40+ C

From: Mellard, David (dam7@cdc.gov)
Date: Mon Dec 28 1998 - 05:18:29 PST


Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 08:18:29 -0500
From: "Mellard, David" <dam7@cdc.gov>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg4125$foo@default>
Subject: 40+ C


>(2) As a beginner, I would appreciate it if any listmembers who live in the
>hotter parts of the world could share some growing tips with me. I'm having
>a terrible time keeping my Sarracenia seedlings and plants alive. My Neps
>and Drosera seem to be doing alright. Pings and VFT's are suffering
>terribly.
>We often experience days of between 36-44 degrees C in Summer (now).

44 C. How do you survive! Sarracenia love heat, experiencing months of
32 to 38 C weather in the Southern US, but I can't imagine many plants
(except maybe the desert dwellers) surviving 40+ C weather. Here's a
few suggestions. Grow them in bogs and try to provide some type of
cover for the bog's surface to reduce heating of the soil and roots.
Live or dead sphagnum moss will work, although you'll have trouble
keeping the seedlings above the growing heads if you use live sphagnum.
Also, place the bog in a location that gets morning sun but is shaded in
the afternoon, the hottest part of the day. That will be the tricky
part because Sarracenia need lots of light to grow strong. I'm guessing
that you'll need a minimum of 4 to 5 hours of direct sun in the morning.

Good luck,
David

P.S. It's odd how numbers can bring back memories. (Can you see a story
coming....) In my college days, I did experiments looking at the effect of
temperature on DNA repair in chick embryo cells grown in tissue culture.
DNA repair occurs readily and rapidly at 42 C but at 43 C, the whole system
falls apart and death ensues. This is why low grade fevers are good and you
should not take medication to reduce it. At elevated temperatures a whole
bunch of biochemical reactions take place at a faster rate and shorten the
healing process. Back to the 44 C, I'd bet a Sarracenia that plants (ok, I
should hedge this by saying most plants) are the same as chick embryo cells
and will die at temperatures above 43 C. Bacteria on the other hand are
quite different, living in almost boiling water in hot springs. Why,
because the species that live there have super DNA repair mechanisms. I
know, this is more than you wanted to know <gr>



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:31:42 PST