Dionaea resuscitation

From: marj_boyer@mail.agr.state.nc.us
Date: Wed Oct 07 1998 - 07:12:30 PDT


Date: Wed, 07 Oct 98 09:12:30 -0500
From: marj_boyer@mail.agr.state.nc.us
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg3228$foo@default>
Subject: Dionaea resuscitation


     Help! from you experienced flytrap growers. I have in hand some
     flytrap plants that have been stored in a closed plastic bag under
     refrigeration for over two years. Somehow the plants have survived,
     in the form of little white basal crowns, some with wispy white
     etiolated petioles. They were stored moist with a little organic soil
     around them that has turned to slimy goo, but I don't see any fungal
     growth. I have reason to want to revive as many as possible of these
     particular plants. This seems hardly the best time of year to do it -
     just when the plants should be thinking about dormancy - but I'm
     afraid to leave them any longer in storage; it's miraculous they've
     survived this long. I have available for use, but I don't have total
     control over, greenhouse space (which never gets very cold, never
     below freezing certainly) and a cold room which is pretty musty.
     Location is mid-North Carolina (i.e. Northern Hemisphere, the warm
     side of temperate, very near Dionaea's home territory).

     So I want to pot up these poor little plants and get them to thrive.
     Any suggestions - soil, water, light, temperature, whatever - as to
     how to baby them along for maximum survival (or how to keep from
     killing them)? Having basically a black thumb, I can use all the help
     I can get, thanks.

     Marj Boyer
     Botanist, Plant Conservation Program
     NC Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services
     Marj_Boyer@ncdamail.agr.state.nc.us



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:31:37 PST