Date: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 09:12:00 -0500 From: "Mellard, David" <dam7@cdc.gov> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg716$foo@default> Subject: FW: a few questions.
>First I seem to have a bit of a smiley green algae sort of build up on
the top
>of my plants potted in peat & spagnham moss in my greenhouse.... would
anyone
>have any suggestions please.
Spray with 1 tablespoon of grocery store vinegar mixed in 1 quart of
water. Drosera are sensitive to this solution so don't make it
stronger. Another option is to grind up pine straw or any plant
material that has terpines (most fir type trees) in it and sprinkle over
the slime. Your eucolytic (sp?) tree might work here as a substitute.
Physan also kills algae but I do not know if it's safe for cp's.
>Also I have a S. Oreophilla x Leucophylla which has been sending out
dummy >pitchers (like the winter pitchers half the full size with a very
small unformed hood
>, whole blade bending backwards) since about October & I can't work out
why.
>... humidity / water seems ok & is getting lots of light in the
greenhouse,
>it's still Summer here. Any ideas?
This is normal oreophilla behavior and rather common for flava, too,
which is a very close relative. S. oreophilla habitat (a few hundred
miles north of the typical habitat for most Sarr (for instance,
leucophylla, flava, alata, psittacina, purpurea venosa) experiences
short periods of drought in the summer. Summer rains occur as afternoon
showers from the evaporating moisture due to the heat. The weather men
(sorry ladies) refer to them as popcorn showers because it will rain in
one location but not in another just a few miles away. This leads to a
pronounce drying in most areas. In adapting to this environment, S.
oreophilla grows very fast in the usually wet spring with lots of
pitcher formation and slows down in the summer. (I see this also in my
S. flava, lots of pitcher production in spring but little in summer.)
Because oreophilla's environment tends to dry out in the summer, it has
learned (excuse me, evolved) to produce phyllodia much earlier than
other phyllodia-producing Sarr. It's a protective mechanism. It also
makes oreophylla great as a hybrid because it's programmed for fast
growth in the summer.
>I guess at this stage I should just let it go dormant & hope that it
will come back as it >should in Spring.
My suggestion is to keep it moist and let it do what it wants to do.
Who knows, the leuco side may come back in the later part of summer and
make it produce a fall pitcher.
David
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