Dartmouth Revisited: Potting Plants!

Sarracenia flava

After I last went to Dartmouth in June, I reached out to the greenhouse manager to say that I was with the New England Carnivorous Plant Society and interested in helping out in any way that I could, including, but not limited to, donating plants, repotting, providing guidance on growing conditions. Thankfully, like at the University of New Hampshire, the people working at Dartmouth were very receptive to help.

Much of Dartmouth's Collection

Since I had last visited, Dartmouth decided to replace the living sphagnum with hydroponic clay as a way to keep prolific plants such as Drosera adelae from spreading everywhere, and preventing the moss from overgrowing the smaller plants. After adjusting to the new, lower ambient humidity, I somewhat doubt that the plants will be affected by the replacement.

Heliamphora heterodoxa

Despite being the midst of moving, I managed to find a little time to head over to Hanover and give them a few plants and help with repotting. As you can see with the hardy Heli above, some of their plants were growing a little large for their containers.

Dionaea musipula

We managed to divide this Venus Flytrap into something like 30 plants! It was incredible! And it all started from just one plant! (I also learned that it is the favorite plant for children, so, while I recommended dormancy procedures for VFTs, I also suggested that they stagger it so there will always be a few in the display).

Utricularia longifolia

I'm still impressed with Dartmouth's Utricularia longifolia. It looks so large and healthy. (In contrast, mine has not been growing so well. In my new place, however, I hope to set up a separate, larger grow area for my Utricularia, hopefully making them much happier than they are now).

Cephalotus

I was also pleased to see that Dartmouth had a little Cephalotus. Apparently, it had been doing really well, then suddenly died back to the roots, and is only just now coming back. Hopefully, it stays the course.

Pinguicula moranensis

Additionally, Dartmouth picked up a new plants since I last visited, a Pinguicula moranensis. Unfortunately, it wasn't flowering at the time, so I didn't get any good flower shots, but the plant looked healthy and was growing quite happily in its new home.

Pinguicula laueana

I was happy to share the knowledge that Pinguicula laueana is the only red flowered Pinguicula (as far as I know). This plant was happily starting to come out of dormancy, but was too tightly compacted for us to separate it. I suggested doing so sometime during its next growth cycle.

Sarracenia leucophylla among the Nepenthes ventrata

I'm still enamored with this Sarracenia leucophylla. Most of my Sarracenia are babies in comparison, and none yet show the nice pink highlighting along the edge of the mouth of the plant. It is really spectacular.

VFT 'Red Dragon'

I had to include a photo of this nice Venus Flytrap, 'Red Dragon', because it was doing so well that it practically begged to be photographed. I was very impressed with the quality of care given to the Venus Flytraps at Dartmouth despite (I'm told) repeated pokes by curious young children.

Nepenthes mixta

In addition to Dartmouth's Nepenthes mixta (probably N. 'Miranda'), above, and Nepenthes ventrata, below, I donated a Nepenthes 'Rokko' originally from the University of North Carolina's collection. Now, every public display of Nepenthes in New Hampshire includes a 'Rokko'!

Nepenthes ventrata

I do like Dartmouth's method of using orchid baskets for Nepenthes. I have a few orchid baskets myself and will certainly be putting them to use in this fashion. Well, I probably will in terrariums, where I don't have to worry about the plants drying out as quickly.