Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 14:14:17 +0100 From: "Adao Pereira" <miguelporto@mail.telepac.pt> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2983$foo@default> Subject: Tap water CPs; Pings and Nepenthes ID
Hi Dave and all!
> I think you'll find this Sundew is far easier to grow than most, probably
That must be it. But I'm trying now with D. binata and D. aliciae and so
far they are doing fine. I have some in distilled water, others in tap
water.
( BTW: Regarding what Emre Gurcan said:
> For those who intend to use tap water, I suggest you have your water
tested
> first. Still, nothing beats clean rain or RO water. Plus, tap water might
> also contain some other harmful elements that might be bad for your
plants.
I haven't tested the water, but I know I live in an area of hard water, so
I should never use it for CPs, right? )
> other carnivores. Or it could it be that those watered with distilled
> water were not getting any or enough prey? Did you have any other CP
None of them gets preys. They're both inside closed terrariums and I don't
feed them. But is feeding so important? The only plant I usually feed is
Nepenthes.
> with the D.capensis that died? How did they respond? It could be more
> complex than just the water...
Yes, in the same terrarium of the dead D. capensis, I have one Nepenthes
which is enormous and very healthy; I have one VFT growing so-so; one
Utric... I think that the only plant that really likes that terrarium is
Nepenthes. The others are strange, they don't seem to like it. There's also
the possibility of the water quantity: I can't give the right conditions
for other CPs becuase of Nepenthes. You know, Neps. don't like to be
standing in the water, as the other CPs. I think that must be the reason.
> Look between the leaves, and you will see roots. They look like
> white hairs. They are translucent and you can easily overlook them.
Yes, the larger ones have small roots (1 cm long), but these don't touch
the soil, or if they do, they do not penetrate in it. The small ones, don't
even have roots! I think they survive because it is very humid in there.
Sometimes I insist in planting them in the soil, but as they grow, they
release themselves from it again!
> I don't know if I can do that, but I would guess diffusion plays
> a significant role. Pinguicula like Calcium (Ca++) in their soil!
> Soils without it, generally don't support these plants.
What?? Pinguiculas need calcium?! I didn't know that! So is it better to
water Pings. with tap water?!
> Calcium is an important nutrient for all CP's and all (or just about
> all) life. However, soils rich in Ca++ don't support most other types
> of CP, but it's not because of the Ca++, it's because in rich soils all
> the other plants do better and grow faster than CP's, killing them off.
Hummm.... are you sure of that?! That doesn't explain cultivated CPs. In
cultivation, they don't have competitors.
> Sounds great! Could you explain in detail what types of soils your
> Pings have done/do well in, please? I'm too used to growing your
Ahhh... I would like to, but I don't know much about it.... I used
"Sterissima". It's a normal potting soil mix, fertilised with N-P-K...
pH=5,0 - 6,5. I don't know more. It is black and compact. The humidity is
very high, I think, since the terrarium is closed. And the soil is kept
constantly very, very wet. But I think the soil hasn't much influence,
since the Pings are growing without touching it! And the very few roots
they have (only the large ones) don't get *into* the soil, they're just on
the soil.
Ah, another thing: these huge Pings are growing in complete shade. It's
really dark in there. I've tried to grow some in the sun, but they just
stopped growing.
You can see a photo of the terrarium and the huge Ping. in
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Battlefield/7768/Pinguicula.jpg
Well, I don't know what do you call a "huge" Pinguicula, but for me, that's
huge! Those two little babies at the left are levitating.
Look: I don't know much about CPs! I'm just in CPs for some months!
Now, I have one question about Nepenthes ID: I bought recently one Nep. and
it is still very young to be identified; however, I noticed a big
difference between this one and the other I have: this one has lots of
hairs on the lid! Does this identify any species? What, then?
Thanks,
Miguel
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