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  • #41
August 31, 2008
Late Summer Update!

Its the last day of August..
Summer is winding down.

We are now 6 months into the growing season, only 1.5 to 2 months left before the big winter sleep.

We had a beautifully cool few weeks in mid-August!
temps in the mid-70's! (24C) fabulous for this time of year! :)
Im not a fan of Summer heat..
I cant stand 90 degree (33C) summer days..ugh.
It was very unusually cool for this time of year..
I think we have only run the AC maybe 3 or 4 days all summer..
it was very sunny though, which was nice for the plants.

now, for early September, we are heating back up to typical summer temps..
the next week is forecast for highs in the upper 80's..(31C)
Summer isnt over yet!

The plants have had a great season out on the deck..still filling up with bugs!
things are starting to look a bit "worn out" though..pitchers are browning, VFTs looks a bit tattered..
but thats normal for this time of year..

I think I only did one or two "clean-up" of the plants this season, cutting away of the dead and brown leaves..the bogs have not been touched much at all...
im just letting them "do their thing"!

Here is a look at things on the last day of August..
2 more weeks of Summer to go. (according to my personal calendar! ;)
then Autumn arrives on September 15th..
the plants will stay outdoors through the cool days and nights of October, until the first big freeze of winter hits..usually late October or early November..then they go into the stairwell for the winter again.

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the green chicken wire is squeezing the purps a bit..
I might try skipping the wire next spring..
Last spring (2007) I had problems with a robin picking at the moss and pulling out plants.
(which was the reason I installed chicken wire)
I suspect she was gathering materials for a spring nest.
But the bogs were freshly created that spring..now they are well established and the surface isnt as "loose"..
I might try it without the wire mesh next spring, see how things go..
I would much prefer it wasnt there..


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Scot
 
  • #42
October 11, 2008
Mid-Autumn update!

Its now the middle of October..the 2008 growing season only has a few weeks left to go..

Everything is looking pretty ratty and worn-out..which is normal for this time of year..

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The poor VFT's! they look terrible! :(

actually..they are perfectly fine! :D

they are supposed to look that way in the fall!
If your VFTs are all nice and green in October, you are probably hurting them with kindness..

I only "neatened up" the bogs twice this year, by cutting away the old dead growth..
once in late spring at the end of the "burn season" when the sun-burned indoor growth had been replaced by new outdoor growth..then one more time in mid-summer..maybe July.
So right now they have gone a few months without any major tending on my part..all I do is keep them watered and let them do their thing naturally..

Did I say "everything is looking pretty ratty and worn-out"?
well..not everything! :D
The S. leucophylla are putting on a fabulous Autumn display right now! showing off those gorgeous "fall pitchers" that the luecos are famous for:

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Nice!
that's the one impressive Autumn display among the Sarrs..
(all the rest look like the VFTs..very tired, brown, and ready to sleep after another great summer!)

We have had one light frost so far, a few weeks ago, but I didn't bother to move or protect the plants..I just let them get frosted..its good for them! I wont bother to move or protect the plants unless it going to get into the 20's overnight..32 degrees and one light frost wont hurt them at all..

(the only exception is my lone D. capensis pot..it is already inside for the winter)

Most nights over the last few weeks have had lows in the 40's and 50's..thats fine.
they stay out until nights seriously begin to fall below freezing on a regular basis.

I will make the decision to "put them to bed" for the winter when that begins to happen..
we arent quite there yet..

The next update will be a big one!
it will be the annual "putting the plants away for their winter dormancy" process..
coming soon..only a few more weeks to go.

Scot
 
  • #43
Your leucos are lovely. :) Still awaiting dormancy to appear...I think the first to go dormant will be the filiformis. Not sure if I should be reducing watering or not.
 
  • #44
Your leucos are lovely. :) Still awaiting dormancy to appear...I think the first to go dormant will be the filiformis. Not sure if I should be reducing watering or not.

Thanks! :)

IMO, dormancy doesn't really "appear"..
its not like you look at your plants one day and they look "normal"..
then you look at them the next day, and: "oh! they are dormant now! dormancy has appeared!" ;)

Dormancy appears very slowly for four solid months..all of July, August, September and October..its not a sudden process at all..

I dont really reduce water for the VFTs and Sarrs..
I just drain the bogs before I wrap them up, so the media is slightly drier all winter..
"less water" might apply to some Drosera that have a mild dormancy..
but for VFTs and Sarrs I have never seen any reason to water less in autumn..

Scot
 
  • #45
Yes, I know it's a slow process ;). Never knew it started that early, though, I thought it began in September o.o. And as for the watering, I've heard it's best to reduce watering or they'll easily rot, especially filiformis x_x. I guess that's false? My mini-bog has drainage holes, btw.
 
  • #46
Yes, I know it's a slow process ;). Never knew it started that early, though, I thought it began in September o.o.

well..no one can really pin-point when it begins..I say July-October because the photoperiod begins to decrease at the Summer solstice in late June..
but temps dont really begin to fall until September..
so its a grey area! ;)

even though they are very actively growing in July and August, I think one could argue "the dormancy process" really begins in July as the plants begin to "notice" that days are slowly getting shorter..then the dormancy process really "picks up the pace" in September and October as less daylight combines with lowering temps to really get the dormancy process going..

even if there are no outward physical signs that the dormancy process is beginning in July, the plants are still beginning to prepare for dormancy anyway..we cant always physically see what the plants are "thinking"..what changes they are undergoing, and when, during the entire year-long "dormancy" - "coming out of dormancy" - "growth" - "going dormant" - "dormant again" cycle.

And as for the watering, I've heard it's best to reduce watering or they'll easily rot, especially filiformis x_x. I guess that's false? My mini-bog has drainage holes, btw.

I dont know about filiformis..im really only referring to VFTs and Sarrs in my "year in the life" posts..so dont apply what im saying to all CPs! ;)

Scot
 
  • #48
cant wait for the next update.
 
  • #49
Nice pictures those S.luecos are wonderful and I enjoy seeing your updates very interesting and informitive to see the changes also my flytraps are finally starting to make ground huging flytraps and tonight will be their first frost.
 
  • #50
Can't argue with success! I can't remember, what do you do for the winter? Do you leave them out and heavily mulch them or find a place that is cold but not frigid? Things worked for me in an attic, by a window, two years ago. Last year I palmed the collection off on a co-worker who put them in his garage, at the window. That also worked.
 
  • #51
Can't argue with success! I can't remember, what do you do for the winter? Do you leave them out and heavily mulch them or find a place that is cold but not frigid? Things worked for me in an attic, by a window, two years ago. Last year I palmed the collection off on a co-worker who put them in his garage, at the window. That also worked.

Jim,
back in my Bachelor days, I used to fill the fridge with the plants every winter!

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Now I put them in a basement stairwell:

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It stays a nice steady 35 degrees in there all winter..
For the next update, I will detail how I put them to bed for the winter..

Scot
 
  • #52
Ah... a bigger refrigerator!
 
  • #53
Ah... a bigger refrigerator!


essentially, yes! :D

the plants sit about 5-feet below ground level,
so just being underground provides a lot of insulation..
and probably some warmth seeps through the door from the basement..

I checked the temp several times last winter, and it was pretty much a steady 34-36 degrees down there..even when it was MUCH colder outside..

Scot
 
  • #54
you keep a disposable camera in your fridge?
 
  • #55
I was wondering the same thing xP Why did you have Kodak stuff in that fridge?
 
  • #56
The difference between our respective approaches centers around light and air circulation. I like to keep them open and responsive to the photoperiod. Do you apply a fungicide?

And again, who can argue with success.... year after year after year...!
 
  • #57
I was wondering the same thing xP Why did you have Kodak stuff in that fridge?

I work at Kodak! :D
The disposable was probably a "test" camera..I used to have tons of disposables lying around..not any more though.
Im shooting mostly digital these days..although my wife is still a purist shooting film with her SLR..

The difference between our respective approaches centers around light and air circulation. I like to keep them open and responsive to the photoperiod. Do you apply a fungicide?

And again, who can argue with success.... year after year after year...!

Jim,
nope, I never use fungicide..every February when I open up the bogs there is usually some white whispy mold that has grown over the winter, but it never seems to harm the plants..I suspect the extreme cold (35F) helps keep the mold under control..it grows, but very slowly..if my plants were at 50 degrees all winter I would worry more..

for me, mold does happen over the winter, but is never a real concern..when I open up the plants in February I just dump some water over the mold as I water the pots, and it disappears in days..

its just thin white whispy strands growing on the plant "stumps" that remain after I cut everything away in November..I dont believe it has killed, or even harmed, any of my plants.


Scot
 
  • #58
oh! people were asking why the camera is in the fridge specifically! ;)
I didnt catch that..

Film, and disposable cameras, should be stored in the fridge of you arent going to use them for awhile..

Film actually can be frozen..it stops the "aging process" of the film..
I recently used film from work that was frozen when it was first made, and had an "expiration date" of 1997..I used it 10 years after it "expired"..but because it had been frozen all these years, it was perfectly fine!

But people dont really need to know these kinds of things anymore..
film is nearly dead.. :(

my wife lost her job because film has died..along with 75% of the Kodak workforce over the last 10 years..

Scot
 
  • #59
Do you need to water the plants during dormancy? Can you just keep them in plastic bags like that without watering? Thanks for these "Year in the life" threads, they've been very helpful, informative, and fun to read!
 
  • #60
Do you need to water the plants during dormancy? Can you just keep them in plastic bags like that without watering? Thanks for these "Year in the life" threads, they've been very helpful, informative, and fun to read!

I dont water them at all..
I seal them tight with plastic, so no water can escape..they are sealed air-tight..

I dont open the plastic at all for ther entire 3.5 month dormancy.

Scot
 
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