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D. filiformis (all red) babies

  • #21
Looking good! It might also be a function of good lighting, as opposed to the particular cultivar. Drosera, especially, turn red in good lighting.
 
  • #22
I am glad you mentioned that the lighting might be good. I have 3 shop lighting fixtures in there and each has 2 nice long bulbs. I swapped out all the bulbs that I had in there for those specialty grow bulbs. I am glad it appears they are providing the requisite spectrum. Those little D. filiformis (All Reds) <span style='color:red'>[Editors comments: Single quotes should be reserved for use on registered cultivars only, other punctuation such as parentheses can be used for informal descriptive terms, e.g. Drosera filiformis (All red, found in the deep dark southeastern USA). Single quotes are reserved for use on registered cultivars.]</span> are definitely turning red.

I did also back off the water on these too based on everyone's suggestions to do so. So far it doesn't look as if anything is rotting in there. This is a good thing.
 
  • #23
This is my filiformis all (Washington County) red having a snack last year.  It is now in dormancy and looks like a small green and black golf ball.
filiformis_red_001.jpg
 
  • #24
Beautiful photograph.  I'd love to see what it looks like in the little dormant small green and black golf ball stage.
 
  • #25
Say Laura, when did you stratify and what sort of setup are you working? I sowed some D. filiformis ssp. filiformis (along with a lot of others) three weeks ago, outdoors, and I'm wondering what to expect. Would it be a good idea to bring them in under lights when I see seedlings?
Thanks,
~Joe
 
  • #26
I am happily reporting my D. filiformis "all red" (Florida) moldy dormant buds have sprouted. I really thought they would die (They were moldy when I got them). I hope they take as well from leaf cuttings as D. filiformis ssp. tracyi (Buck Pond)
 
  • #27
Uh oh... I'm probably the wrong person to ask. Can we say wing and a prayer?

This particular seed was not cold stratified although all of my sarracenia seed was damp/cold stratified for 30 days in a frig. I chose not to start my D. filiformis outside because of my zone and because I suspected the seed to have had origins in the south. I am using a frame that has mirrored mylar on three sides. There is stryrofoam pink residential grade foam insulation underneath the unit, on top of the unit, and attached to all 3 sides and I have a piece cut to set in front. I have 3 gooseneck light fixtures in there to increase the temps to about 75F. All of the seed trays are on heating pads. I have Sarracenia seed set to about 82F and the other seed trays are set to 80F. There is a small oscillating fan in there. The frame has 3 shop lighting fixtures with reflectors suspended from the roof that are about 22" above the seed trays. There are 6 nice long grow bulbs in the lighting fixtures. Come, the end of May, I will begin moving the seed trays outside to let Ma Nature have a go at hardening them and then I will move them back inside sometime late afternoon until I eventually leave them outside 24/7 for the summer. This was my game plan but I have no idea if it is appropriate as I haven't gotten that far.

My gut feeling is that if you are starting your seed outside, they might take a little longer to germinate. I also get this little voice that tells me you should not bring them back inside when they start germinating as Ma Nature knows far better how to take care of her seedlings than you and I. Besides which, seed sown outside is far less susceptible to fungus and won't need to be hardened off. I'd leave what ever germinates outside right where it was. Now if you want to bring it in next fall, check with others here for advice on that. I am clueless.
 
  • #28
Hey, no worries, that's plenty of info for me! If I have to wait a little longer for results with my seeds, it'll be all the better when they do come up. Thanks for the setup details, too - lots of good ideas.
~Joe
 
  • #29
If you live anywhere in northeastern Il or southeastern WI, I have left over mylar and some of that pink stuff.  The shop lights came from Menards or maybe it was Home Depot.  The grow bulbs I did have to purchase online somewhere but they're out there and they are most unfortunately about $20 a piece.  A combination of a cool white fluorescent and a warm fluorescent should work just fine and they can be purchased in packs for a more reasonable price. There are many people who do not use grow bulbs. I am relatively sure you can do without grow bulbs to get seed to germinate but if you are going to go for this inside, the heating pads are probably a must to get the soil temps up. One comment about heating pads... make sure whatever brand you buy doesn't have an auto shut off feature.  I bought several of those and kept wondering why they shut off- duh.
 
  • #30
Heh, I'm way out in Washington, but thanks for the offer! I definitely won't be doing any more seeds this season - my growing areas are just about overflowing from my big Christmas CP purchase (which was proceeded by a big Thanksgiving succulent/tropical purchase - I can't help myself sometimes.)
~Joe
 
  • #31
Say Joe, where do you buy your seed? Can you provide me with a link?
 
  • #32
I'll PM you about it - I don't want to break any rules about talking about where to buy stuff that PFT sells.
~Joe
 
  • #33
22 inches from the lights? Wow, for me, closer is better; I keep my cool white, overdriven 48" fluorescent lights 6 inches or less from the plants. In artificial light culture, light is often the limiting factor in plant growth yet does not need to be, it is the easiest one to change. Just use more lights and put them closer to the plants -- due to the low level of heat produced by fluorescent lights it is easily possible to provide high levels of PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation), light the plants can use, without creating damaging levels of heat. It is even possible to provide more PAR than the plants would be able to receive from the strongest natural light without damage, since natural light also includes higher levels of infared radiation which can burn delicate plant tissues.
 
  • #34
Hi seedjar, They don't sell any seed here.  I already looked.

Say Pingman...
Which is correct:
D. filliformis (All Red)
D. filliformis 'All Red'
D. filliformis "All Red"

I thought it was 'All Red'

As far as the 22", I thought I was providing head room.  Not a good idea huh?  I think I can drop it down a few inches but maybe not that much as I am limited by the little chains I used.  I do have 48" bulbs in there.  What is an "overdriven 48" fluorescent"?  

Currently I have timers on the lights set to 13 hours per day.  Should I increase that to 14 or 15?
 
  • #35
As far as I know there is no registered cultivar 'All Red', though if there were it would be correct as Drosera 'All Red', Drosera filiformis 'All Red'. There are several other correct ways also.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]D. filliformis (All Red)
D. filliformis 'All Red'
D. filliformis "All Red"

If you remove the extra "L" from filiformis, the first and last way you've written it are most acceptable. This is encouraged to help prevent confusing valid registered cultivars with descriptive names we use to further define the plants we are growing, especially when discussing them with others. Optimally these desirable plants with unique characteristics would be submitted for cultivar registration.

Some consider that I am being too strict with the rules of naming plants. But once you realize how often even taxonomists have made naming errors, usually a misspelling. The repercussions of which are quite pernicious. My take is that we horticulturists should be more cautious with our own naming rules. Yes, sometimes the rules have been changed. That sure can put a monkey wrench into any careful attempt to learn and follow the naming rules, but if you care as much as I do for these plants you might understand my concern. Laura, I thank you for your concern and patience for listening to my ravings.

Lights:
I sometimes use a piece of strong wire to extend those chains.

For overdriving fluorescents check out this thread:
Fluorescent light thread

13 hours/day should be fine. I use 15, but 15 may be more than I really need.
 
  • #36
I hear people use Florida red or Florida all the time is that an acceptable name?
 
  • #37
Sure, plants can be called anything we would like to call them. But if we are going to imply that they have a valid registered cultivar name by writing their name so it looks as if it were a valid registered cultivar name, e.g. if we were to write such a name according to the rules used for the correct formatting of valid registered cultivar names, then the name we use should be, of course, a valid registered cultivar name.

If the plant in question has distinctive characteristics that make it a desirable plant, then optimally it should be submitted for publication and registered as a cultivar, then extraneous descriptive names/adjectives would no longer be as necessary as they seem now and it would be quite acceptable to write the plant’s name as if it were a valid registered cultivar – because it would be.

I am also proposing, though I am not the first to do so, that we use a different formatting when writing these names with the additional non-cultivar descriptive names/adjectives. Most common is to place these descriptive terms in parentheses, double-quotes, brackets, or etc. following the plants correct species name, but not writing the names to appear to be valid registered cultivar names unless they actually are. As an imperfect example; I was once nicknamed “Beege”. If I was introduced to you as “Beege” would you really understand that my true name was William Joseph and that I preferred to go by my middle name, “Joseph”? Of course, I can speak for myself and correct this disparity. So far, I know no plants with this ability. Their names are mostly for our benefit anyways, not the plants’.

I would postulate that even using "Florida red or Florida" as descriptive names would not be the most straight-forward or understandable way to append information to help identify these plants. Keep in mind that many plants and many CP originate in Florida, even other Drosera filiformis. Also, remember that we frequently have new horticulturists joining our ranks and newbie CP growers. What might a plant with an incorrectly written or spelled name do for them? At best it would initiate their incorrect spelling or formatting and perpetuate the inaccuracy.
 
  • #38
Hello Tre, Using the binomial is paramount in my humble opinion and all common names should be tossed out the door as a tremendous amount of confusion is generally what ensues.  You see Florida Red is not only used to denote  D. filiformis "All Red" but Florida Red is also one of about 5 common names for Odontonema strictum so I must admit you confused me for a moment when you tossed out the words Florida Red as my thoughts were on carnivorous and insectivorous plants not herbaceous perennials.

Say Joseph, I have to admit that I am looking at the original seed pack that the D. filiformis came in and it does list filiformis with only one L.  I wrote it down as two Ls.  My misspelling there.  Now interestingly enough, the All Red is shown after the binomial as 'All Red' so I assumed it was a registered cultivar.  Guess it isn't.

Time for me to go run downstairs and increase my lights to 14 hours this month and then up to 15 hours next month and then I think I will go and read the thread you provided a link to.
 
  • #39
OK, I read that thread a while ago. You wrote this, "They are pre-assembled and I spent most of the day disassembling every other one and them reassembling each pair into one overdriven dual-lamp unit, rewiring each ballast to overdrive a single lamp. I removed the ballast from one, rewired it to power a single lamp vs. dual lamps and inserted it into a light fixture where I had already rewired the on-board ballast and one lamp." I can guarantee this precedure is beyond my skill level. I'd probably burn the house down. I like the idea and the concept is fine. Sadly, it won't be doable over here though.
 
  • #40
I just recently did the overdriving of just a few of the fixtures I use. I know that it is not essential for good looking, healthy, vigorous plants, I'm just a fanatic, lazy enought to keep trying new things to grow even better plants with less effort.

There are a few of us nomenclatural fanatics out there trying to preach this sermon of correct naming. My fanaticism comes naturally, due in part to the issue you mentioned where your seed packet had been mislabelled, no doubt an honest error, though an error still.

I understand why seedbanks must distribute the seed they receive like they do. They cannot correct erroneous identification of seed. Only originators can be as careful as possible that their identification is accurate before submission. It can still be frustrating to receive misidentified seed.
 
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