Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 22:40:27 -1000 From: bandh@maui.net (Charles Bigelow) To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1484$foo@default> Subject: new member, droseras, nepenthes
Hi,
This is an introduction from a new subscriber to the CP list. Please
forgive a lengthy introductory post.
I live on Maui, at an altitude of 3,500 feet, in a region called Kula
(actually, Waiakoa), on the edge of what was once a tropical cloud forest,
before it was clear cut in the 19th century. Winter temperatures drop down
to night lows of around 50 degrees, rarely 45, and winter daytime temps get
up to about 70 -75 degrees. Winter is rainy. Spring temps (now) hit lows
around 55 and highs around 75, with frequent cloud cover or fog in the
afternoons, and occasional drizzling rain. Summer temps hit night lows of
around 60 - 65 degrees, and daytime highs around 80 - 85, very rarely 90,
with usually clear skies and bright sun in the late summer and early fall.
Humidity varies from around 50% to 70%, with of course higher humidity in
the fogs and rains. Cloud forest orchids like Masdavalias grow well here.
Last year, I started growing CPs here, mostly outdoors. These include
Nepenthes, Venus Fly Traps, Droseras, and a few Pinguiculas. Outdoors I
have N. ventricosa, N. alata, N. x emmarene, N. x rokko, and an
unidentified variety. They seem to be doing OK outdoors, apart from some
slug and snail attacks. They are growing slowly, with some reddish mottling
(perhaps from too much sun?), producing some pitchers, and catching
occasional prey. Indoors, which is about 10 degrees warmer than outside, in
a large terrarium, I have N. rafflesiana, N. williamsii, N. hookeriana, and
something labeled N. ampullaria, but its pitchers are not like those
pictured in the books. Indoors, they are growing quickly, setting pitchers,
and outgrowing the terrarium. I would like to set the bigger ones out for
the summer soon, but night low temps are still around 55 degrees, which the
CP books say is too cool for the lowland species and hybrids.
The VFTs are also doing OK outdoors. They went dormant in the winter, but
are now coming back and starting to flower. Their media stayed moist to wet
in the winter rains, but now I am watering them regularly in the hotter
spring weather.
The Pings seem fine, growing in full shade, in amedium of sand, perlite,
and peat moss.
The Drosera have been more difficult. They are mostly in full sun, though
there is seldom real full sun up here, and all grew well and seemed robust
last summer and fall, but over the winter, the rosetted varieties died,
their roots rotten. These included D. spathulata, D. aliciae, and D.
slackii.
In contrast, the forked varieties, D. dichotoma, D. binata, D. b.
multifida, died back and went dormant in the winter, but most of them have
revived and are growing strongly again. Also, D. capensis is very robust
after a pause in winter, and D. filiformis went dormant and has now
revived. I brought D. prolifera indoors for the winter, and it seems fine
in a terrarium. The Drosera feed on fruit flies, which we have plenty of
around here if I leave a few orange peels around the Drosera pots.
I'm wondering why I lost the rosetted varieties. All the outdoor Droseras
were in a medium of 1/2 peat and 1/2 washed sand, and the pots were kept in
saucers of rain water or reverse-osmosis purified water. They seemed fine
in summer and fall. Did I maybe keep them too wet in the cool rainy winter
weather? Do they need a different growing medium? Does anyone have any
suggestions for better culture? Or of species that might do well in my
climate?
-- Chuck Bigelow
ps: There is one species of Drosera native to Hawaii, D. anglica, found in
the Alaka'i swamp on Kauai, but I haven't seen it in the wild.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:31:01 PST