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Carnivorous Plants

fire, anyone?

16 years ago

I recently came across a paragraph in Schnell's book describing the importance of fire: "Savannas are fire-dependent ecosystems and many of the plants, including most carnivorous plants, depend on fire...". He was mainly talking about keeping out competing plants but also describes fire as possibly invigorating the rhizomes. Has anyone tried to burn an outside CP bog garden and survived to tell about it? Anyone think it will actually help invigorate the plants?

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Comments (4)

ltecato
16 years ago
I've heard of people using water mixed with wood ashes to trigger germination of seeds from plants that grow in areas that have been cleared by fire.
evil_garden_gnome
16 years ago
I don't know because I didn't read the book, but I think you may have misunderstood what you read...

There's a chemical in smoke that is needed by/helps some seeds germinate...
Like what they use in Primer Dics

http://www.australianseed.com/product_info.php/pName/smoke-paper-pkt-of-one/cName/smoke-treatments

http://www.flytraps.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=24646

Wouldn't recommend you setting your CP garden on fire...
LOL...
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taz6122
16 years ago
Two things that fire does, it eliminates the canopy that keeps smaller plants from getting the light they need and it releases a chemical that helps a few species seeds to germinate. The CP seeds that require smoke treatment are Tuberous and South African Drosera and Drosophyllum. Fire or smoke treatment is not shown to help plants in any other way.
petiolaris
16 years ago
...and B. gigantea, I have read...

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