Aphids: My Tiny Foes

This aphid thing is getting out of control.

Aphids all over Drosera capensis Baineskloof.

There are several pots in my collection that look like this. Limited applications of Pyrethrin haven't proven effective, and I'm not willing to use it more heavily, considering that several different species reacted poorly even to the light applications. I've ordered some Bayer 3-in-1, which is a rather toxic systemic. Luckily this is my indoor collection, so I'm not too worried about hurting pollinators or anything. I just...I need to get rid of the aphids. I've been busy lately, and the aphids are just another discouragement when it comes to spending time with my plants.

Okay, let's cheer ourselves up. I've got a couple Drosera tomentosa germinations!

It's easier to see if you click through to the large sized photo.

Just a couple, but this seed sat around for a while before I got around to sowing it, so I'm happy with anything.

I picked up a really nice wide-leaf Drosera capensis on my last visit to California Carnivores.

I feel like more people are digging D. capensis lately. That's awesome.

Big, strappy leaves. You can never have too many D. capensis varieties.

My Drosera ultramafica × spatulata was looking spectacular so I had to take a photo.

A prize-winning plant! Love this hybrid.

Easily the brightest red plant in my collection, and an easy grower to boot.

Finally, my Drosera natalensis pot is also looking excellent during this period of neglect.

Fluorescent lighting really shows the dewdrops well.

So dewy and perfect! I like the nice color contrast with the moss as well.

Okay, I feel better now. I'll feel a lot better once I get this infestation under control though.

Sundew hybrids

There just aren't that many sundew hybrids. In part it's because of the genetic diversity in the genus. As much as one might wish to cross Drosera burmannii with Drosera cistiflora it's just not going to happen – Drosera species can only be crossed with relatively close relatives. Sarracenia and Nepenthes species, on the other hand, can all freely hybridize and produce fertile offspring.

Another limiting factor is that sundew hybrids are, broadly speaking, boring. Compare Drosera ×tokaiensis, probably the most well-known sundew hybrid (Drosera spatulata × rotundifolia) with Sarracenia ×catesbaei, one of the most common Sarracenia hybrids (Sarracenia flava × purpurea). To the untrained eye the two parents of D. ×tokaiensis are almost indistinguishable, while the parents of S. ×catesbaei are strikingly distinct. Morphological difference between parent plants is the most basic element in making an interesting hybrid.

Anyway, I started thinking of all this when I took this picture of Drosera ×snyderi to show to my friend Josh.

It took these plants a bit to settle in, but they're looking good now (aside from the aphid spraying).

D. ×snyderi is the unpublished, botanically invalid name for Drosera dielsiana × nidiformis. It's a pretty good-looking plant, really, and actually produces viable seed. It was created by the mad scientist of Drosera hybrids, Ivan Snyder.

Right nearby is this highly desirable hybrid, Drosera ×"Andromeda". Another unpublished name, this one indicates Drosera schizandra × prolifera.

Plantlets! At least two!

This plantlet is the one I started directly on the moss. The cutting I started in water and then transferred to the moss seems to have withered. Another data point against the water float method for me – transfer to media seems to really mess with the plant.

Some sundew hybrids are really fantastic, such as this Drosera ultramafica × spatulata.

This hybrid really snuck up on me to become awesome.

This pot got 3rd in Sundews at the recent BACPS show. It's a beautiful bright red, even with regular feeding. I had thought that this was a sterile hybrid but I was wrong! There are plantlets all over my collection now.

The only rival the above plant has for redness in my collection is this Drosera ×tokaiensis, the "×" symbol signifying a man-made, rather than natural, hybrid of D. spatulata and D. rotundifolia.

This guy has been sadly ignored on the blog heretofore.

This plant is a darker, more maroon red color, and is in fact sterile. In case you're curious, by the way, you can make the × symbol by holding the ALT key and pressing 0-2-1-5 on the numpad in that order.

The natural D. tokaiensis is not quite as red, but it sets seed and has a charm all its own.

The Community Pot is one of my oldest groups of sundews.

I've definitely neglected the Community Pot lately (I lost Drosera allantostigma, alas), but it's just been chugging along. Need to trim those flower stalks though.

I also have some pygmy sundew hybrids! The first, Drosera ×Dork's Pink, indicates Drosera lasiantha × callistos, a man-made hybrid that was published in a recent issue of the CPN.

A pretty plant with a silly name.

For my money this is one of the prettiest pygmies going. The dew isn't as stunning as usual because I recently sprayed for aphids, but the color is wonderful.

There's also Drosera ×carbarup, a naturally occurring D. occidentalis × platystigma.

These are showing a bit of aphid damage unfortunately.

There are several widespread pygmy hybrids, in fact. I tend to shy away from hybrids as a general rule, so I've yet to acquire most of them. This one is very nice though!

One of my favorite hybrids is another Ivan Snyder creation, Drosera anglica CA × HI.

Got extra plantlets to spare too!

This plant mixed the large, robust, but dormancy-requiring California form of D. anglica with the tropical, dormancy-free, but small and fragile Hawai'i form. The result is one of the prettiest plants in my collection. This is one of my absolute favorites.

Finally, if I'm going to include D. anglica CA × HI I have to include Drosera 'Marston Dragon', which is a hybrid of Drosera binata dichotoma "Giant" with D. binata multifida extrema.

That's a lot of plant.

The botanical validity of all those names is in doubt, by the way. But there's no doubt that this is a huge sundew. I need to do something about it.

Various goings-on

The other day I decided to try another of the aphid-busting treatments I've seen mentioned: immersion in water to drown the little bugs. I submerged Drosera burmannii and Drosera ultramafica × spatulata in distilled water for 2 days, and then brought them back out into the quarantine tray.

Looking messy post-soak.

They look a bit bedraggled, but hopefully that will have killed all the aphids themselves. There may still be eggs in the soil, so I really need to unpot these things and pot them up again fresh. I've heard that Neem oil can be effective against the pests in the soil, but that's another task. Let's give it some time to figure stuff out.

There's also something weird in my Drosera scorpioides pot.

These plants look hilarious like this.

Besides looking like hilarious aliens from the gemmae, those mounds of peat are very confusing. My friend Anne suggested it might be ants in the pot, and I really hope she's wrong. For the moment, however, I haven't seen any ants walking around, nor have I seen mealies or aphids that they sometimes start farming. I'll have to handle this pot to get at those last few gemmae, and then we'll see.

In more straight-up positive news, my Drosera helodes are flowering, having fully recovered from their gemmae-making.

D. helodes is bouncing back quickly.

I sowed some of those gemmae on a sand-topped pot but those plants are still quite young. Looking forward to seeing the flowers on these.

Out back the Sarracenia continue to go crazy. Here's Sarracenia ×formosa (which is S. psittacina × minor) with a flower bud and 2 new pitchers developing.

The specific epithet is no mistake, this is a beautiful plant.

I got this plant from Meadowview back at the end of August, and it was breathtaking when I unwrapped it and potted it up. It looked a bit dazed in my conditions for a month and then died back, so I'm really excited to see it now that it's all situated.

Finally, the first new growth is coming up on my old Sarracenia minor as well.

Little baby pitcher.

This is an exceedingly handsome plant when it's in full growth, and the pitchers from last fall are still around looking good. Can't wait to see the new flush!