Jump to content

Kevan

Full Members
  • Posts

    65
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Kevan

  1. I have the Supersphag and the seeds - what now? Do I just wet the blocks and use as compost or is there more to it? I was going to boil rain water for the wetting - but I do have access to distilled water if this is better. Shoul I keep the seeds at 20 degrees or above? Any help gratefully received. Kevan
  2. I am delighted !!! Following from a topic earlier this year I cut of my flower stalks and potted them 2 cm deep in live chopped sphagnum. Kept under plastic covers and standing in water I was not too hopeful when some of them turned black and mildewed. Especially since I have never grown a VFT from a leaf pulling. In late September I was about to throw out the others when I notoced that they were a bit difficult to pull from the moss. Put on my spectacles and low and behold - tiny VFT sprouting from 8 of the plantings!! They are now out from the plastic covers and in a light spot, but sheltered from sun. Stike rate is 8 out of 12 - some of the ones which did not make ti were flower spikes of very young plants - thin and weedy stalks. Guess what I shall be doing with my flower spikes next year too! Many thanks to whoever gave me the ides (gardenofeden?). My advice to you all is give it a go. Kevan
  3. Kevan

    ampullaria

    If I had looked in my historical inbox I would have found this message from Martin Hingst ''[That's why I only have few nepenthes -only those that stay compact. I also like the red and tricolor forms very much (esp. this "Harlekin" plant in the 2008 cp calendar), but at least the red one grows too tall for my taste, so I am not willing to pay these high prices.'' So it's get a new tank or sell the plant! Thanks for the replies guys. Kevan quote name=Kevan' date='3rd October 2009 - 10:42 AM' post='253925] Hi, I purchased a red ampullaria, nice plant and larger than I expected (15cm diameter). It is growing well, but is growing upwards - vine rather than ground rossette. My speckled ampullaria is only a ground rossette. Question - willl the red one only grow upwards or will it eventually form a ground rossette? I appreciate that it was a cutting and hence is form a vine growth, but if possibel I shpuld like it to be ground only - otherwise it will outgrow my tank in a year. Alternativley - will it grow as a windowsill plant not in a terrarium? Many thanks Kevan
  4. Kevan

    ampullaria

    Thanks Stephen, I will let it settle in a bit more before taking the knife to it though. Kevan
  5. Kevan

    ampullaria

    hi ben, From member Paulo09 - he still has some on his sales list. Kevan
  6. Kevan

    ampullaria

    Hi, I purchased a red ampullaria, nice plant and larger than I expected (15cm diameter). It is growing well, but is growing upwards - vine rather than ground rossette. My speckled ampullaria is only a ground rossette. Question - willl the red one only grow upwards or will it eventually form a ground rossette? I appreciate that it was a cutting and hence is form a vine growth, but if possibel I shpuld like it to be ground only - otherwise it will outgrow my tank in a year. Alternativley - will it grow as a windowsill plant not in a terrarium? Many thanks Kevan
  7. THe red ampullaria is much bigger than I expected, it is settled in well too.

    The 'special' dionaea are both growing well too, they already look interesting.

    Thanks

    Kevan

  8. THe red ampullaria is much bigger than I expected, it is settled in well too.

    The 'special' dionaea are both growing well too, they already look interesting.

    Thanks

    Kevan

  9. Kevan

    VFT Surprise!

    My 1979 had developed a well grown plant(6 cm tall) on the flower stalk, with a sign of a 'root' - small bump on the base? I have chopped the stalk and potted it in dionaea compost, kept it covered with a dome for a week. It is now a healthy looking plant. So far so good. The mother plant is not looking too good now - no new traps since April and only 2 of last years left. Have I sapped its strength by allowing the 'baby' to grow too big before removing? Kevan
  10. Kevan

    VFT Surprise!

    I am glad you raised this - MY 1979 has a well developed plant on the flowering stem too. Is this trick associated with certain clones or do they all do it occasionally? Kevan
  11. UPDATE I looked again at the website for this society. They are ahving meetings, publishing a magazine, new members sayin 'Hi' - but I cannot get a pee out of them. Is it all made up, like some elaborate sting? Has anyone EVER had a reply from these guys? Frustarated, but not giving up, Kevan
  12. We collect rainwater, but sometimes in summer we run low and need other sources. For those of us lucky enough to need a dehumidifier for a damp basement there is a good supply of 'distilled water' from the tank. We get about 10 litres a month from ours. Another source of good quality, mineral free, water is the ice from the freezer. Just make sure that it does not have too many bits of frozen pea in it, thaw it out and it is fine. Kevan
  13. Thanks for the info Heather - If the spring comes and my plants have survived -4 C I will have a go. I gave in to temptation and bought a Dracula from Trev! He said they were going like hot cakes - comforting to know I am not the only obsessive in the world. You have two 'Dracula' in your grow list from different people, does this mean that the plant has arisen form the same crossing but with two growers? Kevan
  14. Hi I looked back through postings for advice on growing new plants from flower stalks, but couldn't find the post. Could you give a bit of basic advice on how to do it please. Thanks Kevan
  15. For anyone wishing to have recommendations of worthwhile varieties of VFT, most of which are distinct, you can do no better than Heather's Growlist - the starred ones are all the ones she rates. I agree with most of the ones Heather likes, and which I have in my collection - except that I am rather fond of 'Fang' - the longish red lashes look so good with the sun shining through them. Kevan
  16. Many thanks for the replies and useful links too. Many named varieties - hmmmmmm, This is exactly the situation that the fern fraternity were in by the 1870s, thousands of varats of Athyrium - many of which were so similar noone could tell the difference. It was sorted for some species by use of the term 'Group' (as we have for Dionaea dentate group). I have ferns which are from original clones and others without the probity which are 'Group' - I do not value the latter less, since they have the characteristics of the original but to some smaller extent. So plants that had all the characterisitcs of Justina Davis, but were not genetaicllay identical, would be called 'Justina Davis Group'. There are many interesting variants of the plant - and a lot called Aku Roy - all would be in the 'Aku Ryu Group', or 'Red Dragon Group' - depending on what was decided. This still allows the original to be 'Aku Ryu'. I know that I have posted this before, but it works so neatly for ferns - and is accepted worldwide too. Heather - I chopped the flower spike off my green VFT, you are right - what on earth was it doing growing now? The greenhouse was down at -4 and -2 for days on end. Good growing Kevan
  17. Hi All, Another clone question - I read that 'Big Mouth' is sometimes called 'Red-Purple'. I have a lot of small 'Red-Purple' plants from CZ Plants, but see that CZ also have a plant called 'Big Mouth' is this the same as 'Big Mouth' as sold by Trev and Southwest Carnovores + others? I know that Big Mouth is not a registered ciltivar. If I wanted the 'original' where should I go to find one? Many thanks Kevan
  18. My first go with rasing from seed, and I am very pleaed with the results. I surface sowed mine on the 2nd Nov on sand/peat/pearlite mix, placed cling film over pots and secured with elastic band. I keep them in my office, which is about 20 degrees, but they are in full sun and next to the radiator. - in a terrarium.I had 3 different sources of seed. As some may know I covered one lot with a fine layer of sand (DO NOT DO THIS!). Result is - uncovered seed from one source (CZ Plants and mixed) - I now have 18 out of 20 - all with two very, very, very tiny traps. From another source (uncovered with sand), sowed at same time and kept in the same place, I have one tiny plant with two tiny traps, this seed is from a yellow plant with red line - so I hope it looks like its mum and dad! The covered in sand ones show some germination and there are 10 tiny plants and tiny traps from 40 sowed - this seed came from a forum member, it would have performed better if I had treated it better. I did not save seed for a second sowing, but am happy very with the CZ plants seed mix. One of my good green plants is showing a flowering stem (it is in a cold greenhouse and has been down to minus 4 degrees for several nights. Should I get rid of the flower? I can't see any sign of anything else flowering - so no crossing possible. Can they be 'selfed'? I could become as fanatical as some other about these plants, my partner thinks I am a bit potty about them anyway, and luckily has no idea how much I paid for some of them . Regards Kevan
  19. Hi Linton, Worst news is that I contacted PayPal to tell them that the organisation was not supplying the goods, and that new people were paying even now into something they will never see benefit from. PayPal were useless, they simply replied that, since I had cancelled my subscription, I could rest assured that the organisation would not be sent any more of my money. There was no sense that PayPal is being used as a conduit to funnel money somewhere and that someone has that money under false pretence. Be warned folks - not every thing is as it seems! If you have paid this soc recently you can get a refund from PayPal, if you act within 40 days. That I should live so long and know so little!! Kevan
  20. I agree with Marek - do all G16s look so good? I am rather fond of green clones, but none of mine are the dark green I really would like to see. Favorite must go to a very dark red with piranha teeth I just got from Christian. Kevan
  21. Kevan

    Storing Seed

    Hello Again, Brilliant !! The seed not covered in sand are through now. Germination rate is much better for uncovered - 14 out of 16. Rate fro covered is 6 out of 16. I hope I get a similar rate with the Ceph seeds, though where I will put them until they reach a decent size I don't know. I retire in two years, hopefully a nice 6 ft x 8 foot greenhouse will be on the cards! What do you think or your 'olive green' Heather? I must say mine is definiltley the coulour of my jar of olives - but that is still farily light green! Kevan
  22. Sincere apologies for maligning the Australian CP Soc. I paid the 'Australasian CP Soc' in July and have no word from several attempts to contact. Many thanks to Donny of the ACPS for contacting me to offer to sort out the subscription - but not you I am afraid. Maybe I should have joined your society instead. If anyone knows of the Australasian soc can they let me know how to contct them - via their website dosen't seem to work. Kevan Hi, Does anyone know if there is a problem with this society? I paid a subscription via Paypal months ago, have contacted them via the website, but have had no communication. No e-mails no post, nothing. Any help would be appreciated. Kevan
  23. Kevan

    Storing Seed

    Hi Heather, Good news - there are 5 little plants poking through the sand - all at cotyledon stage only so far. The sand didn't prevent germination. In the one other pot I disturbed the sand, to get the seeds to the light, but so far no germination in that pot. I have 2 pots without sand, planted a week after the sandy ones, but no movement there yet. If the plants survive and more germinate I will have a problem keeping them all, especially as I have succombed to some more of Christians VFTs too. Kevan
  24. Kevan

    Dionea ID

    Hi Heather, Thanks for the discusion. I need to leap to the defence of CZ Plants - they DO always use a clone number. The mention of Akai Ryu is only in the description ie 'Classic Akai Ryu'. I have bought some very nice plants from them, and sowed some of their seed too - I love them Now I leap to my defense! I always keep the clone identity provided by the supplier and would never describe a plant as anything other than that identity. When my hundreds of dionaea seeds emerge and show their true colours they will all be 'seedling of X'. I wait with interest to get a 'genuine' Justina - I too have heard that there is a hint of pink in some described as this plant. Is hould like to see how it measures up against my 'All Green' and 'Heterodoxa' clones. Kevan
  25. Kevan

    Dionea ID

    Hi All, I am a bit puzzled by names, and may have misunderstood. Some of CZ Plants VFTs are described as 'typical Akai Ryu' but have different CZ clone numbers. I took this to mean that there isn't a specific plant called 'Akai Ryu', rather it is a description, and any plant matching it can be called the name. Similarly with the 'Justina Davis' plant, not a single one - but a very tight description which any plant matching may be called. If I have a completely red clone and called it 'Akai Ryu' or a green clone, with not trace of pink at any time of year, and call it 'Justina Davis' how would anyone know it wasn't? As Mr Spock said ' A difference which has not difference is no difference Captain'! I don't intend calling any of my lovely green clones 'Justina' nor the red ones from CZ anything other than their clone numbers, they are beautiful whatever they are called. I know what a confusion was caused by Victorian fern fanciers naming every variation as a named 'variety', and how long it has taken us to (almost) sort it out! Kevan
×
×
  • Create New...