Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 13:47:26 -0800 From: Doug Burdic <dburdic@presys.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1076$foo@default> Subject: Re: Does and don'ts as far as whats been tried so far
Hi,
Just some general tips here from my experience with carnivorous plants.
I collect rain water in plastic garbage cans which are located
underneath my gutters to use on my plants. (This aggravates my wife to
no end, but who cares about esthetics as long as it works right?) Here
on the Oregon coast, we usually get enough rain in the winter months to
keep all five of my rain "barrels" full when I don't need the water, but
I use the extra water during this dormant season to leech out all the
minerals/chemicals that have built up in my pots during the drier months
of summer when I am forced to use our tap water. Using this method, I
have been able to keep plants in the same media/pots for over ten years
with no problem at all. This all depends upon the quality of your rain &
tap water where you live of course.
Mix that works for me: I can grow 95% of all my cp in a straight mix of
peat:perlite in a 1:1 ratio. I was able to grow N. ventricosa & N. alta
in this mix with excellent results when I lived in southern Oregon, but
the diurnal temperature fluctuation here doesn't allow for success with
this genera, so I'm going with terrarium culture for any future Neps I
pick up.
Last tip and also one that my wife can't tolerate...I have 3 or 4 of
those blue 8 foot diameter "toddler wading pools" in my backyard with a
full sun exposure. These are about a foot deep I believe. Again, I put
in a mix of 1:1 Canadian Peat Moss & Perlite, add enough water to get it
"boggy" and then plant them up. After the planting is completed, I wrap
a 48" tall band of fence or chicken wire around the "pools" and then
staple 6 mil plastic to it for wind protection and keeping the humidity
level high. I also make a 'ramshackle' doorway that I can hold secure
with those eye-hook gate locks, to allow for weeding, addition of more
plants, close observations, etc. (I learned this after my first year's
pool experiment when I was forced to lean my body over the wire 4 ft.
wire whenever I had to pull a weed or slug out of my artificial bogs;
very bad on the back especially when you fall in.) Last point on these
plant pools...be sure to carefully drill a 7/8 hole or smaller in a few
locations at the very bottom of the pools for drainage purposes. I plug
them up with rubber corks that you can purchase from any hardware store
and periodically remove them to drain off excess water following an
extended wet period. In these pools, I have been growing Dionaea(vfts),
Drosera(Sundews-several species), Sarracenia(all species), Pinguicula
(Butterworts-P. grandiflora only so far, but the rest would do fine I'm
sure) and one with live Sphagnum moss. All these plants thrive in these
pool-bogs and equal those that I grow in the greenhouse. Darlingtonia do
excellent in one section of a pool that gets some afternoon shade, but
in full sun, it gets too hot for this species unless you want to sink
the pool into the ground to keep the root temperatures cooler and use
shade cloth....planting it on a raised mount might help in decreasing
the root temperature as well since they wouldn't be sitting in warm
water during the hottest part of the summer.
That's it I guess. Just wanted to pass along what works for me.
Good Growing Season to Everbody,
Doug
Doug Burdic
dburdic@presys.com
========================================================================
Randall Palmer wrote:
>
> For Venus Canadian peat, for plant food 1 tablespoon of baking
> soda in 1 gallon of water, also can mix 1 tablespoon of Ivory Liquid (
> bugs have to go) 2 tablespoons cooking corn oil (fungus can't pennatrate
> the walls of the plants).
> At one time was able to use licquid fertilizer, but the
> multiplication agent that is put on the plant doesn't agree.
> Baking soda does work wonders, it mosts of the time will take away
> the acidity of the medium, there is a point where you must decide to
> transfer the plant in a better soil. Like Carl has said baking soda
> deterioates the peat.
> Am finding that a fish tank is giving me the best in wind
> insulation and drying of plant plus bugs can fly into the top. Venus will
> sit nicely about an inch above the water in the bottom of the tank. Parrot
> picture plant sits nicely in the water. Purpuria likes Canadian peat,
> when one of mine tries to die off I simply put more peat over the center a
> couple weeks later new pictures start coming up.
> I like the darkest peat for my Venus were as others use a little
> sand also.
> the above is whats is working for me so far. If anyone disagrees
> or have better procedures somebody said only fools ignore correction.
>
> Randy Palmer
> sfdzeqe0@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us
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