Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 22:12:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Sean Barry <sjbarry@ucdavis.edu> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2749$foo@default> Subject: Re: Heat Resistent Darlingtonia
On Wed, 19 Aug 1998 JDPDX@aol.com wrote:
> This is an endeavor I too have been interested in. I think I may know of a
> location where some more heat tolerant varieties exist.
>
> They grow in springs in serpentine soils. Sometimes it's not that cool,
> especially at the bottom of the hill in such springs. I just finished a
> backpacking trip in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness there and it was hot! You may
The summertime air and dry ground temperatures at Darlingtonia colonies
that I've visited in northern California varied from HOT to VERY HOT
(30-38 deg C), but the very wet sand/peat/gravel that surrounds the roots
of the plants was invariably very cold (usually about 2-6 degrees) no
matter how hot the air. At least in the California mountains, the roots
are cooled by underground springflow, charged by snowmelt. I think that
it's generally accepted that Darlingtonia tolerates and may in fact prefer
very warm air with much direct sunlight, but insists on cold roots. I
used to keep Darlingtonia in clay pots with the standard 50:50 sand:peat
mix, immersed in refrigerated water in an old "Instant Ocean" refrigerated
aquarium. The water was as deep as the pots and circulated constantly,
and was kept at about 2 degrees C. The plants absolutely thrived until
the old freon compressor burned out, and when I find an
appropriately-sized compressor that uses modern non-reactive coolant the
unit will live again....
Sean Barry
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