A question on D. Peltata and darlingtonia

From: James D Annan (jdan@mail.nerc-bidston.ac.uk)
Date: Fri May 07 1999 - 01:13:24 PDT


Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 09:13:24 +0100
From: "James D Annan" <jdan@mail.nerc-bidston.ac.uk>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1567$foo@default>
Subject: A question on D. Peltata and darlingtonia

Actually, that should be 2 questions.

I'm a beginner trying to grow these from seed (thanks, UKCPS seedbank!)
Most of the info I've found about CPs seems to refer mainly to growing
in North America and our climate in the UK is very different. For
example, D. peltata is tuberous and so ought to grow in winter,
hibernate in summer. The UK winter is probably very different to USA or
South African (I think thats where they come from?) conditions, being
extremely dark and damp, especially where I live (and I might move to
the west coast of Scotland shortly, which is even wetter and darker).
I've not got any artificial lighting, so they are going to have to
manage on a windowsill. Would it be better to try to grow them during
our mild, brighter summer and then dry them out for the winter? Or do I
keep the seed for a few months before sowing, and hope that they can
cope in our gloomy 6-hour winter days? The brief UKCPS guide to growing
CPs describes these along with other temperate non-tuberous sundews,
and doesn't even mention the different growing season, so it either
goes without saying or it doesn't matter!

As for Darlingtonia, I'm interested to hear if anyone can quantify what
`cool roots' means. In the UK, high temperatures (by USA standards) are
rare, but in full sun things can get pretty baked. Does it just need
cool conditions overnight (which is easy enough to achieve) or is
daytime cooking also a problem?

Thanks,

James



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