Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 08:52:32 -0400 From: Rand Nicholson <writserv@nbnet.nb.ca> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg156$foo@default> Subject: Re: Freezing Apartment CPs
Hi List:
Turning into the end of January and noting there are apartment growers with
CP dormancy concerns on the List, I thought I would just send a few notes
of my own experiences with a few plants.
I grow my CPs in a low humidity apartment (in winter, outdoors in summer)
in Maritime Canada and, except for soil mixes, do not take too many extra
pains in my CP culture. No lights or terrariums, sometimes I will wrap up a
Nepenthes in plastic to raise the humidity for a spell.
Most of my CPs (except my Neps) are appearing nicely dormant, now, where
they are in a cold window that has a louvre to control the air flow to the
outside. My zone falls within the - 28 C temps in winter, but we have had
much lower. Several pots, including Darlingtonia, have been frozen solid
overnight several times with no ill effects. The south-west window facing
pitchers of my S. purp. were all frozen solid last week with the ice rising
out of the fat pitchers (I keep the pitchers filled through its dormancy)
and the container full of water it sits in, a block of ice. It took a whole
day for the thing to thaw out, but the pitchers (and their ice water)
thawed in an hour or so. The thing seems to actually enjoy that, but then
it is a Canadian pitcher plant, after all and probably grows little grey
wool socks on its roots in the fall.
The redoubtable D. capensis, through my laxness, received a good bit of
freezing itself. The pot didn't freeze solid but the moss on top was rock
hard to over a centimeter down as well as one side of the pot. The plant
looked like hell, but actually came back a bit before throwing its leaves
and croaking to the soil line. Then it immediately put out a stem shoot
from just below the sphagnum, which has now six leaves, three mature and is
growing fast. I have about five cm of dead stem to cut off and then you
would never know where the original plant had been. I actually thought I
had killed it this time, but then, this would be about the fifth time I
have thought that.
A pot of VFTs is generally losing a few leaves, looking ratty and normal
for this time of year. This summer the rhizomes managed to migrate to one
half of the pot leaving the other side bare, so they will have to be
repotted and redistributed when they start up in the spring. This will
probably mean extra VFTs for my summer beer cooler bog garden on the deck
as I have never been quite able to repot VFT rhizomes without having a few
"scales" or pieces volunteer to come away during the process. Then again,
some of these things just get too big for community pot and need to be
divided anyway.
The Nep. alatas, which seem to take a rest here during the dark days, have
been reacting to the (not much) longer daylight with more pitchers. I was
hoping to keep them resting, because the pitchers are still lower ones and
there is not enough light for that wonderful colouration that they get,
except for the mottling on the neck and lids. All in all I have three N.
alata growing in the same big pot. One is from the top of the old stem of
the original plant after it had been cut-back and two others are cuttings I
took at the same time I cut the plant back. All three are producing
pitchers of various sizes, the old plant with the biggest at about 14 cm. I
have another earlier cutting that has sulked for almost a year growing in
an unprotected pot in terrible conditions that has started producing
pitchers, also. These are about 5-6 cm and the tops (lids and necks)
dessicate in the low humidity after about six weeks, but this is an
experiment to see just what N. alata can take as far as nasty goes.
I also have two Cephalotus in the big Nep pot to overwinter. I found that
this is an easier method than fighting the mold (mildew) they often get
when potted by themselves under my conditions. I don't know why they don't
get the mold in with the neps, but if it works ... In the spring, I'll lift
them and set them in various shady spots outdoors to try and get some size
on them. For some reason, they never get mold in the spring and summer. I
got the two plants by division. I took a sterilized pair of sissors and cut
the rhizome of the mother plant about two cms back from the growing point
without unpotting it. The second plant appeared about six weeks later at
the cut. This plant appears to like a pot much bigger than the plant
itself. Having seen the long rhizome during a repotting, I think I can see
one reason why.
No sign of bloom buds forming on any of the plants, but it is early days
yet and I don't want to disturb the plants at this time by rooting around
their crowns which are mostly covered by live dormant sphagnum moss. The
moss freezes quite well, also and I believe this helps to keep it healthy
and moist and of benefit to the plants' crowns and roots in helping to
prevent rot and dessication.
Kind Regards,
Rand
Rand Nicholson <writserv@nbnet.nb.ca>
New Brunswick
The Great White ( January thaw Zone 5-ish, maybe)
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