From: Steve Marak samarak at arachne.uark.edu> on 2001.04.03 at 03:45:19(6139)
>From my home in frigid (compared to southern Florida) north Arkansas,
where we'll probably get another good frost or two this year, it all seems
a bit ironic.
It's true, though, that even in my small greenhouse, where I make no
attempt whatever to actively propagate Gonatopus boivinii, I seem to
always have just enough to give away ... and I can understand a baby or
two in pots near and beneath the parent plants, but where did those others
come from, the ones in pots meters away and higher on the shelves?
What are the "native" conditions in which G. boivinii is found, anyway?
I see that the range is along the SE coast of Africa, but from the
dormancy (and the close relationship to Zamioculcas) I'd always assumed
there was some dryness involved. They certainly tolerate neglect well for
me. But then there was that one that somehow showed up in a pot of
Drosera, in one of my small carnivorous plant trays, easily 2 meters from
any other Gonatopus and several feet higher. Having plenty around, I left
it, in a sadistic experiment to see just how long it could tolerate such
hostile (I thought) conditions - those trays are kept standing in
distilled water, never fed, and what soil there is is 50/50 peat/sand. The
nutrient level must be nearly zero.
After two years, during which the Gonatopus never looked at all stressed,
I gave up and removed it, because it was getting way too big for the pot.
I've never seen such fat roots on one, and not brittle either. The Drosera
was somewhat the worse for the experience, though.
Steve
| +More |
IAS on Facebook
IAS on Instagram
