Rob-Rah

While I expect many of us think that algae is the enemy for aquatic utrics, here's someone who thinks quite the reverse, and advocates using utrics to stifle algae in ponds... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...4302834898&rd=1

The net's not special. The method used to enforce is the same as for any publications: the courts. Send them a letter requesting a stated reasonable payment for their use of your image, threatening to sue in their national court if they do not comply. As an aside, you shouldn't post direct from anyone else's webspace like that, even to show them up like this...

The flowers are quite pretty and the plant doesnt seem to suffer for flowering. Cut the stems off when finished to avoid having seedlings popping up.

Where in Durham are you? I'm at Uni there. Durham's lovely and sunny and warm at the moment. What are you complaining about?

Can anyone tell me how to germinate seeds of free-floating aquatics? Do the seeds get planted on soil, or just sprinkled into water? Cheers.

You are going to need to line it with pond liner on the sides and bottom I think (in one piece). Or some other strong waterproof material. Binliner is a bit weak and will not last very long. Flooding is no problem. Just fill it up to its brim with compost (four parts peat to one of perlite is sufficient) so that the excess runs off the top. Bogs flood in nature. Sarras can live with their crowns under water. If you're worried about smaller plants, mound the compost in the parts where you want to plant them to keep them above the water level.

Mine were fine in the greenhouse all last summer, with the temps around 30C-35C over those hottest periods. Daily overhead watering and icecubes were used.

To bring this up to the top again. I will be wanting to sow some seeds of U menziesii this year. Does anyone else have experience of geermination? When to sow? Treatment? Length of time to germinate? Temps? Light? Treatment f seedlings? etc. etc. ect. Cheers.

Spray the soil surface with water at least once a day. That usually clears up the green algal stuff.

Yeah, I have been down that route before too! Just thought I'd check, as I had no certainty that this was spatulata. I like it too. But not its seeds everywhere.

I have this sundew accquired as D. spatulata, but recently, becuase I am no expert on these, I'd like to confirm its identity, wondering whether it's something else. Do any of the sundew people here know better? Thanks for any input.

There's also a general online article by Bestcarnivorousplants here: http://www.bestcarnivorousplants.com/cultivation_pygmies.htm

There is a base made of 8x2" pressure-treated timber, bolted together. This is lined with pond-liner. A mirror lies on the bottom to help reflect heat. The base is filled with water (7" deep or so). There is a 200W aquarium heater on the mirror - it might melt the liner if it was in contact. A very small pump ciculates the water. There are four bricks supporting a solid metal mesh rack above the water (I think it's part of an old bed - I found it at the local dump), on which the plants stand. The heater is set to keep the water at whatever temperature is neccessary to achiveve a minimum air temperature of about 12C. The coldframe sits on the timber. The ambient greenhouse temperature drops to just above freezing, but this tank stays warm. It is also self-watering to an extent, as the large amounts of condensation drip back onto the plants. The macro-utrics particularly like it, although live sphagnum runs riot a bit in there and has to be trimmed.

I have one of those B&Q ones. They're very good. Mine is the top half of a winter heated nep chamber. I don't think it will be tall enough for Sarracenia though.

I grow D. ascendens independently of these. Would ascendens have been happy with the high temps these plants have had (between 15C and 40C) and somewhat shaded? If I have inadverttnly found a way of keeping this species happy, I'll be happy.

Hi, I have two Drosera that have come riding in other other plants, which I'd like to have a stab at identifying. Apologies for the poor quality of some of these pics... Number 1: The leaves are slightly oblong, and the plant is only about 1 inch in diameter. It survived a minimum of 2C but wasn't terribly happy. No hibernaculum to speak of. ------------------ Number 2: These plants are about 1.5 inches in diameter and seem to thrive in warmer conditions. I'm sure this isn't a capensis seedling, as its growth is too slow, and the attachment of leaves at the crown is different. The lamina to petiole size proportion is also fairly constant as shown, with no tendency to elongate the lamina as the plant grows. (I do have some capensis seedlings to compare sdie-by-side). Thanks for any guesses![/img]

The idea isn't to increase acidity with Carbonic Acid - that is better done with peat-tea, I think. It's to provide a source of CO2 dissolved in the water - which Aldrovanda in particular is said to appreciate. For people with a chemistry bent, the equilibrium equation lies well to the left, meaning that acidity (concentration of H+ ions) is very low: CO2 (aq) + H2O (l) -> <- H+(aq) + HCO3- Acid rain isn't acidic becuase of CO2, but mainly becuase of SO2 (produced during combustion of many organic materials, which forms sulphurous (H2SO3) and sulphuric (H2SO4) acids on solution in rainwater). I am starting experiments with U gibba in various concentrations of tea this year, green and black. This ought to hinder algae, but I don't know what the other chemicals present may do. What with this and soda-stream Aldrovanda, I hope to present a cocktail of results later on (pun, pun). Anyway, any more ideas on fizzy water? I didn't know you could still buy soda streams to be honest, I assumed they were a part of my lost youth...

I have been reading up on CO2 dissolved in water (you know, the way people do...). It creates a weak solution of Carbonic acid. Some of the CO2 creates this acid, whereas the vast majority of the CO2 is merely suspended in the water as CO2. I don't want to play with other acids or CO2-injectors if I don't have to, for my aquatic utrics and Aldrovanda. I was wondering what people thought of the idea of simply pouring some supermarket bottled carbonated water into each tank every so often (not much, just a bit - I don't want to go overboard on the Ca/P/Na ions added [is there a mineral-free carbonated water on the market?]). This stuff is simply a solution of CO2 in water with extra CO2 added beyond what can be held in solution. Sounds ideal to me... Any thoughts?

Do you think it would grow ok in company with Aldrovanda...?

Well, what do you know! No sooner do I post that, than I go home and find my plant has abandoned its bottom-rooted nature and begun floating like others. Still, it would be useful for any tips on it... Cheers.

I am growing U stygia from the AIPC conservation project. For some reason only one of the turions came into growth for me, and I thought I'd lost them all for a while, but it's now doing well. I expected it it to grow like other small aquatic species and it's just in an ice-cream tub with a smattering of peat on the bottom. However, it seems to want to grow as a kind of affixed aquatic, with its base rummaging along the bottom, and the growing tip pointing upwards, and not free-floating, which indicates that it wants a thick layer of substrate and fairly shallow water. Is this correct? I'd be obliged to know what the best culture for this would be. How are the other recipients doing? Thanks.

*sigh* :-)

My flava flowers are in full glorious show this week. :-)

Well, having checked its behaviour underground, I have concluded it's dead (i.e. there is no underground growth: it seems to have rotted away). Oh well, my first utric death of recent years: I was told it transplants badly when I got it. I don't seem to have been doing anything spectacularly wrong, so I'll try again with a more open compost when I get the chance: any offers?

The plants were grown from seed planted last September.