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BAY AREA CARNIVOROUS PLANT SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
Volume 11, Number 3, Summer 2002
August 5, 2002
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NEXT MEETING
Date: August 17, 2002, Saturday
Time: Noon
Place: California Carnivores, Sebastopol
Program: Plant Show and Reception
Peter and Marilee will be welcoming us to California Carnivores' new
greenhouses. If you liked their previous operation, you'll be thrilled
with the new place. Join us for a relaxing summer afternoon in the
wine country, visiting old and new friends, and surrounded by your
favorite plants.
Our summer meeting will feature a carnivorous plant show. Everyone is
invited to bring their best specimens for display and judging. See the
following article for details.
The meeting starts at noon with the social and plant sale (10% of
sales and auction go to BACPS). Plants for the show can be brought
anytime before 1:00 p.m. After announcements at 1:00, judging will
start, and Peter and Marilee will lead a tour of the
greenhouses. Members are encouraged to bring plants for the plant
show, sale, auction, and raffle.
To help out Peter and Marilee with the reception, we ask that each
person bring a refreshment to share: drinks, appetizers, chips,
crackers, bread, cheese, fruit, cake, cookies, desserts, etc.
The new location of California Carnivores is 2833 Old Gravenstein Hwy
South, Sebastopol, CA 95472, (707)824-0433. See the website at
californiacarnivores.com for more information and directions.
If you have any further questions about the meeting, contact Geoff
Wong.
PLEASE NOTE THE DATE WAS CHANGED TO AUGUST 17 (ORIGINALLY AUGUST 24).
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PLANT SHOW
Greg Lum
Get ready everyone! This upcoming summer meeting will feature our
much-awaited carnivorous plant show. Everyone is invited to bring
their best specimens for display and judging. There will be 7
categories in which all members and non-members can enter their
plants. The classes will be Sarracenia, Nepenthes, Darlingtoina,
Heliamphora, Drosera, Pinguicula, Dionea, and Carnivorous plant bog
gardens consisting of at least 3 different genera of insectivorous
plants and an all other genera category. All plants must have been in
the possession of the grower for at least 6 months prior to the date
of the show. All classes will be given an award from the cumulative
scores of the judges and a people's choice award for the best plant
overall.
Plants will be judged on a variety of criteria such as horticultural
excellence, and overall presentation of container and plant. Judging
will start at 1:00 p.m. sharp so plants may be brought in and
displayed anytime before 1:00pm. While judging is in process all
participants must exit the display area. To enter a plant, fill out a
card for your plant. On the front side will be a letter (Drosera A,
Drosera B, Drosera C etc) and on the back place your name and the name
of your plant. After you finish place the card letter side up and your
name on the back in front of your plant.
Please send any questions about the plant show to Greg.
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SPECIAL GUEST LECTURE BY CH'IEN LEE
Geoff Wong
Long time BACPS member Ch'ien Lee, currently director of the tropical
plant division of Malesiana Tropicals
(www.malesiana.tropicals.com.my), has graciously accepted an
invitation to give a lecture on his latest adventures in Borneo in
particular the Hose Mountain region. Anyone who has heard him talk
knows that Ch'ien gives an inspiring presentation with amazing photos
of Nepenthes and other subjects. Don't miss this event!
The talk is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 14, 3:00
p.m., at the Conference Center at U.C. Berkeley. Since everything is
being scheduled on short notice to coincide with Ch'ien's brief trip
back home, we will need to confirm the date and location by e-mail. Be
sure you are on the e-mail distribution list, or check the BACPS web
site (www.bacps.org) as the date gets closer.
In order to help defray costs, we will be suggesting a voluntary $5.00
donation. Since we want to encourage participation by our younger
members, no contribution is expected from guests under 18 (or anyone
else for whom this would be a financial hardship). Any questions
should be directed to Geoff.
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NEWS FROM THE VICE-PRESDIENT AND EDITIOR
Greg Lum
Greetings Everyone! The year is half over and it feels like it just
started. This upcoming meeting should be a fun an interactive one,
with the plant show, raffle, auction and finally but not least a tour
of the new California Carnivores facility. I hope all of you will come
and attend and bring your prized cp's.
In late June, Mike Ross and myself had the fortunate opportunity to
attend the Fourth Annual International Carnivorous Plant Conference in
Tokyo, Japan. The conference was a unique and impressive event chaired
by Dr. Kondo of the University of Hiroshima. One hundred and fifty
carnivorous plant fanatics from all over the world attended the
symposium. I wrote a short account (20 pages) of what we did and what
we saw in Japan and copies will be available at the August
meeting. The complete Proceedings from the Conference is about 220
pages and includes all sorts of things such as research papers,
charts, graphs and color pictures. It can be purchased from Dr. Kondo
by emailing him at kkondo@hiroshima-u.ac.jp.
One topic I would like to bring up is the Annual San Francisco
Landscape Garden Show, which happens every spring. I am proposing that
the Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society create and design a display to
educate the general public about these strange and unique plants. We
could possibly turn it into our annual plant show/ display, which will
be judged in much the same fashion as the long but not forgotten San
Francisco County Fair Flower Show. This momentous event lasts for
several days (I believe 5) and will require several volunteers to help
from the club itself. If anyone has any information about contact
people that would be great, since I am starting basically from zero. I
know it is a little late to be starting such a huge task at this late
a time (actually it should have been brought up at the last
meeting). I believe our display could be quite dramatic with the
proper lighting, the use of exotic plants and artistic staging. At the
next meeting I will find out a little more information about the
feasibility of our society participating in such an event, which draws
thousands of people.
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MINUTES FROM THE MAY 18, 2002 MEETING
Judith Finn
For the summer meeting at the U.C. Botanical Gardens there were 35
people in attendance.
Peter D'Amato announced that he is definitely relocating his nursery,
California Carnivores, after 13 years. He will be moving from the old
Mark West Vineyards site to the new location in Sebastapol. He is
planning on having his opening on July 4, 2002. He asked people,
especially with pickup trucks to help make the move the last few weeks
of June. The new location will be off Highway 16 in Sebastapol next to
Vintage Gardens and Antique Mall- 2833 Old Gravenstein Highway South,
Sebastapol 95472.
The Randall Museum's Annual Bug days, were unfortunately being held at
the same time as our meeting in Berkeley and so we were unable to
participate in this annual event. They are in the process of
renovating their museum inside as well as the landscaping outside the
surrounding building. They would like our help in designing a bog
garden for the museum. Donations of carnivorous plants are greatly
needed for this project, as it will serve as an instrumental tool in
educating children about these wonderful plants. Call Ken Litchfield
at the Randall Museum if you can help out.
Stephen Davis brought in a wonderfully diverse group of plants for the
display table. The first was a Drosera regia, which he grows in a
lightly covered cold frame in a sunny location. He also brought in
Drosera capensis with multiple inflorescences and Drosera
glabripes. He also showed us Darlingtonia californica, Pinguicula
emarginata, Pinguicula macroeras sp. nortensis, Sarracenia minor 'Okee
Giant', and Cephalotus follicularis.
The U.C. Botanical Garden displayed companion plants that can be grown
in the S.F. Bay Area with carnivorous plants. There were examples of
cool growing Masdevallia and Disa orchid plants, both easy to grow
orchid genera that can be grown outside in frost free areas and away
from intense heat. Also displayed were various species of Sarracenia
specimens to show off their new spring growth.
Tim Metcalf, Manager of the Botany Greenhouses at the University of
California, Davis presented a fantastic talk about different issues to
consider when outfitting a greenhouse. This talk was germane for
homeowners as well as for the commercial nursery. He was then joined
by Jim Kramer of Trueleaf - a heating, irrigation, climate controls
and consultation company (www.trueleaf.net) and Tom Pilini who works
for Microgrow Greenhouse Systems a business dealing with compute
controls for greenhouses.
First Tim touched upon some of the elements that one should consider
when furnishing a greenhouse with everything that is needed to make it
run properly. These items included the need for air circulation,
maintaining proper temperature, humidity, cooling systems, lights and
benches. For the homeowner, he recommended making a structure out of
PVC pipes with high-tech, durable film. He told us to build the
structure as big as possible to allow for heat to rise. For example
when the height is 20 feet, the heat rises, which insulates the house
and keeps the plants at a more comfortable temperature and allows room
to hang light fixtures. He prefers to use high pressure sodium lights,
1000 watts all winter to increase the day length. He also recommends
rolling benches to maximize the space in the house and durable plastic
benches that saves you from the constant upkeep that wood requires. He
also likes automated shade cloth and reverse-osmosis water units-
especially for carnivorous plants. For highland plants, he suggests
swamp coolers with "cool cells" made from corrugated cardboard instead
of traditional straw.
Jim Kramer was up next and highly recommended educating yourself about
the exact cultural requirements of your plants and what you really
want out of a greenhouse before you go and start hiring a
contractor. He suggested going with a company that will give you good
technical support and that will help you with any questions that you
may have in setting up a greenhouse. He gave us a greenhouse design
checklist that one should go over before starting the project. On
major thing to consider is condensation that, if not addressed, will
result in rot. Another aspect in setting up a hothouse is how
important is impact resistance with different glazing materials. He
suggested fans at opposite ends of the house to get the air moving
rotationally and foam plastic benches. Cooling can be achieved with
shading compounds, fog jets, and or swamp coolers. With the aid of
vent openers, exhaust fans, horizontal fans and mist systems a
comfortable growing environment can be achieved. Heating on the other
hand can be accomplished with unit heaters, floor heat, and bench
heating to name a few.
Thermostats can have two controls on one system- namely one for heat
and one for cooling. One must consider if it is cost effective to
install and maintain a electric thermostat.
Tom Piini told us the great advantages of having a computer controlled
greenhouse environment. This kind of setup eliminates the hassle of
worrying if the greenhouse gets too cold or too hot. He suggested a
simple "Growstat" microprocessor that costs about $550 and can control
both night and day temperatures. There are vent stat and shade stat
automatic controllers that can be automatically controlled off site by
you via personal computer or even by the Internet.
He also talked about "Weathermaster" that could give you more
information about wind, light and other environmental elements in
addition to the above. In general, he advocated dealing with
greenhouse businesses that will help trouble shoot when you have
difficulty with your system and asking advice from people who have
already have greenhouse setups of their own.
The meeting concluded with a walk through the new U.C. Arid House that
was completed in the Fall of 2001. Sturdy benches were constructed to
hold the many plants on display, especially ones with heavy clay
pots. Large fans provided ample air movement in the house, but large
mechanical structures blocked gleams of light from coming through.
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BACPS CALENDAR
2002
August 17 Summer Meeting - California Carnivores
September 14 Special Lecture by Ch'ien Lee (to be confirmed by
e-mail)
October 6 Submission Deadline for the Fall newsletter
November 9 Fall Meeting
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TREASURER'S REPORT
Joe Mazrimas
INCOME DEBITS BALANCE
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Dues 0.00
Sellers 42.50
Raffle 146.50
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TOTAL INCOME 189.00
Current activity (03-13-02 to 07-03-02) 146.50
Previous balance (03-13-02) 2838.31
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BALANCE (07-03-02) $2984.81
U. C. Berkeley Fund (separate) $1427.50
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
WANTED: Drosera cuniefolia and many other of the "rarer" drosera
species. (Non-dormancy needing species preferred) Please email me at
for trade or sale information. Contact Zach Lim
This section is available for members to post announcements (events,
items wanted available, information wanted or to share, etc.) Submit
announcements to the editor.
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BACPS CONTACTS
President Geoff Wong
Vice-President Greg Lum
Secretary Judith Finn
Treasurer Joe Mazrimas
Newsletter Editor Greg Lum
E-mail Distributor Bill Weaver
Snail Mail Distributor Paul Bourbin
Business Manager Larry Logoteta
Membership List Mike Ross
Auctioneer Peter D'Amato
Silent Auction Manager Mike Ross
Raffle Manager Mark Bellinger
Randall Museum Liaison position open
UCBG Liaison Judith Finn
Website Manager Albert Huntington
Website: http://www.bacps.org
Mailing address: BACPS, 825 Bennington Street, Manteca, CA 95336
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Please send articles or comments to the editior, Greg Lum.
If you wish to be added or removed from the
distribution list, please send a message to Bill Weaver.
This newsletter is designed to be viewed with courier font.