Date: Mon, 24 Mar 97 18:32 EST From: dave evans <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1082$foo@default> Subject: Re: Re: fish flake update
> From: Russell Elliott <relliott@GEOCITIES.COM>
> >
> > i was curious about what i read last week concerning fish flakes and cp
> > so, naturally i tried it.
> >
> > on the d.adelae... there was a spurt of growth, and perhaps the beginning
> > of a flower stalk ... which may or may not be coincidental, the extra
> > leaf or two was quick and dramatic. however, note that the flakes began
> > to mold after a few days....
Hi List,
A couple notes on this one. First, while Perry is right about the
leaves already being in development, they would still benefit from
any assimilated prey and get bigger than they might have otherwise.
You can see this effect in Nepenthes even more dramatically since
the leaves take longer to grow and people (myself included) can be
quite suprised to see the next leaf become twice the size of the
previous growth after feeding.
Also, D.adelae is a "weak" carnivore. They don't really do
as good a job as most other Drosera and they can handle only the
smallest prey. Molding prey often means either the food is too big
for the trap or that the food has too much fat in it.
> > i also put a flake into a vft, but there have been no results to report.
The trap has to be closed to work... Lifeless prey might not be
convincing enough for the trap to stay closed for. If the trap
is staying closed, then the plant is eating it. For VFT, you
wouldn't see the results in so dramatic a way. It's the rhizome
which tends to get bigger and then the leaves. Also, the leaves are
in "predevelopment" underground for longer then it appears so any
food is divided among several (up to around ten) growing leaves
instead of one or two.
> I tried the same thing a few weeks ago on some D.burmanii, and they
> have already doubled in size! When I first dropped some flakes onto
> the leaves, I could actually see the tentacles moving quite quickly
> (this plant tends to exhibit this feature anyway) and within a few hours
> the entire leaf has folded over them.
D.burmanii has to move fast, it only has seven or eight months to live,
flower, and make seeds. I'd have to say this is one of the most
aggressive eaters in Drosera. The food is gone before mold can even
think about taking a bite.
Dave Evans
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