What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Feeding with Fish Food

  • #21
I have tried selfing my gypsicola, but this has not worked. Usually get quite a few flowers during the spring when the plant emerges from its rather long resting period.
 
  • #22
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>CP2k,

Could you elaborate on your growing techniques as concerns Pinguicula gypsicola.

Thanks</span>
 
  • #23
Joseph,

Like CP2k, my P. gypsicola plants flower each spring, shortly after they have resumed full summer growth. They are grown in natural light, in semi-shade (this probably equals full shade in Arizona!), with just a few hours direct sunshine in the afternoon. They have a long, cool (min. 48F), dry dormancy and don't 'wake up' until about April. My soil mix is mostly inert, free draining material like perlite and Seramis (german baked clay granules) with the addition of about 10% crushed tufa limestone and 10% loam-based potting compost (contains fertilizer and lime).

This is my largest and most mature plant, it flowered profusely from May-September last year. I've never succeeded in selfing the flowers either, but they do produce both viable seeds and pollen when hybridising.


gypsicola1.jpg



gypsicola2.jpg


Vic
 
  • #24
Very nice Vic Brown,

Very inspirational.
 
  • #25
Yes, very nice!
smile.gif
 
  • #26
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Continuing with the bloodworm trials. Here is a photo of a group of different Pinguicula plants. Some were given a sprinkling of freeze-dried bloodworm powder, all were spritzed with my extra dilute fertilizer solution.

In the bottom left there are two pots of Pinguicula esseriana plantlets. There are four plants in each pot. Two of the plants in each pot received the bloodworms while two did not.

When I plant the trays I sort the plants by size, largest on one end and graded to the other end where the runts are placed. In the tray of Pinguicula esseriana (upper left), I treated only the "runts" with bloodworms. They were all less than 1/2 the size of any others in that tray, 3 weeks after beginning to feed with bloodworms, they are now some of the largest plants in this tray.

In the tray of Pinguicula jaumavensis (upper right), all of these plants were very close to the same size -- the "runts" were removed much earlier, hence the vacant area. The first plants in this tray to be given bloodworms were the row, top to bottom, on the far right, then all those remaining began getting bloodworms I starting one week after the first. The two "red" plants in the center were the only ones not to receive bloodworms.

bloodworm_test_A1.jpg
</span>
 
  • #27
I grow the gypsicolas outdoors in a terrarium with only an hour or so morning sun and bright shade the rest of the day. The humidity is kept high and the soil is kept dry during the winter. Temperatures are relatively cool throughout the year with highs in the low 80sF and nights in the upper 40'sF-60'sF. The mix I use for this specie is similar to Vic's, except that the tufa and loam is replaced by sand and vermiculite.
 
  • #28
That is weird how they loose their pinkness when fed.
 
  • #29
Do you think they lose their "pinkness" when fed because they don't need to attract prey? Kind of like a Nepenthes not producing pitchers when it has pleanty of nourishment?

-Homer
 
  • #30
[b said:
Quote[/b] (homer @ Feb. 12 2004,10:52)]Do you think they lose their "pinkness" when fed because they don't need to attract prey? Kind of like a Nepenthes not producing pitchers when it has pleanty of nourishment?

-Homer
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>My guess is that the "pinkness" or "redness" is still there, just now there is a lot more green chlorophyll that hides it. Just like all-red Drosera or Dionaea clones. There is more red than green, so the green is masked out by the red. There is still the same amount of green, just now you can't see it.

I think of it like a teeter-totter, where the balance shifts back and forth.</span>
 
  • #31
[b said:
Quote[/b] (PinguiculaMan @ Feb. 12 2004,22:05)]
[b said:
Quote[/b] (homer @ Feb. 12 2004,10:52)]Do you think they lose their "pinkness" when fed because they don't need to attract prey?  Kind of like a Nepenthes not producing pitchers when it has pleanty of nourishment?

-Homer
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>My guess is that the "pinkness" or "redness" is still there, just now there is a lot more green chlorophyll that hides it. Just like all-red Drosera or Dionaea clones. There is more red than green, so the green is masked out by the red. There is still the same amount of green, just now you can't see it.

I think of it like a teeter-totter, where the balance shifts back and forth.</span>
Yah, but that would mean the chloroplast have increased in concentration, and I didn't think plants did that much, what with those orginels being their own entity and all... I guess you could check this easy. Just make a slide of a sliver of a green plant and a pink one and look at how many chloroplast each has in it.

Right now though, I'm more inclined to go with the idea of not needing to attract prey and less red coloring being produced.

It would be interesting to see which the plant is doing.
 
  • #32
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Chlorophyll not chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are basically like pixels. If they are without chlorophyll molecules they are colorless, but the more chlorophyll molecules they contain the greener they are.</span>
 
  • #34
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Here is an update to feeding with "bloodworm" powder.

p_esseriana_propagation_tray_B2.jpg


Above is an image of a small tray of Pinguicula esseriana plants propagated by leaf cuttings, they have just been given a feeding of powdered "bloodworms". This clone is supposed to grow larger than the usual Pinguicula esseriana plant. I can't be sure this is true, but in my conditions I have grown specimens whose winter rosettes exceeded the confines of a 2 inch pot. Until recently this was the only clone of Pinguicula esseriana I have been growing. My original plant of this clone I obtained from Joe Griffin several years ago. Thank's Joe.

Once I have been growing my newest Pinguicula esseriana for awhile I should, more easily, be able to determine if my first clone differs from the new one.</span>
 
Back
Top