mrAlmond Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 (edited) Hi all, I'm next to receive some tubers from Australia (I think they will arrive on march), so I will need to acclimate them to the north emisphere seasons... Please can you suggest me some methods to keep the tubers alive during the hot italian summer? Thank you! Edited December 7, 2007 by mrAlmond Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrAlmond Posted December 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 Hi all,I'm next to receive some tubers from Australia (I think they will arrive on march), so I will need to acclimate them to the north emisphere seasons... Please can you suggest me some methods to keep the tubers alive during the hot italian summer? Thank you! Any hint? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Spence Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 Any hint? I'd like to help you Gianluca but I have never had the problem myself. I guess that you will need to keep them as cool as possible while providing a short daylength. Where will you be growing them? Under lights or outside? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyro Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 Well I can chime in on my experience but I have a sort of unfair advantage based on a part of my house that you likely do not have. When I am acclimating tubers I start them in my crawlspace which stays cool year round (never above 25 C). I just pot them up in prepared media and let them sit dry in the crawlspace till I see growth then I transfer them to a tray. If they are still growing when I start seeing activity from my already acclimated plants then the new pot gets put with them and moved up to the sunroom (which is only heated enough to keep it from freezing) Since I assume you do not have a crawlspace then your best bet would be to put them in a highland type grow area and hope for the best. Keep photo period to less than 12/12 and if you can give them a couple night drops to 5 C that would help them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrAlmond Posted December 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 Thank you all for your answers...I'm trying to think about a good solution....I've talked about this problem with some experienced italian growers but each of them has its own methods that I can't use.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel H-C Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Hi Gian, Plant your tubers to 1 inch depth, and treat as usual if any grow. Once they die back, I keep them under some shade netting (50%) to prevent them from overheating and dessicating. It is important to water them occasionally over the summer months as they are only 1 inch down and will still dry to much. In the autumn I remove the netting as soon as the first couple are showing signs of growth and treat as usual from then. I use 2 litre extra deep pots for all of my tubers, and still find that they reach the bottom of the containers, but this size pot allows the plants to dry slowly when they enter dormacy, and to go down far enough so they do not dry too much. Nigel H-C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrAlmond Posted December 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Hi Gian,Plant your tubers to 1 inch depth, and treat as usual if any grow. Once they die back, I keep them under some shade netting (50%) to prevent them from overheating and dessicating. It is important to water them occasionally over the summer months as they are only 1 inch down and will still dry to much. In the autumn I remove the netting as soon as the first couple are showing signs of growth and treat as usual from then. I use 2 litre extra deep pots for all of my tubers, and still find that they reach the bottom of the containers, but this size pot allows the plants to dry slowly when they enter dormacy, and to go down far enough so they do not dry too much. Nigel H-C Thank you Nigel! These information are a real treasure for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrAlmond Posted February 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 (edited) Hi all! Today I've received the tubers from Allen Lowrie! So I'm going to pot them waiting for their growth... My only doubt is about how must I place them into the pot...I've never seen tubers (only in some photos) and I don't know if I will be able to recognize the grow point and the roots...how can I avoid confusing the "top" and the "bottom" of the tuber? Sorry if this seems to be a stupid question...but I just want to know as much as I can about them... Edited February 26, 2008 by mrAlmond Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyro Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 You can usually tell the top from the bottom, look for the "eye" on the tuber (like a potato "eye") and that is the top. In some species the shape itself can tell you where the "eye" is. For example, if the tuber is tear drop shaped then the "point" end is usually the bottom. If you have the ability, post photos of the tuber and some of us can probably point out the "eye" for you. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrAlmond Posted February 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 Ok...thank you. This evening I will post some photos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrAlmond Posted February 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 (edited) Here I am! These are picture taken just some minutes ago: Drosera aff. tubaestylis "Brookton form" In this case I suppose that the growth point is that light brown "tail"...is this true? This tuber is almost completely covered with a brown film... Drosera zonaria Also for this the growth point should be that long tail... Drosera rupicola Growth point is that brown tail on the right? Drosera lowrie This is the only one that I can't understand where the growth point is...can someone help me? The tuber is partially covered with a sort of brown film... For now I've placed them in a cool and shaded place...waiting for them to start growing...or must I pot them immediately? They are more or less from 0.5 cm to 1 cm diameter. Edited February 27, 2008 by mrAlmond Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrAlmond Posted February 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 Suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyro Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 Hello Almond, Yes, your assumptions about the "tails" is correct. Those are actually the "ascending" stolons which will break ground and form the new plant. For the D. lowrie, the "film" is the husk from last years tuber. Based on what I can see I would guess that the eye located on the upper left portion of that pic, about the 10 o'clock position. I would at least pot up those tubers showing signs of growth. Use dry media and put on the tray just long enough to let the media get a little damp but do not leave the pot sitting on tray until you actually see the plant break surface. For the D. lowrie, you can pot it up in dry media and leave the media dry until you see growth or you can wait till you see the formation of a stolon and then pot up and give the same treatment as I described above. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrAlmond Posted February 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 Thank you Pyro...I'm trying to get as much info as I can about tubers... I will try to pot them as soon as I can, following your precious instructions...thank you again. Considering their dimensions which depth must I pot them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olivier Tschuy Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 Hi Almond I use my cool basement and grow lights. It works pretty well. As a second place, I have a small terrarium with lights in the kitchen where the door is always open for the cat. There I get cool temperatures too. I like to keep the tubers in zip-bags until I see the growing part (stolon). Then I wait until the stolon is about 2-3 cm long. Only then I put the tubers in the provided pots (D. zonaria requires a deep one - 20 cm min!). Keep the post cool, dry and under lights, so the stolon knows where to grow to ;-) If you see the stolon breaking the surface, put the pots in water, eventually you can slowly water from the top to animate the tuber to grow. Feed them, they will starve in the short acclimatisation period! Around July put the pots outdoor in the shade and force the tuber to go dormant- so you get the acclimatisation to the northern hemisphere. And please, if these are your first tubers, sell them or swap with easier ones early enough and don’t let then die. They are taken from the wild... Cheers Olivier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrAlmond Posted February 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 Hi Olivier, Thank you for your suggestions. This afternoon I've just pot almost them (I'm just waiting for D.lowriei to start the stolon) and unfortunately for D.zonaria I've used a 15cm deep pot. However that tuber was very small so I think (or better...I hope) this could be ok. I've used peat and quartz sand just damp...I'm keeping the pots in my garage behind a great window south facing. This is the same place I'm keeping seedlings of D.stolonifera ssp stolonifera, D.peltata (WA orange, Victoria and NZ "big plant" forms). Temperatures are cool (seedlings are doing very well so I think it's ok). Talking about the "tubers collected from the wild" topic...I've just read this from Siggi Hartmeyer: http://www.hartmeyer.de/Lowriedebatte.htm I really didn't know these things...but if this is the truth I will never buy tuberous drosera from Lowrie anymore... About nature conservation I've the same ideas as Siggi...I've done some field trips and I've taken al lot of shots of Pinguicula and Drosera...but I've never collected plants. Hi AlmondI use my cool basement and grow lights. It works pretty well. As a second place, I have a small terrarium with lights in the kitchen where the door is always open for the cat. There I get cool temperatures too. I like to keep the tubers in zip-bags until I see the growing part (stolon). Then I wait until the stolon is about 2-3 cm long. Only then I put the tubers in the provided pots (D. zonaria requires a deep one - 20 cm min!). Keep the post cool, dry and under lights, so the stolon knows where to grow to ;-) If you see the stolon breaking the surface, put the pots in water, eventually you can slowly water from the top to animate the tuber to grow. Feed them, they will starve in the short acclimatisation period! Around July put the pots outdoor in the shade and force the tuber to go dormant- so you get the acclimatisation to the northern hemisphere. And please, if these are your first tubers, sell them or swap with easier ones early enough and don’t let then die. They are taken from the wild... Cheers Olivier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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