psi
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Posts: 8
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Post by psi on Jul 22, 2008 21:16:00 GMT -5
I'm pretty new to carnivorous plants, had a vft when I was much younger but killed it with a too-close incandescent light (oops). I've been doing bush work around northern ontario (tree planting, forest surveying) for a few seasons and I was blown away last year when I first came across a big patch of s. purpurea (pretty sure) in the wild. This year when I came back south I brought a few back with me and they seem to be doing quite well, lots of new growth. One has had a flower for quite a while now but it looks like it might not make seeds, so I was wondering whether or not they are able to self-pollinate?
Last weekend when visiting some family (grey county) I found my first wild cp's in southern ontario, more sarracenias (much larger than the ones up north) as well as some tiny droseras, which i think are rotundifolias. I understand that field collection is a contentious issue but I've only taken small numbers of plants from established colonies and I'm interested in propagating these plants to reintroduce to the wild, especially the rouge river and highland creek valleys of scarborough where I grew up. Working in the bush I've developed a special hatred for biting insects so I'd like to do what I can to encourage plants that will eat them.
I've read a few things here and there on tissue culture/micropropagation over the years but never really got going on it.. where is a good place to find some basic info on which nutrients to use for cp's and where to find them? Any general tips on caring for the sarracenias and droseras would be much appreciated too.. right now they are all in live sphagnum, would the 50/50 peat/sand mix I've heard people mention be preferable for either species? Thanks for any help you can provide.
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Post by bickell on Jul 22, 2008 22:20:37 GMT -5
Welcome to the group.
The easiest way to propagate Sarrs is by seed. Collect 4-5 seed heads in the fall and sow the seed onto some sphagnum moss for growing under lights in the winter. Keep it in the fridge for a month or two before sowing it.
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Post by lloyd on Jul 23, 2008 10:45:24 GMT -5
I have ton's of sarr first year seedlings of various and now unlabelled hybrids. If you want some, you can drop by.
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Post by prmills on Jul 23, 2008 12:06:50 GMT -5
Welcome here! from my own limited experience, I think the peat:perilite/sand would be cheaper in the long run unless your getting an unlimited supply of the sphagnum for free. I've not tried growning anything in pure sphagnum or a mix of for this reason, but will be trying soon, well eventually anyways Good luck on the collection, sounds like a good start! What's your setup like so far?
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psi
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by psi on Jul 24, 2008 17:40:59 GMT -5
The sphagnum was free but not local, I may be able to find some in the forest near where I live but I'd also like to learn more about propagating it, maybe try to figure out what species I have. Right now the sarracenias are in a plastic tub maybe 18" by 8" and 6 deep with the sphagnum to a depth of 3" or so. They are pretty packed in there though, thinking of moving them to a bigger tray and maybe putting some peat/sand under the sphagnum to spread it out. The droseras I have in another little rubbermaid container in about an inch of sphagnum.
For lighting right now I just have a warm fluorescent with i think 2-2' tubes, not sure the wattage but i'd guess about 40.. I have a few warm and cool 42W CFLs somewhere in the garage that I'd like to get going as well but I need to find them first. I may start moving the pitchers outside during the days as well.
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Post by lloyd on Jul 24, 2008 20:14:15 GMT -5
Are the sarr's outside?
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psi
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by psi on Jul 25, 2008 16:27:56 GMT -5
Yeah, I just brought them out this afternoon. I put them in a spot where they are partially shaded by other plants so they didn't get overwhelmed going straight into full sun. I made sure they had plenty of water before i left them out as well. Thanks for the offer of plants by the way, I don't really have much to trade right now but maybe I could give you one or two sarrs or some parts to tissue culture. I also have a pereskiopsis I could take a cutting of, don't know if you're familiar but it's a fast growing leafed cactus that can be used to graft slow-growing cactus seedlings.
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Post by lloyd on Jul 25, 2008 21:37:38 GMT -5
psi, I wasn't asking for anything in return, I have lots of seedlings. If you want you can have some if you're around my area-St. Clair & Bathurst.
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Post by prmills on Jul 26, 2008 21:56:52 GMT -5
Sounds nice! They'll love being outside, nothing like being in the sun. If you have wind though... expect the current ones to end up not looking to good, falling over, but I'm told by Syble that the future ones will be fine
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psi
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by psi on Aug 10, 2008 9:15:27 GMT -5
I just went out to check on the sarrs this morning and it looks like something dug some of them up and took them away! The sphagnum in one part was dug up and I don't see any sign of the plants that were there. Some of the traps of the remaining ones are damaged too. There was a big storm over the last day and night so I was thinking wind at first but I'm pretty sure now that it wasn't wind that did this. Maybe raccoons? I don't know if I should move them inside though, there aren't any really sunny windows (like nothing on the south).
On a more positive note, the one flower had dried out and fromed a seed pod, and I would guess there were 15 or 20 seeds in there! I'm thinking to start them in the little tub with the droseras after I do some reading up on sprouting.
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Post by prmills on Aug 10, 2008 13:50:02 GMT -5
Sorry to hear that... I stopped my outside bog cause of kid and wind damage, I can't see mine go to natures whim quite yet. I've seen pick though were people use chicken cage wire and make a cylinder around the pot to keep from wind and external damages, which might be a thought. If you are going to bring them inside, you'll need flouresent lights to supplement without a south window to get proper growth and colouring. Seed's are great! Plant them asap as their useful time to germinate leaves quickly. Just a basic CP media would be fine, live sphagnum would probably outgrown the seedlings. If these are sarr seeds, then put them on the media in a ziplock bag with water and place in the fridge for 4-6 weeks them outside and slowly open the bag and you should be good!
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Post by mabudon on Aug 10, 2008 14:19:49 GMT -5
before I had my cage I was replanting my poor s.flava and D.filiformis almost every darn day.
I vote cage if you intend to grow outdoors, which really is the best way to grow Sarrs- sorry to hear about the catastrophe
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Post by lloyd on Aug 10, 2008 16:51:45 GMT -5
I bought a mesh enclosure sort of like a big cube. So far so good. I think skunks actually are worse than racoons or squirrels, they love rooting in wet pots.
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