in the wild tend to grow much taller than in
>> cultivation. Because the plant do grow in deep grass the plants
>> tend to reach (etiolate abit) until the clear get into brighter light.

>I think it's because they have more room for their roots, that plants in
>(artificial) bogs grow taller than cultivated ones. You should
>try to grow a few plants in a much bigger pot and see how fast and how
>big they grow compared with the other plants.

>Someone suggested that plants grow les tall in a terrarium. This may be
>so if you give them a shallow layer of soil.

>Compare it with growing bonsai

Last May, several of us visited the collection of a recently-deceased
commercial
CP nurseryman, who grew his entire personal collection \
(of some very nice specimen Sarracenias) in those little three inch pots
he sold his VFTs to chain stores.

I noticed an interesting "bonsai" effect amongst several species,
particularly
S. minor. These plants grew fairly short and VERY wide -- easily
three times the "normal" diameter of S. minor I had observed elsewhere in
cultivation and in the wild. However, upon repotting these plants, they have
over the last summer and fall, grown back into fairly "normal" S. minor.

I noticed the same effect with S. rubra and S. rubra hybrids, although
the S. leucophylla appeared to be unaffected.

Jay Lechtman



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