About the Finn in the other end of the cable

Friday, February 04, 2011

Dormancy for temperate plants

Dormancy has been difficult thing for me to fulfil. In the first year with this hobby none of my temperate plants survived through the dormancy. In those days my worst enemy was mold which destroyed my venus flytrap and two Sarracenia pitcher plants. This year it seems that my temperate plants are alive. Here are my dormant VFT's

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This is my Dionaea muscipula, the venus flytrap. This is currenly better out of two of these plants I've got. Both of my plants burnt pretty badly in midsummer heat. The tempatures were over +30 celsius(86 fahrenheit) which is very rare over here.

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This is the plant that I'm not satified with. It was under the same canditions as the better one for the whole summer. Still this plant made only long erect leaves. I'm not so sure if this plant is going to make it because it has no chlorophyll visible in it's dormant stage. I didn't take any pictures of Sarracenia psittacina, because it hasn't changed at all since I left it in refridgerator. I only trimmed the dead leaves and thats all.

Current technique that I use to my plants to make them survive dormancy is very simple. Take a small plastic bag and put some living sphagnum moss on the bottom of the bag. After that spray it with water only to moisten it up but not soggy wet. After that the plant goes on the top of it. Then put some moist living sphagnum moss on the plant's media and on the plant too. Close the plastic bag and put it in refridgerator. Watering happens by spraying living sphagnum moss with water. It will give enough moisture to the plant to survive. I've found this way to be the most succesful way so far and seen no mold!

If this way really works properly maybe I dare to start collecting Sarracenias and maybe to get some more temperate plants.

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