Marcus B

I am busy repotting nearly all my cephs after the sphagnum went bad even with drainage. They grew well for a couple of seasons and then crashed.

Nice!

Spotting in plants, when it is not due to a virus, can be due to mutations in some cells but not others, resulting in a mosaic pattern. When you have a possible increase in mutations, you have a possible increase in the chance of a back mutation, that is that the mutation that causes the different appearence (the spots) gets corrected (or simply another error that cancels the effect). So yes, it is better to take naturally produced divisions of the rhizome than leaf cuttings of such plants. Sports may also occur in one part of the plant and not others due to similiar effects, which is why they may occur in flowers but not be passed on in cuttings. I currently have a Cyclamen with white flowers that is from seed of a pink flowered plant, which has some flowers with a pink line in one petal. The fact that this occuring in more than one flower may mean that it can be passed on from other tissue on that side of the plant. However, from memory, if it only occurs in one flower then you need to try to obtain affected cells from the flower to grow a callus that may pass on the trait. Whenever there is cell division, there is the chance of a mutation. When there is rapid cell division, there is more chance of the error corrrection mechanisms failing in some area. Much of the DNA that is termed "non-coding" is involved in the error checking process and thus it seems that organisms which have less "non-coding" DNA are more likely to accumulate errors. There is, I supposed, some chance that this may explain why some EB cuttings are not as colourful as expected.

It is a long time since I last studied this so my info may be outdated, but anyway, the theory was that when plants form calluses, the rapid division of cells into the undifferentiated mass results in a greater likelihood of copying errors. Thus when the cells start to differentiate the resulting growth will not always be identical to the source plant. When you take a cutting of a leaf, a callus forms at the cut site. This is the small bump of tissue at the base of the leaf from which the new stems grow. It seems to form after the roots grow on ceph leaves, similar to what I have seen happen with leaf cuttings from other species. You don’t normally get callus formation in root cuttings, or perhaps they are not as obvious (as I would expect there to be something similar), but certainly rhizome cuttings don’t form them as they are makings of a new stem. Thus leaf cuttings, and possibly root cuttings, can result in minor genetic differences from the parent plant at a greater rate than is experienced in taking rhizome cuttings, and the resulting plants are far more likely to grow from the affected cells making the effect even greater. However, we are talking about minor genetic changes, most of which will not impact the phenotype.

From what I have read, Hummers is normally slow growing. Just one the common traits with the plant that I have that is supposedly from the same stock. My Giant is more difficult to propagate for that reason. Give it time and you will get there.

They look good. Based on this, I would say it is definitely a viable option that I will have to try. Well done.

Personally, 40mm pitchers are no big deal, and my plants are not kept saturated except in hot weather (above 30oC). I have them damp with short periods of drying of the substrate during cooler weather. It seems to be more to do with the age of the plant, lighting and how much they are fertilized in my experience, that and the particular clone in question. Some years they just do better than others, so trying to pin it down to one cause is a bit difficult.

Nice plants.

Very sad news. I knew that he had been sick for while. His growing advice and knowledge of CP will be sorely missed.

Gently lift the lid and spray water into it. Increase humidity by partly enclosing the pot in a plastic bag, but be warned that over doing the humidity can be a problem too if fungus attacks it. As it starts to recover open the bag more to harden it off.

That is what I do to. I have quite a few AL#s, a few PM#s and now I am going to have to number the best of my seedlings too.

My Giant, which is supposedly the same stock as Hummers, also goes this dark in good conditions, but then, so do most of my plants.

If it is hard then there is still hope. It is when it goes soft and crumbles then all is lost. Leave it be and see what happens. A bit of sphagnum around it will allow some light to get to the rhizome, but it will be fine under the peat. Black is not the best colour though, so at this stage it is hard to say if it is dead or not. Only time will tell.

I have re-grown worse. In fact quite a few of my small plants were looking much like that earlier in the year and are now putting out healthy pitchers. I don't give up until the rhizome disintegrates.

If the rhizome is rotting then yes it can spread up from the roots to the leaves. You may need to carefully check the roots and the rhizome below the substrait. If the rhizome is soft and dark then you many need to cut off the healthy part to rescue what you can. Best thing to do is to take the photos so we can try to see the issue and give appropriate advice before you take any drastic action. No need to apologise for asking questions. That is one of the main purposes of the forum, as it give others a chance to learn, or to share what they have already learnt, so we can help each other.

My plants that are in mostly sphagnum more often have an issue with getting too dry, as it dries out faster than the peat does.

Not so much the cold, but mild temperatures. My plants usually grow best when the temperature is in the 18- 25oC range. At warmer temperatures I try to keep the pots cool in water. In this set up I would expect that keeping the roots cool would not be a problem and that the plants would not have to be kept as wet as at higher temperatures.

I like the notes on the side of the Typical's (HM) pot. However, with pitchers measuring "22cm" and "24cm" it would have to be a mega giant. ;-)

Thanks, I might have to try this with my small divisons. A lot of them struggle to catch much in my hot house.

You are usually better off re-potting it sooner rather than later in the growing season as the roots also get longer as the weather gets warmer. Deeper pots with a lower water level should help avoid the rotting of the new growth, a long with a better mix.

That is a bit different. Very nice colouration.

Does it make any difference if you use frozen blood worms, or Tubifex worms?

Looks fine to me for spring growth. The longer leaves should soon follow as it gets more light and warmth.

We just need to remember that this media does not readily convey the writer's mood. Even with the addition of smileys, readers can still misjudge intentions and take offence. Given different people's sense of humour, then add different cultures and language issues, misunderstandings will occur. However, it is good to lighten the mood occasionally. Let's not crush that in midst of more serious discussions.

The issue there is that giant is part of the description given by Allen when he sold the seeds. All that Andy has done is to maintain the name it was supplied to him under, by the person who collected the original material from the wild. So really it is Allen who should be giving reasons for the name, not Andy. Given that Allen described the size of the pitchers, it is up to the buyer to judge whether they want it, or not. How many others already grow this plant (or rather others from the same seed batch)? Do we re-label some and not others? Although being from seed, it would not be a case of giving the same clone different names if we did.