Incursion

And when I visited Ada last year, he was exceptionally welcoming and was happy to share lots of knowledge, despite me being new to serious growing. I really appreciated it, and I would advise others to take him up on the offer if available! :)

WIthout wishing to sound disrespectful Delta, I'd highly advise against buying a goldie from ebay, (who knows what you'll get) I bought mine from PJ Plants, as Paul did inherit/acquire Marston exotics original stock, as far as I'm aware its the real mccoy. He charged me £30, this was earlier in the year. I think Paul only allows a certain number out per person though as I was only able to acquire one. Fair enough business practice IMO. A little to a lot of people is better than a lot to one person thus creating a monopoly.

Could it be that if any plant has more room to grow its roots, it will try to focus on that for a while as it will gain some nutrition from finding 'pockets' in the media, which is generally where the root tips head? (Science backs this suggestion up) Then as it gets older and more root bound, as a carnivorous plant it focuses more on its evolutionary advantage of collecting resources (hence bigger more elaborate looking traps). I realise there is not that much nutrition in the media most CP's are put in, however obviously fresh media will have fresh resources to tap into. I would also second that most of my plants in a pot which is becomming root bound (or at very least roots attempting to break the bottom of the pot) they tend to produce bigger more attractive traps whereas small ones go nuts with lots of foilage (possibly for harnessing more light?) By the way on a side note, Ada is correct, I live about 100 ish miles south of him, and the plants I bought of him are growing like mad. They must think they're on holiday down here with the warmer weather! (Not to mention the bonuses which have popped up in his pots (d.rotundifolia, p.lustianica and lets not talk about the d.capensis ) Shocking really that such a small distance (geographically) can make a huge difference on lighting and average temperature.

Good Evening all, I was originally told that this pictured below was a slackii, however, it does not resemble my other Slackii. It never seems to go red, stays this lime green colour, regardless of what light I put it under, and it has sent 3 flower spikes, I've pictured these below also. Another interesting factor is that the flowers never appear to open fully. I thought they might be time based (I've seen other types of plants only flower at night/morning/in sunlight other variations) but I've kept my eyes peeled on this one for well over a month and it never seems to change from the picture between my fingers and thumbs. The smaller plant was a 'off shoot' it seems to have sent out through the roots. I'm curious what this type might be, I'm guessing at this point a hybrid but I do quite like my quirky little plant as it differs from all the others of its type. Another interesting feature was that during winter it was the only drosera (asides from capensis) that continued to keep dew on its leaves without dying back. Suggesting it could be quite hardy. Although I havent fully put this to the test yet as i didnt want to lose it, it sat on a windowsill during winter which was consistently around 8-10 degrees celcius.

A question, this is not my plant that I'm posting a couple of pictures of, however I am curious as to what type of binata/dichotoma this is, I have seen it once before but I forgot to make note of the name. From what i've seen, there are some dichotoma's that have varying coloured leaves, through the reds/yellows/greens and colours in between. When i've seen a group of them, they've really stood out. My question is: is this just what dichotoma's look like in earlier stages of their growth particularly at the start of the year? or is it a different species entirely? I have had a look on google for some answers but cannot seem to pinpoint what this is, and as binata's are extremely common, its hard to find the right one. Thanks in advance

I'm sorry you feel that way. However, if you ever read the replies to this post, hopefully you will understand one key thing. This is not an 'instant' access to information location. Its a community, and whilst anyone is welcome to join, you wouldnt join a community anywhere in normal society without at least revealing your name, thats just plain rude. If you want specific information about a specific plant, then you have followed the correct course of action and contacted a dealer directly. Frankly, with an attitude like that to an online community, I am glad that will be your first and last post. As they say, good day to you sir.

Most of mine have only just started opening flowers too, you'll also be pleased to know that i was at PJ plants nursery yesterday and their plants are pretty much the same stage as mine (maybe a week ahead) but Paul keeps his under much bigger polytunnel's than I have, mines a small greenhouse so heat loss is higher. However, I do have one plant that is just going for it, see below. I'm actually really impressed with it, but its by far my fastest emerging one. I'd say it was about 2-3 weeks in front of my others. and this wee fella just makes me chuckle: (yes thats a flower)

Hello everyone, I have a potentially inexperienced question to ask. Why do I never see Drosera Slackii Seed? Have i missed something huge? For example... the fact that they are sterile similiar to drosera hybrida? Or are they just difficult to get to go to seed? Thanks in advance

Good evening all, its been a while since I've made a post but I'm just curious if others have this.... well its becomming a problem I purchased a single, small drosera adelae in September last year a small specimin for the princely sum of £3, it grew well so I thought I'd divide it in case the worst happened... well now its taken over. They seem to send runner's of sorts that pop up in any location in its pot, and have even started to migrate out of the pot and into the small well of water in the propagator underneath. Ironically I didn't think I'd do too well with it as it requires warmer conditions generally but seems to have not been bothered by my cold bedroom windowsill. It does get a fair amount of light though. Below are some pictures, they're far bigger now, and spreading like mad, I might have to become ruthless, but I do like it as a sundew as its extremely sticky and quite appealing. It also seems to flower regularly as well despite us only just coming out of the darker months. Does anyone else have experience with growing these? Am I lucky/unlucky in the sense that its growing like mad and I might have to take a similiar stance to it as I do with my capensis.... removing them regularly when they're not wanted? I did see a simple but seemed effective setup of containing it to a single larger pot and letting it do its thing within its own boundaries, but I do dislike limiting plants when I like them.... problem is I could end up with a bedroom full of adelae's

I use milled sphagnum, and some live sphagnum around it, but live sphagnum grows much faster than the germinated plants, so they can get overwhelmed quickly. These seedlings are now a couple of months old. I tend to cut back the live sphagnum, I really only left it in there to help raise circulation of water, but it isn't necessary, just merely an experiment on my part. The second picture shows a transplanted seedling (very easy to do if the milled sphagnum is very thin in a small container, you just scoop the entire thing out without disturbing roots. The green on the second picture around the seedlings is algae growth buildup in the milled sphagnum

I'll post some pictures tomorrow of some of my seedlings, but you can easily check some videos of dionea seedlings and see what their seedling leaves look like prior to the mini traps they produce. The second leaf has always been a trap for me. EDIT: This is not mine, but a good pic of a dionea's first leaves:

Random question, I've never sown dionea seed without first at stratifying it first for at least 8 weeks, could this be the problem? If they were fresh seed this year or even if they were harvested and stored, they probably haven't been stratified.

Now heres a controversial question.... But does good colouration mean healthy? or is it in fact the plant attempting to adapt to less favourable conditions?

I agree with Fred, nowt wrong with free food from your water supplies for your plants, especially if in a greenhouse where its often closed for majority parts of the day during early or late season due to weather.

Depends on exactly what they look like, they could be mosquito larvae if its from rainwater from a water butt or something similiar. But could equally be something else. I get springtails quite often in my soil (ping's seem to love them as they bounce around. Have a look at the two links and see if they're anything like what you have. Mosquito larvae - Springtail: I've even had nemotodes swimming around in the water I've used before. Hence why its always recommended to wash your hands regularly after handling stagnant water

Good Evening all, would anyone be so kind as to PM me the address? Hopefully I'm still welcome! Regards - Martin

Welcome to the forum, not too far from you :) nice to see some local people popping up. 'The Savage Garden' is a fantastic read, and is a great reference for anything you want to grow. This forum is also a fantastic wealth of knowledge for such things also. What sort of plants do you have in your collection so far?

Hi Yossu, generally speaking since your plant is showing new growth and the new growth appears healthy, I would avoid repotting it again for a while since you'll possibly send it into another state of shock, and possibly in its weakened state it may not recover as well, if at all. Best way I can describe this is imagine someone forcibly moving you from your home town, giving you a brand new job that you have no experience in, and feeding you on a totally different diet, and drinking water from a source your immune system is not used to coping with. Think of where you're going to find food (local supermarkets, potentially not speaking your language) - This being an example of how the roots are having to adjust to find different nutrients and water that they need. The results are bound to be somewhat stressful on you Although this of course is a very different example as we are mammals, you too would have some difficulty adjusting. If the plant had not been showing signs of growth, I probably would have changed its media as that would seem to be the root cause (excuse the pun). You are also getting extremely close to dormancy period, and despite S.purpurea species being more hardy and thus retains more of its pitchers, you could really damage its ability to recover next year.

Welcome to the forums. Ask away, lots of information here, both to read from previous posts, but also pick other's brains on particular issues. By far my most valuable resource for the growing of CP's. - Martin

There's triffid nurseries in Suffolk, although Andys plants may start to look a little bedraggled now as their older pitchers start to go brown, south west carnivorous are a great visit as well, Alastair spent half a day with me talking to me about all manners are CP's and giving lots of great ideas. I know that's a bit further but if you have a day spare I really recommend it. You can learn so much from a guided tour so to speak. Many nurseries are not open to public but most do allow you to visit if you ask. I also recommend the book: 'the savage garden' by Peter d'amato. It's like my bible of CPs and contains great advice for any level of grower. Hope this helps :)

Truth be told, I'm looking at a toughened glass greenhouse, 10x8 to expand my needs over the next month, then in the coming spring a polytunnel

Well its been some time, and I thought it was finally time to update my original post. Things have moved very quickly :) Heres some images of my greenhouse set up and some autumn pictures. My collection has grown in some areas, particularly sarracenia, but I didn't have time to upload all the pictures. Autumn Pictures Below: Let me know what you think :)

Looks much better already, certainly a good place to begin a collection :) certainly seems quite bright in there.

Fantastic pictures there, lovely colours. Glad to see most people's sarracenia's are starting to show their straggly bits, I always worry this time of year when it starts to show. I begin to wonder if its just me, or if it is in fact everyone else as well! Good closeups there also. Great plants, thanks for sharing.

You seem very keen to add the blackbird statements Fred, have you been wronged many times by these creatures? Do I sense a tad of hostility?