Re: Lowrie's 1996/1997 catalog

From: Russell Elliott (relliott@geocities.com)
Date: Tue Jan 21 1997 - 18:57:45 PST


Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 18:57:45 -0800
From: Russell Elliott <relliott@geocities.com>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg311$foo@default>
Subject: Re: Lowrie's 1996/1997 catalog

Glenn Rankin wrote:
>
> Postage paid by: [Image]
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> Allen Lowrie's current catalog is now available from the listserver by
> sending the one line message >get cp cat.lowrie< to
> >listserv@opus.hpl.hp.com<. The file is about 40kB.
>
> If you've never seen it, it's worth a look. He has a very large
> selection of (mostly Australian) CP seeds. For short periods during
> the year he also offers Drosera tubers, pygmy Drosera gemmae and live
> petiolaris complex plants from tropical Australia.
>
> Be cautioned, however, that some of his seeds are difficult to
> germinate. For instance, I have been trying to get D. gigantea from
> him to germinate for more than two years. It's still too early to be
> sure, but I may have gotten four to come up that I planted over a year
> and a half ago. It doesn't appear to be all his fault, however. I have
> tried tuberous drosera seeds from a number of sources (Lowrie, Doug
> and Vivi Rowland, ICPS and ACPS) and still haven't found the secret
> yet. This year I will try Tom Johnson's suggestion to let the little
> suckers bake (dry) in the sun during the summer.
>
> Unless they are too small, his tubers sprout and grow OK for the first
> season, but some have problems getting into sync with the Northern
> Hemisphere seasons and die for various reasons.
>
> The consensus from previous discussions on the list is that if you can
> find what you want from a source other than Lowrie, then get it there.
> If not, realize that you are taking a gamble. (BTW, if you have trouble
> with his seeds or tubers, he is willing to correspond with you about
> it.)
>
> Glenn Rankin
> rankin@hpl.hp.com

 Glenn,

 How are those D.auriculata going? Anyway, I think I may
know why you aren't getting very good germination results.
I think most Australian tuberous Drosera seed require fire to
 to germinate. A freind of mine has used smoke pads available
from Frank Wolpert in South Africa to stimulate Byblis
gigantea seed to germinate.

 Most of the tuberous Drosera from Allen Lowrie come from
the heathlands of Western Australia. Here, fire is an important
factor in shaping the way the plants grow there. When a fire
burns through, all of the adult plants are burned, and release
their seed. Also, seed that has been lying previously dormant
in the soil are stimulated into germinating by the chemicals and
heat provided by the fire. Those smoke pads I was talking about
earlier are impregnated with the same chemicals produced by the
fire. You place one of these in water with the seed you want
to germinate, and leave them to soak for about 24 hours. The
person I was telling you about earlier had never managed to
germinate Byblis gigantea before, but after the smoke pad
tratement, he got a very high rate of germination. If you
want to know how to obtain some of these smoke pads, contact
me on one of the email addresses below.

Hope this Helps,

Russell.

-- 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ! Russell Elliott ! ! Seed Bank Director, ! ! Australian Carnivorous Plant Society ! ! mailto:relliott@geocities.com ! ! mailto:elliott@nexus.edu.au ! *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*



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