Post by beautytubes on Jan 3, 2018 2:36:10 GMT -5
@luisiana: I don't believe it is a matter of the nutrients: all my outdoor Sarracenias are filled with flies and bugs within a few weeks. They fill so fast and so dense, that all of the tubes will be destroyed after one month because of the insect load. I never observed this effect in the natural Habitats. We (the Sarracenia “experts” in the German Society) believe, that this is a matter of the insect density here, the not adapted insects to this type of danger / traps (here in Austria), and the different micro eco systems in the tube itself (we do not have these parasitic (?) spiders, mosquitos in the tube, ...). Consequently as soon as the plants are potted outdoor, or a tube opens they get "maximum" nutrients". On the last two photos of my last post you can get an idea about the filling level and the destruction of the tubes. If I have seedlings, I have to bring them to a certain size. As soon as they can catch our local insects, I put them outdoor and they will “explode”.
I think it is more a matter of the stress of flooded bogs, in case of the mechanical impact if there is a strong enough stream (for plenty of the nature biotopes I know I am not sure, whether such a strong stream will appear, but it is a good hint, to check this issue on my next trip).
calen: It is light for sure: Since we can get very bad winter conditions here (-25 °C up to two weeks, sometimes with no snow!) I let the Sphagnum moss grow over my plants in fall. This is a natural, low effort and low cost protection of the rhizomes. Additionally I do not cut outdoor plants in fall. The old tubes and the moss protect the plants from these strong winter conditions. However, if I do not cut the plants and remove the moss in very early spring the plants do not produce pitchers and you can lose them forever.
Light is one parameter for sure. However there is more than one parameter. My hypothesis is there are also temperature and stress. Multi parameter systems make research complicated and to analyze such systems cause a lot of effort.
Additionally, and that makes it worse to find a general conclusion, different clones react in different ways to the single parameter (for sure, I treat my different leuco clones somehow a bit different, based on the historical experience: e.g. I know for the most of my Sarracenias the optimal place in my bog, it’s a matter of the micro climate there)
For me it seems that the stress is a parameter of strong impact and is able to over compensate maybe the temperature parameter. Temperature is one parameter here in Austria I never can adjust outdoor as it should be. Since I built a green house, my leucos perform better by far: I bring the “complicated” clones indoor in late fall (after the first frost). They start to grow in January and will bloom around March. After the blooming the conditions outdoor are moderate with respect to the weather conditions and I can bring them outdoor again. Theoretically I could adjust optimal temperatures in the green house, but I discovered that the plants outdoor perform better by far:
• I have no problems with pests (like aphids), they will be eliminated in a naturally way, consequently I do not need pesticides outdoor, except some auxiliary means to fight snails
• I never observed any dangerous fungi outdoor (if I detect such a phenomena in the greenhouse, I put the plants outdoor and they will recover)
• The temperature variations (day night, weather changes) are very positive to the health condition and the colors
Based on the discussions above I got the plan to start some experiments this year.
Lets see, what I will figure out.