Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 12:52:10 -0400 From: Rand Nicholson <writserv@nbnet.nb.ca> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg165$foo@default> Subject: Re: the tale of the floating S. psittacina
Hey Dave:
>Hi Rand, your post of freezing cp's prompted me to talk about the floating
>psittacina.
>
>Many of you will remember that last year, I overwintered a couple of S.
>psittacina outside submerged in water. They did fine sitting at the bottom
>of a plastic bucket where the water at the top froze many times over the
>winter.
>
>This year, they became floating S. psittacina and spent the later part of
>summer, fall, and winter floating in water. They love it. What's amazing
>to me is that now when it freezes, they are trapped in a layer of ice and
>the other week when it went down into the teens (F), they were completely
>surrounded by frozen ice. Anything that freezes in Atlanta usually thaws
>the next day (or 2 at the most) and the floating psittacinas are doing
>great.
>
>I plan to leave them there permanently to see how they fare and how large
>they will get.
>
>David
>Atlanta
I remember all too well your story of the Bucket Psitts. That story, in
fact, was what prompted me to to put my double-crowned psittacina in a tub
larger than the pot, fill it with water, and jam it up against the cold
window this winter. The pot actually floats a bit, but freezes over nicely,
with the leaves sticking out of the ice. It looks quite insane, at times.
However, the psittacina is happier than it has ever been indoors in the
winter. Seems to enjoy the afternoon sun, frozen or not.
Next summer I am going to plop its pot in a large clear plastic container
full of water (after division) and see what it does outdoors. This may
prove a hardship to the ants that were all over it last summer, so I'll
keep one division in my beer cooler bog. Be interesting to compare.
Kind Regards,
Rand
Rand Nicholson <writserv@nbnet.nb.ca>
New Brunswick
The Great White ( January thaw Zone 5-ish, maybe)
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