Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 09:53:52 -0500 From: "Semanchuk, Phil J" <pjs20347@glaxowellcome.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3405$foo@default> Subject: RE: Red Sphagnum
> I recently received a small tuft of sphagnum from a
> friend. He was hiking in West Virginia and while "in
> the bush" found a small bog containing large amounts
> of very red, coarse sphagnum.
>
> The overall color is small amounts of bright green
> with a predominantly red purple hue. The growth tips
> are by far the most colourful, with an almost
> crimson purplish cast.
>
> What factors influence this colouration? My best
> guess is that there is a very high tannic content to
> the surrounding water table in this bog.
Mark, my CPs live outside and get watered from rainfall. When it gets dry,
though, I have to water my plants from the top. The sphagnum that gets
top-watered in the process often turns whitish-purple after a time. (I am
somewhat red-green colorblind so my perception of this color could well be
different from yours.) Even if I avoid top-watering in that spot, the
sphagnum doesn't seem to return to its normal color. The water I'm using is
100% rainwater collected in buckets from a downspout off of my roof which
has asphalt shingles on it. I realize that this might not be the cleanest
water from a chemical perspective but my CPs do fine.
I don't recall having ever seen sphagnum of this color in the wild.
Philip
URL du Jour: http://www.tifaq.com/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:31:38 PST