FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

'While'-My ACID-'Washed'-SAND Dries in My 'Warm' Summer-Shed with Added Bottom-Heat from an-ol' DEEP-Freeze [SEE: http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/caref ... t9797.html & http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/doost ... t9780.html] "I"-'Thought' ... Being R-RELIC "I"d Fill Some-of-You Noobs-&-Newbies UP with-some Anecdotal 'Bach'-Stories about CPs-&-Calcium so-to-Speak!!! >(*U^)<

As Some-of-You 'Know' ... CPs R-Notorious for-Being so-Called: "Calcifuges" ... or-Plants that Don't-like Calcium In-Their Soil.

There-R 'However' R-few-Groups of-CPs that R-'Known' to-Grow-ON Calcium (Rich-Soils) Such-as Mexican-Pinguiculae & Drosophyllum that-'Actually' Benefit from Certain-Sources of-Calcium Being-added to-Their Potting-Mix. >(*~*)< Quite-R-Connundrum / Paradox Really so-to-Speak. [For-Those that Want to-Go 'Deeper' Consider: Sarracenia-purpurea IN 'Marl'-Bogs as-Well-as Drosera-linearis.]

What's-Strange Is that Much of The Atlantic-Coastal-Plain upon-which Dionaea and many-Others Grow is not-Only Derived-from The-Ocean but-Is Underlain by R-'Karst'-of-Calcium!!! >(*~*)< BIZZARRE!!! Upon-This You Also-Have 'Hot'-Mineral-Springs:

http://www.pbase.com/jimfowler/20080511greenswamp

Around-Which You'll-Find Some Lovely Dionaea.

YES ... 'Something' Doesn't-'Quite' Gel / Doesn't-'Quite' Add-Up so-to-Speak.

Also From The-Distance-Past &-Perhaps IN One-of-Your High-School Horticultural-Classes You May-have Herad-of: "FINGER-&-TOE" ... R-Disease of Low-Calcium-Soils or so-Called Brown-Rot.

Now ... to-Give-You R-Bit-of-R Back-Story with-an Australian-Perspective: ... Through The-Eighties and Most-of-The-Nineties most-Commercial CP-Pots Sold in-This-Country Came-with THREE-Things: (1) R-Verdant Lawn-of-Scum, (2) Round Transluscent-Spheres & (3) The-Inevertable LIVERWORTS.

The-'Scum' of-Course IS Cyanophyta or Blue-Green Algae (Though 'Contemplation' of it's Natural-Requirements R-Somewhat Puzzl'e'ling) ... The-Borbles ... well One-State Was 'Told' that-They Were Osmacoate Fertilizer-Pellets and Ourselves ... Well-We Were Fobbed-OFF with The-Story that-They-Were Snail-EGGs. Perhaps Both-Stories have 'Some'-Truth to-Them but "I'-'Think' They-Were used to 'Disguise' The-ELEPHANT In-The-Room, so-to-Speak IE The-LIVERWORTS.

Being-Australians We're-'Not' Privy to The-Usual European Sentimentalities ... So-For-US LIVERWORTS Growing Luxuriently On-the-'Top' Of Every-Single-Pot Was-about as-LOUD as-R Wake-UP-Call SCREAMED INTO-Deep-Space!!! >(*~*)<

R-Few-Year 'Bach' "I"-Happened to-Mentioned These-Episodes to My-friend IGOR-Zacharov from-Russia &-He Emailed-'Bach' Saying: "You 'Do'-'Know' LIVERWORTS 'Grow'-On Limestone"!!!??? >(*~*)< Sure-Enough After-R-Bit of Google-Research Regarding British-&-European-species The-UPSHORT of-It ALL Was that Rouhgly HALF The Northern-Hemisphere-species R-OBLIGATE 'Calcicoles' IE species that 'Have'-to-Grow ON Calcium-Rich-Soils and the Rest 'Facultative'-Ones!!! >(*~*)<

Well ... 'After' THIS-Revelation and The-Fact that Quite-R-Lot of Commercial-Places NOW-Say They 'Do'-Fertilize their Carnivorous-Plants You-May Very-Well 'Forgive'-Me for-'Thinking' That Myself & The-General-Public At-Large Have-Been Sold-R-CROC so-to-Speak!!!??? >(*~*)<

'Had' THESE-Places Said: "YES ... We-R Doing-Something ... Can-You 'Guess' What-it-IS" that-Would Have-Been OK to-some Degree ... But to-Go-On for Years Tolling-OUT The No-Nutrient / Crystal-Clear Water Apology Year-Upon-Year IS-Frankly UNCONSCIONABLE. These-Place have-Been Caught-OUT, JUDGED &-Found 'Wanting' ... Afteral LIVERWORTS Don't-Lie ... They-Have No-'Need'-to.

So From Both These Two Disperate World-Views IE Mexican-Pings & Commercial-Fertilization ... We-'know' that-There's More-than Meets The-Eye to CPs &-Calcium.

LAST-Night "I"-Decided to-Simply 'FLIP' My Calcium / Mag. Ratios Round-The-Other-Way so-to-Speak:







If The-Plants Don't-DIE &-Perhaps &-The-Soil Eventually Grows-LIVERWORTS We-May Finally Have R-Resounding Resolution to-this Saga!!!??? >(*~*)< / >(*U^)<

"I"ll Keep-You Posted as-to Developments!!!

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I understand about every fifth word that you type...

I am down with the faces, but for the love of god, give the '-' a rest, you may just kill it

Queen's English is fine, or the bastardized version that I use (American) will work as well.

Please correct me if I am wrong, you are adding calcium and magnesium to the soil to see if it kills the VFTs?

Though I would theorize that the shock of moving to such a different soil environment may kill the plants. Personally, I would probably slowly ramp up the calcium and magnesium levels so the plant can slowly adjust to the differences. Assuming that it can adapt. I would also try germination in the high calcium and magnesium soils.

my 2cents.

This has potentially been the hardest thing I have ever attempted to read...I lost interest after the first paragraph when I had to concentrate extremely hard to attempt to decipher what you're trying to say. I would actually prefer if you wrote in binary ASCII characters because 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101011 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110011 01100101 01101110 01110011 01100101 than whatever you wrote does...

tc3driver wrote: Please correct me if I am wrong, you are adding calcium and magnesium to the soil to see if it kills the VFTs?

Ya there’s another post of an experiment of a bunch of what could hvae been great looking plants, soaking in charcoal soup:

http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/post94425.html#p94425
It hits me like a knife when I see this stuff.