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Page 7

1/10/03

Sacrifice

Today I removed and sacrificed "the weak" of my Victorias that I felt had little chance of surviving. Most were seeds and stunted seedlings. As of this time I have 3 'Longwood Hybrids' and 1 'Atlantis' that continue to hang on, and two seeds each with 1 hastate leaf that I have not given up on.

As you can see algae still loves my Victorias' environment! I continue to feed "weakly weekly" but have added fish emulsion to my formula. I usually give my supplement cocktail after I make my 25% weekly water change. I am thinking that I may add 3 feeder goldfish this weekend to feed on this algae. I hope they will not have an appetite for Victoria leaves!

Water pH has been fluctuating between 7.0 and 7.5 and water hardness is stable at 4 with a carbonate hardness value of 2.

	< This is the fourth leaf of a Longwood and the first more rounded.   The bubbles seem to support the Victoria leaves. >
	< The view from above and the view from below.	My favorite indicator of a healthy seedling is the growth of this Longwood!

I know this journal is about my experience with Victoria but I also wanted to share with you another project I have started. I have set up another 10 gallon aquarium environment as a home for a tropical lily. I tried to overwinter a Red Flare night blooming lily from the pond in my greenhouse. Its leaf growth deteriorated and left me with just its tuber. I brought the tuber into my home and placed it into a jar of water and in the same sunny window. It began to sprout from eyes on this tuber and is producing many little plants. More indoor winter ponding fun!

This week we sent Alan some 'Challenger' and 'Columbia' sprouts to see first how they would survive shipment during a very cold spell and second how they would do for him once there. Their progress will be included in future updates.