Rob-Rah

Errrm. What dio you mean by "signs of life"? Mine have a few wispy threads that may or may not be roots, but no green shoots showing.

Ooh. I will check mine then.

As they cut the lids off in those pics, it looks like a suitable use for the N. ventrata 'lidless mutant'.... ;-)

I planted seed in late summer/early autumn, followed by a quick straw fire lit over the pot, then watered in. Pot stood in water all winter. No germination as of yet. It might take until next year to get germination, once the pot has been properly "summered", but I am not optimistic. Seed was from a commercial source, and may not have been fresh.

That's kinda different! Looks like juvenile pitchers grown to adult size a bit. Thanks for the link!

I don't get that journal, so I am only speculating (and if someone were to post pics it would be very appreciated, copyright issues considered)... But most helis look so similar to me that I sort of find new species a bit dull. The differences are subtle and more like conoisseurship. Sarracenia are so varied between species, but helis are all kinda the same. Maybe that's why I don't grow pings so much too. Hmmm. I expect this will bring me a barrage of refutation.

My goodness, what a beautiful Utric hybrid (the quelchii x praetermissa)!! Any pointers on where to get one from? Cheers.

How odd, clicking on the link above doesn't seem to work... Anyway, the text from the site is: It's part of petiolaris?? I might have a go I think. I don't grow any of the others of the group, but am setting up a high light, high temp tank at the moment that might do. Jan, are you also trying D. subtilis?

They are mass-produced plants from t/c, so it's not as if it is doing measurable damage to anything that they get sold on for a quick buck for people to kill in a week or two...

Can someone tell me anything about Drosera banksii at all? I have seen a few pictures, and it looks attractive, and I am considering getting seed to try. No-one here seems to have it on their growlist. I know nothing at all about it, except what I read here: http://www.crazyjoe.us/carnivorous/drosera...tralianinfo.htm. I am assuming that as it's northern Australian it will want bright sunshine and steady hot temperatures (maybe like Drosera indica). This is just guess though. If anyone knows more that would be great. Thanks for wisdom in advance. Cheers.

The U. muelleri is quite lovely!

Anyone know a soure for albomarginata 'black' (been on a wishlist for ages!)? Nice pics.

I also have these tubers in the same delivery as Aiden. Mine are currently in the garage in the dark awaiting signs of shoots, so info is also eagerly awaited here.... Cheers,

I have read that juvenile pitchers are formed when there is not sufficient differential in day and night temps.

Would putting them in a box to shorten the days work?

Hi, Right. Excitingly, some tubers from Australia are going to be arriving any day. They will be in their dormant stage (Australian summer). How is it best to acclimatise them to the new cycle up in the northern hemisphere? Do I plant them now and try to give them a short season? (Will they in fact start growing again so soon after going dormant?) Or do I try to prevent them from growing until September or thereabouts and then give them a long season? Or do I just gradually change them over a few years? How? Any ideas, and experience most welcome. Thanks.

Mine are in mesh basket-pots, but not hanging.

One pot of mine has zero minimum and does ok. The others get 10C minimum. Too much heat seems to slow the plant down. By the way, do you find the endless aerial stolon production annoying? I have to keep feeding the new dropper-plants back into the main basket to avoid colonising my other epiphytes!

I have loads of plants from the seeds Steven supplied. Might be selling later in the year, so watch out... I think reniformis is harder - as I get issues with rot with that.

Once the summer is underway and there are some nice orchids flowering in there amongst the new pitchers I will post some more pics. Looks a bit bedraggled and dull at present though :-) Cheers.

No bird-scaring device. Just some white plant labels. The rock on the left is tufa, for growing some pings on. The tall things are a spent Darlingtonia flowerstem and a bit of typha minima. The problem I had with it for the first few weeks was that the water didn't soak away under the soil and out of the hole in the side properly. It created some kind airlock on the surface and just sat there in a puddle. It took a few days with the soil held away from the inside of the hole (to allow the water to escape) before a proper through-flow of air and water started, which I think may be useful to avoid stagnation. If I were to do it again I would add even more open material into the compost to make it drain as well as possible. With a good 8" or more of undrained tub at the bottom there will be more than enough moisture. The mix in there at the moment is peat, pine bark, sand, grit, perlite, and quite a lot of vermiculite (I wanted to use the latter in order to take the pH slightly less acidic for the benefit of some orchids in the tub - but the balance is still acidic). Lots of live sphagnum moss would have been a good addition - but it's hard to get hold of in such vast quantities. With the soil this high a lot of the excess water drains straight off the top in heavy rain. The moss covering (a mix of acidic woodland moss and bog sphagnum) was necessary to stop the soil washing away in downpours. I can't think of a good reason for one soil level being better than another, I just instinctively thought I may as well fill it up!

I have a half-barrell bog garden. Barrels are made to be watertight, so you dont need to line them (the wood swells in the moisture and closes up any gaps you might see when it's dry). I drilled a hole around 6" under the surface of the soil to aid top level drainage. A pic here: (Last year, when only half planted out. It's now fully planted up) Cheers.

Can you post tips for germination? Do you use GA3, or smoke water, or fire, or just fresh seed? And what temperature do you think is needed for germination? Also, what temperature is the greenhouse the plants are in over winter to get that growth maintained? Beautiful plants. I am trying a sowing of both of these (different localities) coincidentally in a few weeks too...

Looks like sphag to me... Give it more time in a humid, warm place. If it seems to die more and not grow, check the roots and see if they have rotted. If rotted, trim back and treat as a cutting. Alternatively, contact the seller and complain about their packing.