dennisB

TALKS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY AND CULTIVATION OF CARNSDIVOROUS PLANTS The talks last around an hour and are accompanied by a comprehensive plant display and plant sales in aid of CP conservation organisations. Please note that clubs may charge a small entry fee for non members. 2pm, 4th June – Devon Branch of the Hardy Plant Society. Longdown Village Hall, Longdown, Near Exeter, Devon EX6 7SN 7.30pm, 7th July – Plympton Gardeners Association, Harewood House, Ridgeway, Plympton PL7 2AS. 7.30 pm, 11th August – Morchard Bishop Garden Club. Morchard Bishop Memorial Hall, Church St, Moreton Bishop, Crediton, Devon EX17 6PJ. 7.30 pm, 19th September – Whitestone Garden Club. Whitetone Village Hall, Near Exeter EX4 2JS DORSET FIELD TRIP Sunday 10th July The field trip will be attended by Tim Bailey, past Chair of the CPS and the author of Carnivorous Plants of Britain and Ireland. The field trip will visit 3 (maybe 4) sites around Wareham in South Dorset and will be an opportunity to see all 5 UK native drosera, some pinguicula and utricularia in their natural habitat and some introduced sarracenia. All the locations visited are Sites of attend and I will send you a detailed itinerary.Special Scientific Interest and numbers will be restricted to avoid damage to the fragile environments. No seeds or other plant material may be collected. PM me if you would like to attend.

What has any of this to do with carnivorous plants?

Hi Lizzie PM me and I'll give you some locations. Dennis

Hi Jon all the native sundews will be dormant at this time of year and will have reduced greatly in size - as will native butterworts. They will reappear in the Spring. Generally speaking, carnivorous plants are slow to produce mature plants from seed (years in some cases) which is likely to be frustrating for a 5 year old! Please PM me If your son would like some freebie sarracenia (north american pitcher plants). These are also dormant but will return to growth in the Spring. There are some growing guides on the CPS website which offer some good advice. cheers Dennis

Thanks for sharing. Dennis

Hi assuming your sinks are glazed you will not need to line them. With undrained mini bogs it is usual to have drainage holes about 5cm below the top of your growing media so that the sink doesn't get totally waterlogged. You have two options: 1. Seal the plug hole and drill a couple of holes into the side of the sink. 2. If you can't do 1, fit a vertical pipe to the plug hole with a few holes 5cm or so below the growing media or have the top of the pipe 5cm below the growing media and cover the top of the pipe with a fine mesh to stop the growing media being washed out. Rain will bring the perlite to the top of the growing medium (which may not be a problem if you put sphagnum moss on top). It is usual to use a non alkaline sand or grit instead of perlite on outdoor containers. If your sinks are deep you could save on growing media by putting some chunks of broken up polystyrene packing material in the bottom - but this isn't necessary. I have more sarracenia than I know what to do with. PM me if you would like some freebies. Dennis

Hi Les go to the Carnivorous Plant Society website at www.thecps.org.uk and have a look at the growing guides.

November/December for me in sunny Paignton. I've never needed to use any encouragement. Dennis

Apologies, but due to people withdrawing the Dorset Field Trip has been cancelled. PM me if this causes you a problem. I'll try to organise a field trip for next year. cheers Dennis

Hi Paul I'm running a field trip to S. Dorset on Sunday 25 Jul. We expect to see all three species and both hybrids of drosera native to the UK, some utrics and pinguicula and some introduced sarracenia. I know it would mean early start for you but you would be very welcome to come along. PM me if you would like to attend. Dennis Balsdon

Due to illness in the family I have had to cancel my open day scheduled for August 8th. I am happy for individuals to drop in at pre-arranged times. PM me you wish to come at other dates over the summer. cheers Dennis

Hi again Jay unless you live next to a cement works, lime stone quarry, gypsum mine and the like which makes your rain hard, it is extremely unlikely that your rainwater contains calcium, magnesium carbonates, bicarbonates or sulfates. Your TDS meter is detecting other minerals washed from your roof - non of which are likely to affect your plants. In the wild CPs do not get absolutely pure water. It will typically contain peat particles,, other vegatative detritus and minerals leached from the surrounding soil and will be on the acid side of neutral. I have more sarracenia than I know what to do with. If you would like some freebies PM me with your address. cheers Dennis

Hi Jay you don't need a TDS meter to tell you that Brighton's tap water is too hard for most CPs. A few years ago hardly anyone (possibly no-one) used them. Since then their use seems to have been copied from the USA. Collect as much rain water as you can. Even is sunny Brighton it rains regularly and any other dissolved solids washed from your roof will quickly settle out and in any case they won't harm your plants. You will need a back up supply of soft water and there have been many discussions on the forum on how or where to get it. The alternative would be to move to Devon where we can use our tap water. Standing pots with drainage holes in a water tray of some sort is a standard way of growing CPs. Good luck. Dennis

Or use a pressure washer.