Introduction and question

From: mark.fisher@tpwd.state.tx.us
Date: Tue May 06 1997 - 11:43:33 PDT 

Date: Tue, 06 May 97 12:43:33 cst
From: mark.fisher@tpwd.state.tx.us
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1799$foo@default>
Subject: Introduction and question

     Greetings,
     
     My name is Mark Fisher, and I am a new subscriber from Austin, Texas.
     I am a marine biologist with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, in
     the marine fisheries division. I would love to hear from any other
     CPers in the Austin area. I am an experienced aquarist, both fresh
     and salt water. I also have a small backyard pond. I enjoy growing
     aquatic plants, orchids, and cp.
     
     I have a 6' x 8' greenhouse, where I keep all the Gulf coast
     Sarracenias (except oreophila) several Droseras (capensis, filiformis
     traceyi, adelae, and spathulata) and VFT. I will get my first
     Nepenthes soon. I started growing cp last summer, and my collection
     is slowly growing.
     
     I grow my cp in 50/50 sand/peat, with the pots standing in 1-2 cm of
     rain water. A humidifier keeps the greenhouse above 50% humidity, and
     excessive heat is controlled by a combination of venting, shade cloth,
     and a small cooling unit. Winter is almost too mild to mention. My
     orchids, Sarracenias and Droseras are very happy there.
     
     However, my VFTs are not happy. The leaves typically turn black and
     die from the base up, but sometimes the trap dies first. This occurs
     within 3-4 weeks of transplanting out of the 2" pots from the dealer
     into a 4" pot. Or, when I get them bare root, from Lee's Botanical
     Gardens. The entire plant is gone in about a week or two. One local
     dealer, an orchid specialist, tells me VFTs cannot take full sun, and
     grow theirs in the darker, cooler part of the greenhouse in front of
     the water wall. Their VFT's do very well--large red traps, and most
     are now blooming. I now have mine in the back of my greenhouse, where
     it is less bright, but this is counter to what I have read and heard.
     
     Do VFT's need to be kept out of direct sun for a few weeks after
     transplanting? Mine are doing well in the back with the Droseras and
     the orchids, but they will need to move out of their 2" pots soon, and
     I don't want to kill these. The Sarracenias do very well in the
     brighter front (blooms, growth, etc.), but a transplanted VFT has
     never survived here.
     
     Any advice?
     

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