Ok... here is the situation, I had a brother in law that liked CP's and orchids, when he decided to divorce my sister and leave for someone else, he took his orchids, but left all his cp's. (foolish on more than one count!
Well, my sister finally asked me to come save them... and I started yesterday moving them home.
I have a cephalotous that was in great condition because it was potted up, as well as a red bicalarata... but oh the horror for the rest...
first, all his really 'cool' plants I gave him, pre-potted so he was doing ok with them... but he had Nepenthes and s. purperea and D. Spathulata all in the same area! (along with a sar I haven't identified yet.)
First off, the terrarium was nothing but peat, no perlite sand or anything to break up the substrate and keep it loose... when I started digging around in there, it was a swampy mess, and the stink nearly made me puke. obviously it had gone anoxic and I was reaping the benefits of swamp gas.
The purps and sars were ok, as were the dews, except for the fact their roots were being strangled, by of all things, terrestrial penny wort! AUGGHHHH! I carefully removed as much of this crap as I could from these speciments, and potted them up for travel. Then the nepenthes, I feared the worst for them, swampy conditions as we all know are a no-no.
So I gently scooped them up from under the swampy area, wher I figured if there were roots, they were rotted any how, when low what to my wondering eyes should appear but roots! And I am talking roots in sludgy water, not damp peat here! I was astounded. So I got them out, suspecting that perhaps the roots were more penny wort, and for the most part, they were, perhaps 60% was penny wort, the rest were nepenthes roots... (On that group) another nepenthes was in the process of rotting from the ground up, showing that these conditions would eventually catch up...
TO make a long story short, I cut the rot off, dipped in rooting hormone (as a test, I have heard mixed results on hormone, and didn't want to test it on good cuttings later, and this was a home depot nepenthes, so we shall see.)
THe nepenthes are potted up on my windowsill with a ultrasonic humidifier pumping humidity right out on them, I'll have to do this for a couple weeks and then harden them off, as I simply don't have the space in the terrarium for them. (The bical, ceph, and dew went in the terrarium) purps went outside with the other sars.
Everything got a nice soak in superthrive, I added distilled water to all the pitchers, and am crossing my fingers...
tonight, I get to go wash out that stinky tank... I think I am going to turn it back into an aquarium, and keep leaf fish in it.
Well, my sister finally asked me to come save them... and I started yesterday moving them home.
I have a cephalotous that was in great condition because it was potted up, as well as a red bicalarata... but oh the horror for the rest...
first, all his really 'cool' plants I gave him, pre-potted so he was doing ok with them... but he had Nepenthes and s. purperea and D. Spathulata all in the same area! (along with a sar I haven't identified yet.)
First off, the terrarium was nothing but peat, no perlite sand or anything to break up the substrate and keep it loose... when I started digging around in there, it was a swampy mess, and the stink nearly made me puke. obviously it had gone anoxic and I was reaping the benefits of swamp gas.
The purps and sars were ok, as were the dews, except for the fact their roots were being strangled, by of all things, terrestrial penny wort! AUGGHHHH! I carefully removed as much of this crap as I could from these speciments, and potted them up for travel. Then the nepenthes, I feared the worst for them, swampy conditions as we all know are a no-no.
So I gently scooped them up from under the swampy area, wher I figured if there were roots, they were rotted any how, when low what to my wondering eyes should appear but roots! And I am talking roots in sludgy water, not damp peat here! I was astounded. So I got them out, suspecting that perhaps the roots were more penny wort, and for the most part, they were, perhaps 60% was penny wort, the rest were nepenthes roots... (On that group) another nepenthes was in the process of rotting from the ground up, showing that these conditions would eventually catch up...
TO make a long story short, I cut the rot off, dipped in rooting hormone (as a test, I have heard mixed results on hormone, and didn't want to test it on good cuttings later, and this was a home depot nepenthes, so we shall see.)
THe nepenthes are potted up on my windowsill with a ultrasonic humidifier pumping humidity right out on them, I'll have to do this for a couple weeks and then harden them off, as I simply don't have the space in the terrarium for them. (The bical, ceph, and dew went in the terrarium) purps went outside with the other sars.
Everything got a nice soak in superthrive, I added distilled water to all the pitchers, and am crossing my fingers...
tonight, I get to go wash out that stinky tank... I think I am going to turn it back into an aquarium, and keep leaf fish in it.
