Off Topic: 19 Species of Fern Named for Lady Gaga

This is both hilarious and  kind of awesome at the same time, so I had to share! As a big fan myself, I love that Duke scientists also love Lady Gaga. Normally naming a plant after a person this way doesn't follow the rules of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, but technically they got around it by naming it after the gene sequence. "The name Gaga also echoes one of the molecular synapomorphies that characterizes the genus. At nucleotide positions 598–601 in the matK gene alignment, all Gaga species have “GAGA” (Fig. 6), a sequence pattern not seen at this site in any other cheilanthoid fern sampled," from the paper, for anyone interested: Gaga, a New Fern Genus Segregated from Cheilanthes (Pteridaceae) 

From the article from the Duke website if you still don't believe me: 19 Species of Fern Named for Lady Gaga, "Two of the species in the Gaga genus are new to science: Gaga germanotta from Costa Rica is named to honor the family of the artist, who was born Stefani Germanotta. And a newly discovered Mexican species is being dubbed Gaga monstraparva (literally monster-little) in honor of Gaga's fans, whom she calls, 'little monsters'."

Faucaria felina ssp. tuberculosa blooms and an almost reconsidering of growing all these plants.

Last of the succulent blooms for the season is Faucaria felina ssp. tuberculosa. A cheery yellow for the fall that matches the leaves on the trees outside. I'm not looking forward to the winter, but the yellow, orange, and red colors of nature during the fall season in New York have always been my favorite colors.

I've got a few orchids spiking, so I'm really looking forward to those. I'm not taking any pictures yet as I've had more bud blasts than blooms on them this year, so I'll wait until there are actual open flowers before I even start bothering to take pictures.

Every once in a while I think about growing fewer different types of plants and focusing my collection on things from one or two different plant families. This usually happens when I start to get busy and stressed out and wonder why I've extended myself so much as I'm dealing with dormancy preps, rearranging, moving things around and re-potting, on top of everything else going on with work, family, etc., you know....life things.

This year's little "Why am I doing this to myself, I've got too many plants," almost- meltdown was brought to you by a combination of being sick with the flu, filling out endless job applications, taking a sick cat to the vet, and still having to show up for work and real life while the temperatures plummet and the plants all need to go somewhere inside, but aren't ready.

Then when everything's pretty much done and settled in again I remember why I'm growing so many different things, (and am always glad I didn't get too impulsive and start giving things away.) Something is always doing something. As the cacti and succulents will be pretty much just sitting around the house doing nothing or growing slow, I'll have some orchid blooms, (nice because different species bloom at different times of the year,) and the Nepenthes will still be making pitchers and flowering as the North American carnivorous plants are dormant. Always something doing something. Which always gives me something to look forward to and occasionally let myself get distracted on the small and inconsequential, things that can just be for fun, (because at the end of the day, for me it doesn't really matter if a particular orchid blooms or not this year, but it's certainly awesome when it does.)

Repotting a Nepenthes mirabilis var. globosa: A Guide

I noticed this Nepenthes mirabilis var. globosa hadn't been growing any larger leaves, so I figured I'd re-pot it to check on the root system. Plus it's been about 2 years since it's last re-pot, and fast growing seedlings should at least be up-potted yearly so it's due.

I'll admit I've been ignoring this plant and I probably should've dealt with it's small growth earlier. The pitchers are nice, but not a good shape. Either the shape will change a lot before it matures, (it happens, this species can get a better or worse shape as they grow,) it's an ugly clone, or it was mislabeled and is a globosa hybrid. As of now, on the rating scale it would be a "grade C," due to the long neck the pitcher grows, ("Grade A's" have no neck and are a very round, highly sought after, shape called "Klom," the Thai word for circular/round.)

Below, this pitcher had formed in the top of another pitcher that had since died. Not relevant, just laughed when I saw it and decided to share.

This Nepenthes has always been filled with pitchers, it isn't unhappy, so on to figuring out what it's issue is by re-potting it 1st.

Funny, I hadn't seen the tag in some time. In cultivation this species has been called N. "Viking", N. globosa, N. "Trang Bizarre" and N. "sp. Phang-nga". As far as I can see, it's officially N. mirabilis var. globosa (M. Catal.) as of 2010. Personally, I like "Viking" the best, named for the shape the pitchers produce, see Neofarm's article on the topic for more information about the history of the plant itself.

So first things first. Pull the plant out of the pot. I'm in favor of holding the stem(s) firmly in one hand and with your other hand on the pot, dump the whole thing upside-down.

Holy roots! Yep, this one needed to be re-potted probably about a year ago. That black spiral is all root.

Next work out the old mix with your fingers. This is a re-pot, not an up-pot (more media/bigger pot) so all the old media has to go. There are roots throughout everything so this part takes a while if you do it carefully. The roots are fragile, so this took me about 1/2 hr. Last thing I wanted to do was set it back any further.

What's left is a few pieces of perlite and sphag that were stuck to the roots so I'll leave those be. The brown is the taproot, the thin black are feeder roots. You will break some of the feeder roots, it's guaranteed. A healthy Nepenthes will recover from some root loss quickly.

Now time to fill in the fresh media. Personally, for this one I used long fiber sphagnum moss, cedar bark, charcoal chunks, and perlite. Besides the Nepenthes that live in ultramafic soils, they like a mix that is free draining, stays moist, and is on the acidic side. The long fibered sphagnum accomplishes both the moisture and acidity requirements so I use it in the majority of my Nepenthes soil mixes, but everyone who grows these uses a different mix for different environments, (this is just what I've found works for me.)

Finished product: Ha! The pot looks ridiculously big for the size of the plant. Normally a re-pot looks appropriate for the size of the plant, but stunted growth on the top certainly didn't result in stunted growth below.

Back home:

Now seeing as how the taproot had grown to the bottom of the pot and started to wind around the bottom I'm hoping my lack of up-potting over the last year for this plant is what's been causing it's stunted leaf growth. Nepenthes aren't big fans of re-potting so they'll sulk for a week or two before starting to grow again. It'll probably be more like a few months before I can say for sure this was or wasn't the problem. Either way, I hope turning this post into more of a guide as well is helpful.

Faucaria felina blooming

Faucarias are fall bloomers and luckily all my Faucaria had set buds while they were outside this fall. Last week I took everything inside as there was a surprise overnight frost a few days ago. I'm still getting everything organized and setting up racks and lights for everything's winter homes as although there's been no more frost, it's too cold to bother taking everything back out and then in again.

Faucaria felina finally bloomed though, even with the slightly warmer inside temperatures.

We got creative and set the blooming/about to bloom succulents against a window to stay on the cool side while I get the succulent's winter spot ready for them.

Faucaria felina ssp. tuberculosa, unidentified Lithops, and Faucaria felina (left to right)

Still waiting on Faucaria felina ssp. tuberculosa, plus there's another 2 buds on the other felina heads that should open within the next week or so too.

Nepenthes rajah: The plant that tests my patience

I bought this from a vendor in 2010, at the New England Carnivorous Plant Society annual show. I bought it knowing it was difficult and one of the slowest growing Nepenthes out there. I didn't care, I wanted to try it anyway Or so I thought.

This Nepenthes is the same size as when I bought it. If I had taken pictures of it back then when I originally brought it home there would be no point in putting them up for a comparison shots. It really is the same size, the stem is just a little taller from losing the older leaves.

I had to spray it for mites first thing when I brought it home. Something I bought that day had mites and I had carried the plants I bought around in the same bag all day. Systemic pesticide made it terribly unhappy and it sulked for a few months, then grew smaller leaves. It grew back to the same size as when I got it. Then, miracle of miracles it had a good time this year. It grew slightly larger leaves and started to consistently make pitchers again.

Then, of course, disaster strikes again, we had that bad mite outbreak this summer and I had to spray it. Well, that was a good run, but now we're back to the same small growth. It did start a few new growths off the side of the main vine.

*Sigh*

Look close, that green will be new growth points

I can't bring myself to trade it away or sell it, (too embarrassing to try, it looks terrible even though it's healthy,) and I can't throw it out. I keep hoping one day it'll gather itself and start to grow larger. It almost did, for a minute there.

It's started growing again though, here's what it looks like today. Now tell me this isn't the smallest pitcher you've ever seen! Too cute.

Oh, and if you're wondering why the heck I'm still so partial to this plant, and why I guess I'm still going to keep it, (besides the fact that they're expensive and not always around and available for purchase), here's a good link for pictures of what it looks like as an adult: Nepenthes rajah

This is the best pitcher I've gotten out of it to date :/

A "Death Cube" seedling Nepenthes ventricosa

"Death Cubes" are an old term, (not really so relevant anymore) for the carnivorous plants the company Botanical Wonders used to supply to big box stores like Lowe's. Why the nickname? They we're literally sold in a sealed, plastic, square or rectangular box. Recently Botanical Wonders uses a thinner plastic box that's breathable, not nearly as bad for the plant, and probably much cheaper to produce so I wonder why they didn't do this sooner.

I wish I had pictures to show you guys but I had thrown out all my cubes long ago. I threw out the new style box I got this Nepenthes ventricosa in too, but it would be pretty worthless to show you without a comparison to the old style anyway. I had even asked a few people that had pictures of their Death Cubes online for permission to use the photos, but no one wanted to share. So you can always "Google it," and see some of the same photos anyway....

Here's what the N. ventricosa looked like after I got home and repotted it back in May. It had almost no root system so it's taken it a few months to get going. Then we had the mite outbreak and it got sprayed with systemic insecticide like everything else. No damage, but it sulked for a month before deciding to grow again.

Below is what it looks like today. Still quite small, leaves about the width of the plant tag, but much healthier. I repotted it again before I took it inside for the winter, and to check on the progress of it's root system. I'm happy to report a significant amount of root growth at least. The leaves are also much thicker, (a good thing.)

Temporary home with the orchids until I get my winter set-ups all organized

Awww, look, my 1st ventricosa pitcher. Despite it's lack of color, the size of it, (compared to the leaf size,) is a good sign that my ventricosa will do fine here. I always worry about Nepenthes that are so small, they're much hardier and tolerant of adverse conditions as adults. The pitchers all look similar on seedling Nepenthes no matter the species (for the most part.) As the plant matures each pitcher starts to look more and more like the species it is. This is my favorite part about starting off with such small specimens.

The pitcher is thin enough to see where the water level is, all self produced.

I'll probably still refer to these plants as being from Death Cubes, because they do still come in a plastic box, just not quite as sealed in and doomed to death without imminent purchase and re-pot as before. My Nepenthes 'Judith Finn' is a Death Cube plant from back in 2007(ish?) as well. I cannot remember for the life of me if my Sarracenia purpurea was from a Death Cube or not, but I highly suspect it was. (I'm not the best record keeper, but trying to get better.)

So many people pick up their first carnivorous plant at a Lowe's or a Home Depot from this company, the name may stick long past when people forget about how bad the original box was. I really hope so because "Death Cube" is one of my favorite nicknames for anything ever.