Pete Bog

@Gaz The top grit is dry, but underneath it is moist, the D.Binata was moved in from the greenhouse as it has some baby vft seedlings in the pot, the Drosera was self seeded (seems to invade everything) it was already tatty but true there isn't much dew on it. I put a temp Hygro next to them last night, temp first thing this morning was 19.5 and 60% humidity. @tommy I had brown heart disease when I first tried pings in the Greenhouse, but they were in the same tray as my Sarra's so I think that was too much water. But they died from the middle outwards, whereas the problem I'm having seems to be going from the outside towards the center. Shame, it had some lovely white flowers last year and I'm always a bit envious when I see the bright red laueana flowers in other peoples collections. I'll try again next year :)

Hi Gaz Yes there is a rad under the sill but with the mild weather it is hardly ever on, maybe an hour first thing in the morning. I'm using rainwater, I haven't tried them in the greenhouse as I thought the strong sunlight would scorch them, I have no shading as the pitchers, vft's and Drosera are all in there. Have attached a couple of photo's I don't know why the first came out as thumbnails, but should mention I have tried in the past growing in the porch, in another unheated room, in the kitchen with similar results. Always use rainwater and no fertiliser. Regards Bob

Hi Would welcome some growing advice on what I might be doing wrong here, the photo's are P.Moranensis.alba and P.Cyclosecta (the tray of Cyclosecta was full now only two remain) I'm also having similar issue with P. laueana (bought several now and all have died). The healthy plants are P.Colimensis x Agnata grown in the same position and are currently flowering their socks off (just as proof I'm not a complete muppet - I hope :) ) They start off ok, put on good growth then stop, the outer leaves die off and go brown and the inner section stops growing. Gradually it all dies back towards the center and I'm left with a little brown dead clump of leaves and root easily removed from the compost. I'm growing on a East windowsill, they get some sunshine early morning but not too strong, in a gritty moss peat compost, the Cyclo's have Perlite. I've tried (over the years) growing damp, growing on the dry side, watering from below and watering from above, even adding crushed eggshell to the mix but never manage to keep them for more than part of a season. What am I doing wrong? I've been growing CP's for 20years or more (pitchers and vft's) but these particular varieties have me beat. thanks Bob Healthy Colimensis P.Cyclosecta P.Moranensis

I put my plant in a spare room to overwinter and stupidly forgot to keep an eye on it. Result is the compost is now bone dry and the plant leaves have shrivelled and dried. Just wondering if it is possible to recover, will the roots recover if I start watering? I seem to have nothing to loose at this point in time. thanks Bob

NP Have removed plantlet and potted up - fingers crossed. Here's a closeup of one of the flowers taken a few weeks ago. Trigger plant - Stylidium caespitosum by arbygfx, on Flickr rgds Bob

thanks guys very interesting

Hi I bought this Stylidium in full flower on a whim a few weeks ago. I've never grown these before and don't know a great deal about them. It has now finished flowering but developed a small plantlet on one of the flower stalks - is this normal? I've looked for similar photo's but haven't found any. Will it root and continue to grow if I remove it? thanks Bob

Dan They're in a SW window in 8 inch pots of 50/50 perlite/vermiculite with a handful of moss peat (my best Irish Shamrock) and a handful of sharp sand per pot. The pots were initially well watered with rainwater to settle the mix and then stood in a plant pot saucer to which I just add water until it is no longer drawn up. Then the seedling was added along with a clump of the compost from the seed tray. I just water into the saucer so as not to disturb the compost . When I see the compost begin to dry at the top edge of the pot after a few days I add a little more water to the saucer until it is drawn up again.

Hi Daniel I was following the instructions that came with the seed, which basically was to lift the seed and a clump of compost as soon as germination occurred. It was just a green bud when I moved it and actually grew quite fast to the size in the photo (2cm) then just keeled over for no apparent reason. subsequent Googling also seems to show a preference for sowing in the pot its to live in... maybe next time, dunno why I didn't go for the peat pot option now as I have several... doh! They are currently in the bathroom window and get bright but not direct sunlight (not that we have had much of that recently). regards Bob (found the offending media in my sig - thanks)

Hi I sowed some seed a few weeks ago and had 2 germinate within a couple of weeks I transferred as soon as I saw green shoot into a full size pot of vermiculite/perlite and things looked rosey. Dewey Pine seedling by arbygfx, on Flickr This was the largest of the two and today when I checked it had wilted, the remaining seedling is still looking good but as they're both been treated the same I'm worried it too might die. Was it a mistake to sow this time of year? tnx Bob ps whats with the slide show thing below? I didn't insert it

....or more specifically how do you pack potted plants to survive the rigours of the dear old Royal Mail? I sell the occasional plant on Fleabay and usually wimp out by sending bare root, wrapped in moss, wet kitchen towel and clingfilm and a custom made cardboard box- it does keep the weight down and it does make it easier for me to pack. Sometimes however it'd be nice to send something without disturbing the roots or leaves here's an example of what I received via Ebay and though the seller had gone to reasonable lengths to protect the plants the GPO had other ideas...only two survived btw. tnx Bob

Hi Found this tonight near the top of one of my pitchers, initial thought was mealy bug but seeing the spidery thing I am not so sure. Could it be spider mite?? thanks Bob

Well it was my day off today and with heavy showers on and off all day (thankful mind you as the rain barrels are getting low) we had a potting up session. Still some more to do but run out of pots, no bench space in the greenhouse so had to make do in the kitchen. Most are from a mixed packet so will be interesting to see what I end up with. The ones at the back mainly red are known crosses, selection of Ping leaf pulls on the windowsill taken in February and coming on nicely. These were stratified in the fridge around August 2009 and sown in October then grown indoors under lights through both winters. Sarracenia seedlings mid potting up session by arbygfx, on Flickr