Date: Mon, 23 Jun 97 21:48 EDT From: dave evans <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2440$foo@default> Subject: Re: Re: watering nephs and other cp
Hello Adwait,
> Since limestone is essentially Calcium Carbonate (which is basic is pH)
> would this explain why nephs can tolerate hard water better than most other
> CP?
No. Hardwater doesn't kill CP directly. It causes the peat to rot
quicker and this can inturn lead oxygen poor soil. Especially if the
pots/containers are sealed so no water can flow through the soil.
The reason (at atleast what I gather from years of growing) Nepenthes
don't mind the hard water in so many collections is the fact that all
the growers keep them in hanging pots which also have great drainage.
> Also, I have also read that S. purpurea ssp. purpurea often grow in
> marl bogs (extremely basic...I believe that marl bogs are set upon
> layers of limestone also...but don't quote me on that) in my region of
> southern ontario in Canada. Does this mean that S. purpurea ssp.
> purpurea will also be tolerant to salts and basic pH in cultivation?.
I don't know what is supposed to be purpurea purpurea, but I think you'll
find that salts will harm them just as easily. Plants from marl bogs
may will probably grow fine in "normal" Sarracenia conditions. I'm not
sure how to make a good potting mix using limestone-clay though...
I have seen S.luecophylla and S.rubra wherryi growing in sandy-clay
(Tom was there any Sphagnum there???), but I don't know if it was acid
or not.
Dave Evans
P.S. I spent about an hour last week comparing S.purpurea from Indiana
(S. purpurea purpurea), NJ (S. purpurea XXX), NC (S. purpurea venosa)
and FL's panhandle (S. purpurea venosa var. burkei). They were in bloom
for the first time together so making direct comparision was very easy.
The thing I noticed, however, was that _var. burkei_ is easily the most
different the whole plant(s) over. Even the flowers of the two sub-
species were indistingishable (but the northern plants' petals were,
on average, a bit darker) while the burkei flowers stick out like a
sore thumb. I'm not sure what to make of it...
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