74 replies to this topic

[flycatchers]

Alas it looks like the effect of those really cold days and nights a few weeks back are kicking in!
Rather too many VFTs now showing rotten sections with some beyond help. My Red line form is worse affected (most dead)  and a couple of sawtooth. Ironically the garden centre typical form shows no ill effects whatsoever.
I had kept them on the drier side but the tubers were brown and soft. The traps still looked healthy on the whole but on inspecting them were no longer attached to the plant! I used to heat this smaller house to keep out the frost but stopped doing so some years back. But this winter has certainly been the worse for the last 10 or more years and earlier than that the house used to be insulated as well. Guess those milder winters lured me into a sense of security! Time to dig out that old parffin heater!  Particulary as there is suppose to another really cold spell in February forecasted!  


bill

[Alexis]

Oh dear. Have you disturbed them at all Bill? Mine have really dug themselves into the peat for protection.

[flycatchers]

Alexis, on 26th January 2009 - 17:34 PM, said:

Oh dear. Have you disturbed them at all Bill? Mine have really dug themselves into the peat for protection.

Hi Alexis,
No I had not disturbed them and most were fairly well established. But still finding more rotten plants including ones that were housed in the greenhouse! G9 and Red Line worse affected. My new B52 does not look good either and that had yet to have a growing season!
The bulbs have just rotted away- though none have been in water since last October.

And add to that casualties from the other species of CPs and non CPs I am thinking that perhaps they are trying to tell me something!  

bill

[gotcher]

Sounds to me that you have no air movement in your greenhouse . Either buy some side vents or leave some gaps between the glass at the sides so you get air movement also when it's windy you will get replacement of air . This way you should't loose plants due to rot .

[Phil Green]

Gotcher may have something there Bill.

I've not lost any either this winter.
Most have been in the greenhouse, which does have a few holes in some of the glass - so good air movment. These have been kept on the dry side. But I've also had a pot full out side all winter that have been in a tray, so if it rains they are stood in water. They've had the snow and everything, some of the top growth even rotted, but all are now sending up new growth.

[gotcher]

What people forget when growing any kind of plants is plants need the same growing conditions as they do in the wild otherwise you stand a  good chance of loosing them . All plants need air movement . Using a parffin heater will make matters worst as these produce more damp and the fumes aren't helping your plants either . If you want to heat your greenhouse you need electricity heaters as they produce dry air this avoids rot etc .

[mantrid]

gotcher, on 28th February 2009 - 13:02 PM, said:

What people forget when growing any kind of plants is plants need the same growing conditions as they do in the wild otherwise you stand a  good chance of loosing them . All plants need air movement . Using a parffin heater will make matters worst as these produce more damp and the fumes aren't helping your plants either . If you want to heat your greenhouse you need electricity heaters as they produce dry air this avoids rot etc .

Ive always used paraffin heaters in small cold framed and have never had rot. Any rot is more likely to be due to saturated soil than water vapour in the air, in my opinion. So long as you dont have water in the trays the pots stand in you should be ok. Infact I think the water vapour in the air could be an advantage particularly on dry winter days as the Carolinas are not dry during the winter their climate is temperate. I do however, leave the vents open to allow circulation of the air when the heaters are on

Ive never had any problems with the fumes, most of which would be carbon dioxide, which is harmless to plants. In fact they need it in the ,but as the heaters are not on in the day and they are not very active in the winter, this added bonus will not be of much use. Carbon deposits (soot) could be a problem but I dont think the amount produced or the exposure is significant, particularly as the plants are not active anyway. I have not observed any problems with, or even seen any deposits.

[Joseph Clemens]

As I was going through a repotting of my collection of VFT's, I kept the bits and pieces of leaves, stems, and rhizome that I would trim off or accidentally break off when repotting. I threw them all together in an undrained plastic sandwich container. Most of the time I kept the water level in this container at or slightly above the surface of the media. Soon many of these trimmings budded and grew some plants. By the time I took this photograph this tray is at least three years old. For dormancy I simply add more water, filling it nearly to the top, then add its lid and place it into the refrigerator for a dormant rest. I never really waited for the plants to enter dormancy before placing them in the refrigerator for a three to six month rest. This tray was my most care-free assortment of VFT plants, ever.

During one dormant period while it was in the refrigerator, I noticed that it was mysteriously missing. Later that day, when my wife returned from work, she explained that she had a surprise when, at work, she opened her lunch salad, only to discover my container of VFT plants. She and her co-workers had quite a kick from the discovery.

Edited by Joseph Clemens, 01 March 2009 - 04:47 AM.

[gotcher]

mantrid, on 28th February 2009 - 19:34 PM, said:

Ive always used paraffin heaters in small cold framed and have never had rot. Any rot is more likely to be due to saturated soil than water vapour in the air, in my opinion. So long as you dont have water in the trays the pots stand in you should be ok. Infact I think the water vapour in the air could be an advantage particularly on dry winter days as the Carolinas are not dry during the winter their climate is temperate. I do however, leave the vents open to allow circulation of the air when the heaters are on

Ive never had any problems with the fumes, most of which would be carbon dioxide, which is harmless to plants. In fact they need it in the ,but as the heaters are not on in the day and they are not very active in the winter, this added bonus will not be of much use. Carbon deposits (soot) could be a problem but I dont think the amount produced or the exposure is significant, particularly as the plants are not active anyway. I have not observed any problems with, or even seen any deposits.

Why are you using heating to grow fully hardy plants you are wasting your money . Also the vapour wil help to cause rot . I grow mine in a cold greenhouse loads of air movement and every free days in winter I look to see if they need any water . If I didn't they would soon get bone dry .

[Phil Green]

gotcher, on 1st March 2009 - 08:59 AM, said:

I grow mine in a cold greenhouse loads of air movement and every free days in winter I look to see if they need any water . If I didn't they would soon get bone dry .

  That must be one hell of a hot winter greenhouse.
I doubt if I've watered (never stood in water) mine more than 3 times all winter - certainly only twice this year.

[carnivoor]

Joseph Clemens, on 1st March 2009 - 05:36 AM, said:

As I was going through a repotting of my collection of VFT's, I kept the bits and pieces of leaves, stems, and rhizome that I would trim off or accidentally break off when repotting. I threw them all together in an undrained plastic sandwich container. Most of the time I kept the water level in this container at or slightly above the surface of the media. Soon many of these trimmings budded and grew some plants. By the time I took this photograph this tray is at least three years old. For dormancy I simply add more water, filling it nearly to the top, then add its lid and place it into the refrigerator for a dormant rest. I never really waited for the plants to enter dormancy before placing them in the refrigerator for a three to six month rest. This tray was my most care-free assortment of VFT plants, ever.

During one dormant period while it was in the refrigerator, I noticed that it was mysteriously missing. Later that day, when my wife returned from work, she explained that she had a surprise when, at work, she opened her lunch salad, only to discover my container of VFT plants. She and her co-workers had quite a kick from the discovery.

She'll never look at salad the same way again.

[gotcher]

Phil Green, on 1st March 2009 - 11:06 AM, said:

That must be one hell of a hot winter greenhouse.
I doubt if I've watered (never stood in water) mine more than 3 times all winter - certainly only twice this year.

It's something to do with plenty of fresh air and winds . I have watered as least every two weeks though this past winter I only give a limited amount of water each time . And don't forget I live high up here whare their is plenty  of wind not like lowdown kent .

[Alexis]

I've had a few dry pots in the last week or so, so I just put them in water for half an hour.

I'm wondering if the cumulative effect of two abysmal summers and a chilly winter has just weakened your plants Bill?

I lost my South West Giant, although all the others are fine. Just one of those things - you can follow the guidelines to the letter but we all lose 2 or 3 plants every winter.

[faunista]

It seems strange to me that winter cold is the cause... I've grown many forms of VFT since 2002, inside and outside the cold greenhouse, with minimum temperatures down to -15 in a few occasions, and never lost any plant.

[Alexis]

A short period of deep cold is probably less stressful than weeks of constant low temperatures possibly.

[flycatchers]

Lots of interesting replies :)
The ones I have lost have been a mix of outside and under glass. The greenhouse was fully ventilated with three roof vents, Louvre and double doors left wide open. I have used a paraffin heater in years gone by without any issues, but stopped using it when I realised how hardy the plants were. This has been the coldest winter since I stopped the heating though.

On inspection the heart of the VFT bulb has small granulated bits of light brown rot breaking off from it. I first observed this last August on a couple of plants, which suggests the cold may have hastened their demise but not been the cause of it. I did allow quite a few plants to flower last summer to collect seed. And I have noticed that the plants that have been effected were in my peat/perlite and grit sand mix. So far ones in my older peat/silver sand mix (with or without perlite) seem better. So perhaps the change in compost and/or flowering have contributed to this issue? I think I will have to do a complete repot of at least the plants in this different mix as I have still found plants that on the surface look healthy but on unpotting have at least some serious rot to the bulb. This spring has the been the worse loss in 22 years of growing VFTs! Worse effected this time have been the G27 "Spider" form and the Red line/edge? which I have never found a very robust speciman at the best of times.

bill

[faunista]

I have noticed that VFT is a very hardy plant; some clones are more vigorous than others, but I find all of them very resistant to extreme cold weather. Winter at my home is very cold and long lasting, i can find pots frozen solid from november to march.
I found that if a VFT has some problem (excluding parasites or similar), is not due to cold issues, but at 99% to bad mix (i.e. bad or contaminated peat) or bad water.
In one occasion I had to repot many plants I had already repotted in new peat, because the new peat I started to use was causing some plants to rot.
Maybe this could be happened to you also?
Marco

[Starman]

gotcher, on 28th February 2009 - 14:02 PM, said:

What people forget when growing any kind of plants is plants need the same growing conditions as they do in the wild otherwise you stand a  good chance of loosing them . All plants need air movement . Using a parffin heater will make matters worst as these produce more damp and the fumes aren't helping your plants either . If you want to heat your greenhouse you need electricity heaters as they produce dry air this avoids rot etc .

So thats why mine were outside for dormancy (cant get much more fresh air there!) and yet they still died in the same way flycatchers describes?

[Alexis]

Outside in pots or the ground? What are they potted in?

[mantrid]

gotcher, on 1st March 2009 - 08:59 AM, said:

Why are you using heating to grow fully hardy plants you are wasting your money .

Not as much as replacing your whole plant collection after a servere couple of weeks of frost, as the poster of this thread found out. I also live in on the north facing slope of a valley and in the winter the sun doesnt rise above the hill so it gets very cold indeed, much colder that what Dionaea has evolved to tolerate in the Carolinas.

gotcher, on 1st March 2009 - 08:59 AM, said:

Also the vapour wil help to cause rot

Have you used paraffin heaters to substantiate this claim. I have used them for many years and have never had rot.