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Post by Devon on May 1, 2012 20:20:15 GMT -5
Hello! I took some quickie shots of my pygmies tonight. This particular pot of pygmies is the one I am saving for someone. It just so happens that they are growing healthier than my main pygmies, probably because my main ones are crowded. Drosera pulchella (Orange & red veins) - This form seems to make more upright leaves... Or maybe this is normal for pulchella, I don't really know because this is my first form. Drosera x Carbarup Drosera paleacea subsp. paleacea - My other pot full of these are greener right now because I fed all of them a huge amount of fish food. Same goes for most of my others. Entire pot of randoms. Sorry about the "orange" lighting. Drosera omissaDrosera scorpioides (Albany) Drosera occidentalis subsp. occidentalis var. microscapa - Not very much dew... hopefully they will get more. Drosera pygmaeaThanks for looking!
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Post by 31drew31 on May 1, 2012 22:45:16 GMT -5
Great dews Devon, your D. omissa pot will look great when those flowers open!
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Post by Devon on May 2, 2012 5:17:39 GMT -5
Thanks Drew!
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Post by shoggoths on May 2, 2012 7:49:44 GMT -5
Very nice plants and pics Devon. Do you have any recommandation for growing them ? My pygmies remain so small ...
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Post by Apoplast on May 2, 2012 7:58:27 GMT -5
Hi Devon - I have to echo Shogg's comments. Your pygmies are beautiful! Much happier than mine. I'll have to load some pictures of mine this evening as contrast. I'd be excited to hear the conditions you are using to grow yours. Temperatures. Soil mix. Water level. Pot dimensions. You know, all your secrets.
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Post by Devon on May 2, 2012 14:55:03 GMT -5
Thank you! I'll post pics of the set-up and growing conditions tonight.
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Post by Apoplast on May 2, 2012 18:38:31 GMT -5
Hi Devon - As you can see my pygmy dews are not performing as well as yours. They grow in the same area as my tuberous species (the thinking was that they should do well under similar temperatures given that they are from the same area). First the tray of all of them. Here is the D. dichrosepala which is doing okay. And the D. oreopodion which are also doing okay. Now for the species that are doing poorly. Here is D. citrina, which I really like and want to see succeed. Certainly the worst off are the D. mannii, which look like they could all blink out in no time. How can I do so well with tuberous Drosera and fail so badly with pygmies? My pictures can act as a counter point to Devon's beautiful specimens. Although it could be a symptom of some wider problems I'm having. Check out my sad looking D. aliciae. And, for some reason the lamina of my D. multifida are turning black and dying while the petioles remain fine. Has anyone seen this sort of thing before? If it matters the pygmy dews are not in the tank with the other dews with the problems. Any tips are welcome.
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Post by lloyd on May 2, 2012 19:11:31 GMT -5
I seem to remember a thread on another site about some infestation which made dews look like your aliciae. Mites of some sort? It was a few years ago. Also maybe too much light.
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Post by Devon on May 2, 2012 19:24:43 GMT -5
Great selection of pygmies, Apop! I heard the same thing, that they like cool temperatures, but I was unsuccessful when I used a fan to blow a current of cool air from my window during the winter to cool them.. Maybe they didn't like the air movement. Anyway, I grow mine exactly how you are not supposed to grow them. In warm temperatures! I'm going to type this in point form since it is much easier.... - Temperature gets up to 86F, but soil surface gets to 84F. Night time temps used to drop to 59F (15*C) during the winter with the window barely open but probably only go down to 68 - 70F now. The water at the bottom is much cooler, which probably means their roots are cooler too. I think this is what helps them stay alive in such warm temps above the soil. - Humidity is whatever... I guess 40% and above. -I usually keep water sitting at the bottom of the tray, and it reaches almost 2 inches up the pot. A lot of the time I will let the tray dry out completely and then refill to the very top. - Pot height is 4.5 inches - Soil is roughly 1:1 rinsed sand and peat. (only sand is rinsed - I am going to rinse the peat next season for healthier growth without blackening growth) - Lighting is four CFL's which are 40 watts. Way overpowered, I know, but they will only thrive under CFL's for me. It seems to be the main contributor for them to grow healthy in my conditions. I also feed my pygmies with beta fish food when they sprout, and when they turn very red and start to keep fewer leaves at a time. ghetto set up pic... lolol It's not only my pygmies that like this CFL set up, but my capes have loved it too... The natalensis from hal I stuck with the pygmies also turns very red and flowers frequently. This was taken in 2011, and not all of the CFLs were at 40 watts. I'm not sure at all what happened to the aliciae. Sorry! Your binata could be burning from the light, or it could maybe be from minerals in the soil? I hope this helps!
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Post by peatmoss on May 2, 2012 19:49:36 GMT -5
Apoplast, for your aliciae, try cutting it back to the ground, it should regrow from the roots with a ton of new plantlets. Something like that happens to many of my dews after a solid year of growth, they just sorta turn brown, but a clipping back to the roots makes them come back better and in bigger bunches than before.
Nice pigmies devon! I hope your scorps produce gemmae! I have been wanting some of those for a while.
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Post by shoggoths on May 3, 2012 11:28:48 GMT -5
Thanks Devon,
Looking at your light, I think I'm burning mine. I'll try to lower them a bit more.
Sorry too Apoplast, I can't help you. The only problem I'm used to is burning my plants $%?$%?
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Post by Apoplast on May 3, 2012 11:48:53 GMT -5
Hi Lloyd - I hadn't thought of pests. I'll have to check.
Hi Devon - Thanks, but if I loose half of them, my species diversity will be much less impressive. Thanks for posting about your conditions! I think my setup is pretty close to your except for the temperature. If that is the problem, I should see improvement this summer. Here's hoping. Minerals is a good idea but it's in the same tank as most of my other typical dews and they aren't having problems. It's also about 20cm from the lights.
Hi Peatmoss - I've had this D. aliciae for about 4 years with no problems, but maybe something was different last year. I just don't know. I've thought about chopping it back, but it's got a bit of new green growth just starting to emerge and I want to see if it can recover. I'll probably do a horizontal planting of a root cutting from it soon regardless. At least that way I'll have new plantlets.
Thanks for the advice all!
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Post by 31drew31 on May 3, 2012 13:33:45 GMT -5
Apolast: I had a similar problem with my aliciae about a year ago. The plant never pulled through so I ended up just taking root cuttings and throwing the plant away. All other dew's in the same tank never experienced any problems. Here's the plant:
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Post by Devon on May 3, 2012 15:41:37 GMT -5
It looks like the soil is clogged to me, so perhaps they got root rot. Here are some more pics from about 10 min ago. all natural lighting outside... Perhaps too dark though. I didn't use a tripod, so some of the aren't as clear as others. The other D. paleacea are colouring up a bit now. The gemmae and D. natalensis are from Hal. (Thanks!) and the other one again D. scorpioidesThe other D. x 'carbarup' middle left flower pollinated with omissa - success maybe? other D. pulchella, some with growth deformations. D: D. gibsonnii not looking as nice as the other.... yet Red 'n' rosy D. roseana, but very small. Not so rosy, but bigger supposed to be D. dichrosepela, but the pics on cpphotofinder don't look the same And for teh lulz, D. coccicaulis "albino" plantlet doing well. The main plant is dead. Freshly planted and older plantlets
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Post by dvg on May 3, 2012 17:36:12 GMT -5
Those are some great photos of some very well grown pygmies Devon.
Thanks for sharing.
dvg
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