Carniflora Australis Journal of the Australasian Carnivorous Plant Society Inc. Issue 11, March 2008 32 1 ISSN 1448-9570 PRICE $8.00 Free with Membership Notes to contributors Subscription Contributions including articles, letters, photographs and drawings to the journal are greatly appreciated and may be forwarded to the societies postal address or online The All members, single, family and overseas $AU25.00 views expressed in this journal are of the authors not necessarily those of the Austral- asian Carnivorous Plant Society Inc. Please make cheques or money orders payable to the Australasian Contributions to the journal may be submitted on 3.5inch (PC) disc, CD or by email to Carnivorous Plant Society Inc. Membership and correspondence should [email protected] Please use Microsoft Word whenever possible. For instruc- be forwarded to the Secretary at tions on submitting photographs and diagrams please contact the editor ([email protected]). Contact details are preferred for publication but may be www.carniflora.com excluded by the authors request. PO BOX 4009 Articles may be reproduced with written permission from the society. Photographs and drawings remain copyright of the author and may not be reproduced without the au- Kingsway West NSW 2208 (Australia) thor’s permission. Meeting are held on the second Friday of each month Dedicated to Conservation and Education Time : 7.30pm—9.30pm © Australasian Carnivorous Plant Society Inc. 2003 Venue : Woodstock Community Centre Church St, Burwood Ph. (02) 4684 3478 2008 KOI, PET AND Contents GARDEN SHOW Front Page : Drosera hilaris at Silvermine, South Africa (Photo by F. Rivadavia). Back Page: Pinguicula lutea flowering near Gainesville, Florida (Photo by Dr. Mark Whitten) Sunday 18th May 9am - 4pm Title Author Page Fairfield Showground Smithfield Road Prairewood (Smithfield) Do some species of Pygmy Drosera Kirk ‘Füzzy’ Hirsch 4 require chilling in order to produce gemmae? Carnivorous Plants, Orchids, Bonsai, Bromeliads, Four weeks in South Africa (Part 2) Dr. Robert Gibson & 7 Cacti and many other plant stalls Kirk ‘Füzzy’ Hirsch Rhizoctonia solani — a root-rot disease Helmut Kibbelis 20 Over 300 Koi on display affecting Sarracenia plants Drosera filiformis : varieties, structure and Steve Amoroso 22 propagation Fancy Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Rats, Mice, Discus Fish, African and Australian Parrots and much Pinguicula species and how I Helmut Kibellis 27 more! grow them 2 31 UPCOMING SPEAKERS AND EVENTS Date Subject Speaker dry out during the winter-rest. I found sue culture. Now I can try some experi- 8th February 2008 AGM; Field trip to WA Richard Nunn/ Phill Mann out that especially “bulbous” tropical ments. Though obviously I can’t have Pings. e.g. P. heterophylla , P. parvifo- too many failures as I will be running 23rd February — Plants with Bite at Various speakers on gen- lia , P. oblongiloba , to name a few, will out of plants. 2nd March 2008 Mt. Tomah eral and special topics shrivel up and not come back. Maybe 14th March 2008 Rare Plant auction Various, come buy stuff our winter is too warm and there is not a Acknowledgements & thanks to Peter complete rest by the plants. D’Amoto from his book ‘The Savage 4th April 2008 Building a Bog Garden Kirk ‘Füzzy’ Hirsch This year I have put them in a plas- Garden’, and Dr. Laurent Legendre. tic container with a lid half open to let 9th May 2008 (Growing Tuberous Someone Special fresh air in. The bottom of this con- Drosera ?) tainer is lined with moist sphagnum. The pots are placed on top of this sphag- 18th May 2008 Koi Show at Fairfield See add later in the journal num and every 2nd day I give a fine 13th June 2008 Trip to Northern Territory Robert Gibson misting to keep the plants just moist. Fortunately Laurent Legendre left 11th July 2008 Something exciting Surprise speaker Australia to return home to France and left me a number of plants from his tis- 8th August 2008 To be announced ????? CAPTIVE EXOTICS 12th September 2008 To be announced Possibly a plant acution Nepenthes Nursery 25th—30th September 7th ICPS conference Various renown speakers Kuranda, Queensland Friendly service from a fellow CP enthusiast. Committee 2008 President: Greg Bourke Authorised distributor for Malesiana Tropicals Vice President: Peter Biddlecombe and Borneo Exotics. Secretary: Jessica Biddlecombe Wholesale inquiries welcome. Treasurer: Steve Moyle www.captiveexotics.com Committee Members: Terry Watts (Webmaster) PO Box 794 Robert Gibson (Editor) Kuranda, Queensland Australia 4881 Kirk ‘Füzzy’ Hirsch Tel: 07 4017 1185/ 0427 455029 Gareth Hambridge Fax 07 3102 6275 Jenssen Turnowsky Tony Camilleri 30 3 Do some species of Pygmy Drosera TROPICAL PINGS sion. These are my favourite because of require chilling in order to produce their big beautiful diversity of flowers., PESTS AND DISEASES colour, and leaf shape. I also find them Caterpillars and snails are the most gemmae? easiest to grow and to cultivate. damaging. Pyrethrum or Folimat 50 do Kirk ‘Füzzy’ Hirsch Potting Mixture : Vermicu- not harm plants, providing they are not E-Mail: [email protected] lite/Perlite 3:2 or Peat/Vermiculite3:1. sprayed from an aerosol can or on hot When plants are young I favour Ver- days. Further reading on pest and dis- One would think that the smallest and start growing from a meristem at miculite/ Perlite as this encourages de- eases on Pings is recommended in the sundews in the world would grow in the one tip. velopment of roots. March 2005 issue of the Journal of the wetter areas of the world, yet all but one Since many pygmy sundews don’t I find all Pings. grow well under International Carnivorous Plant Society come from around South West Austra- live too long (2 to 6 years), this way is a (I.C.P.S) an article by Dr. Laurent Leg- lia one of the more arid regions of the good one to keep the numbers up in endre. planet. ( Drosera pygmaea being the anyone’s collection. It’s been known one found elsewhere, from Perth all the by experts that some species don’t pro- PROPAGATION way to New Zealand). Something all duce gemmae when they should (late The most common method is by pygmy sundew species do (besides liv- autumn these growers get a plethora seed or leaf-cuttings. Seeds lose their ing up to their name and being little) is from the same plants, often the same viability quickly and unless fresh they to produce gemmae ( Figure 1). clones.) So, what could be the factor? are not always a sure thing. Also it can Ok, what are gemmae? (BTW, Here’s one such example. When often take many weeks before any seed- one gemma, two gemmae) Liverworts we lived in Dubbo which experienced lings emerge. have gemmae too. They’re not seeds, winters of –5ºC at night sometimes, one For leaf cuttings, gently pull the leaf but small packages of clones produced species that has been one of the prize off including the petiole [a most impor- by the plant so that in rainy weather plants in our collection of pygmy sun- tant point], then place the leaf- stalk in these little pieces will be scattered dews – Drosera scorpioides ( Figure 2) live sphagnum moss. As mentioned in about by the raindrops to drift away in —it produced a plethora of gemmae, my article on temperate species this type the water. Those little parcels that find which in spring were growing vigor- can also be propagated by gemmae. suitable conditions will put down a root ously in the pot, in neighbouring pots, and pretty much wherever else we SUMMARY spread the gemmae. After moving to I find Pings. reasonably easy to Cardiff along the coast, to a much grow and in most cases they require little Figure 3 Pinguicula moranensis milder winter, last year there were no attention. Even if the soil is on occa- growing in the Tamaulipas region of gemmae at all, and what’s worse is that sions completely dry, more often than about half the plants responded by dy- Mexico. Photo by Noah Elhardt not the Pings would survive, in contrast ing on us. to most other C.P.s. They don’t take up In Mythbusters® spirit we had an 50% shading. However some are toler- much space and reward us with beautiful idea, one of these do it in your own ant to more light and develop a nice red- flowers. home experiments. Maybe those colder dish leaf from sun exposure. The biggest headache is when they temperatures are necessary to invigo- During growth fertilizing is benefi- go into winter-rest. Most C.P. books, Figure 1 Drosera scorpioides rate this species and to incite gemmae cial. I use half strength liquid fertilizer which come from authors of the northern gemmae. production at this time of year? After either Blood and Bone or Fish- Emul- hemisphere. They suggest to let Pings. Photo by Dr. Gibson all, look where the plant grows in the 4 29 shells to the potting mix. P. grandifora , the resting time. wild, all along the southern reaches of and the production of leaves that con- (Figure 1 ) P. vulgaris , P. macroceras , Many of the tropical Pings. flower West Australia, from Albany up to the sisted of only petioles. and P. longifolia belong to this group. throughout the year but less plentiful southern reaches of Perth’s suburbs. It The happy news is that not only did WARM TEMPERATE PINGS during their resting period: P.agnata , P. gets chilly there in winter. Maybe like the one well developed plant produce These grow in temperate to sub- esseriana , P. gigantea , P. mesophytica , other carnivores of those realms they gemmae, not only did it turn from a tropical zones e.g.