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The Magic of UV Sterilizers

May 13, 2019 by ofsmallthings

After a few months of a serious green water problem, some more experienced aquarist friends suggested installing a UV sterilizer. I don’t know very much about aquariums generally, but from what others have said and from a little research I’ve done, there aren’t any big downsides to using the sterilizer. The appliance “utilizes a germicidal fluorescent lamp that produces light at a wavelength of approximately 254 nanometers (2537 Angstroms). … As the light penetrates the bacteria/algae, it mutates the DNA (genetic […]

Categories: Blog, Cultivation, Fish • Tags: algae, aquarium, bowl, Fish, fish bowl, green, greenwater, paratocinclus, sterilizer, uv, uv sterilizer, water change

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Drosera pulchella ‘pink flower’

May 13, 2019 by ofsmallthings

This wonderfully grown pot of D. pulchella was a gift from a friend. My only hope now is that I don’t kill it! Carnivorous plants are not a group of plants I know a thing about and I feel grateful for this beautiful colony of Drosera. This is a 4″ pot. They are even nicer up close! And that flower!

Categories: Blog, garden, Plant Photo Library • Tags: carnivorous, CP, drosera, flies, fly, meat, pink flower, pulchella, sundew

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Sunday Bloomsday

May 6, 2019 by ofsmallthings

This Clametis x cartmanni ‘Joe’ is blooming for the first time in the garden. It’s been in full bloom for about two weeks and more flowers are still opening up. Originally I meant to have this climb a metal arch, but, that didn’t happen! It seems happy enough being supported by a bamboo pole for now. Growing next to it is Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’. Various blooms and pre-blooms, and some more beautiful Cotinus foliage. I’m not sure which I like better, the […]

Categories: Blog, garden • Tags: bloom, bloomsday, clametis, flowers, garden, lilac

Cultural info for Section Gobenia

May 3, 2019 by ofsmallthings

With all Gobenias, it’s best to handle them as little as possible. Doing a bleach dip or anything like that is strongly cautioned against and would likely kill them. It is also best not to mist or water them until they are well established, as standing water on their leaves is enough to cause them to melt overnight. In my experience, it’s best to put them in a closed bin with pre-moistened sphagnum, lie the stem delicately down, and forget […]

Categories: Blog, Plant Photo Library • Tags: begonia, Ecuador, Gobenia, Lita

Orchid Show Haul

May 2, 2019 by ofsmallthings

The Oregon Orchid Society hosted their annual show in Portland this past weekend and the selection of plants, both for show and sale, were fantastic! Ecuaflora and Ecuagenera were representing Ecuador, and there was a vendor from Peru as well. Emerald City Orchids, Greg Neilson, Stephanie Willis, and many orchid society members were also present. As an added bonus of being a member, I got to go in a bit early to scope things out. Having only gone to Orchid […]

Categories: Blog, Cultivation • Tags: haul, new plants, orchid show, orchids, plant haul, portland, sale, show

Melastome ‘purple’

May 1, 2019 by ofsmallthings

This small Melastome is a wonderfully polite Melastome for the terrarium, only reaching about 12″ tall, with slow growing, compact rosettes. It can be propagated by taking a cutting containing a few leaves and at least two inches of stem, in sphagnum. I’ve tried taking smaller cuttings, leaf cuttings, putting them in potting soil, and it hasn’t worked at all. While not all that challenging to keep alive, it is a more difficult plant to flower and grow to a […]

Categories: Blog, Plant Photo Library • Tags: Ecuador, flower, melastome, purple, small

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Dicranopygium ‘Black’

May 1, 2019 by ofsmallthings

To my knowledge there were only twelve plants of this that came into the United States from Panama. It is reminiscent of the Dicranopygium from Kuna Yala. This species came in as a group of seedlings and it seems as if only one was ever sold, and a handful of others were distributed among friends. I received two of these plants, and have now had them about three years. They were more or less the same size at first. Per […]

Categories: Blog, Plant Photo Library • Tags: black, cyclanth, dicranopygium, palm, palm-like, panama, psdueo, rare

Carniverous plant bowl

April 25, 2019 by ofsmallthings

This small bowl houses Drosera capensis and Dionaea muscipula. I’ve bought venus fly traps many times and never been able to keep them alive (they rot and turn brown after a few months) but this one seems to be doing well. This bowl sits 5-6″ beneath a Sunlight Supply single tube LED for 13 hours a day. I water them with distilled water every other day. Sphagnum can be a weed in many scenarios, choking out smaller Bryophytes, Marcgravias, and […]

Categories: Blog, Cultivation • Tags: bog, bowl, capensis, carniverous, dionaea, drosera, flytrap, muscipula, plants, sphagnum, sundew, Terrarium, venus flytrap

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Begonia ignita

April 11, 2019 by ofsmallthings

While reading up on this species, I came across this bit of information in a paper published by C.W.Lin & C.I Peng, “Material collected on recent expeditions to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi…There are 46 currently accepted Begonia species reported from the island (see Thomas et al., 2013, continuously updated), more than half of which have been described since 2005.” 23 new species since 2005, more than one per year just from this region! This Begonia was newly described in […]

Categories: Blog, Plant Photo Library • Tags: asia, begonia, ignita, medium, sulawesi

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