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D. Darlingtonia

glider14

Always a newbie
hello!
im getting another S. Flava, a S. Leucophylla, and a D. Darlingtonia over the summer. i think i have the first two down but i havnt had ANY experience with the serpants. potting mix? what kind of winter can they withstand? whats your method for keeping the roots cool? sun? how old does it have to be for it to flower?
thank you!
alex
 
I take the easy route.

1) Undrained glazed ceramic pot.
2) LFS

Thats all you need, keep the pot full of water and keep the plant outside. So Far my Cobra has survived 2 years outside year round in Texas. Burning the summer and freezing in the winter. It is by far the easiest to care for plant I own. All I do is fill it back up again whenever the water level gets below the LFS on top.
 
Here's what I have so far. This started as a tiny seedling.

Sorry for the bad quality

cobra1.jpg
 
wow awesome! i live in kentucky(zone 6) so its a little colder here than in texas in the winter. you have a very nice looking plant and it looks very healthy. im thinking since it is a mountain plant i would be able to grow it outside here. do you refigerate your water?
thanks
alex
 
Live sphagnum moss, high water table, mix of full and indirect sun = happy cobra.
No need to refridgerate water  
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Incidently, I was repotting a sarracenia that sits directly next to my cobra in the greenhouse in full sun. It was potted mostly in sphagum moss and it was *steaming* with heat when I removed it from it's pot. I don't know how anyone can cook a cobra lily!
 
And it was either Pyro or Alvin Meister (or both) who have said that an acclimated plant can withstand the 90 degree heat. Mne is kept as Tony Paroubek suggested to me - suspended and drained. Does fine for me, even a our temps have been at 90.
 
thanks! sounds good.
 
Now, whats the easiest way to start these plants, seeds or live plant, also whats the best size for shipping these plants? Cobra lilies look like an amazing houseplant, i have heard that you can easily grow them like houseplants because of their extreme low humitity tolorance(in comparison to most cps). Is this true?
 
  • #10
Elgecko grows them successfully on window sill in his kitchen, with humidity as low as 35%. Either approach can work. With a garden center plant, the trick is to pick out a decent specimen and get it acclimated to its new environment. I've tried them from seeds, seedlings, and adult plant. I've failed at all three and my only success has been with a fortunate pick from a Lowes cube.
 
  • #11
rely Jim? thats wiered. i saw cobras at lowes in a small cube but they didnt look good enough to buy. ill try when a new shippment comes in.
alex
 
  • #12
It's a gamble. You could also wait until they look like "death warmed over" and see if you can get them greatly discounted. Don't know how long it had been on the shelf, but it came with a D. adelae & VFT that were buried in the soil and appeared to have died. Luck is a good concept!
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  • #13
i had one that grew in pure peat, in a black pot in a south window. did wonderful for a couple years till i had to move it. apparently all south windows arent the same and it didnt like the second one for some reason and keeled over. might have to find another and try again.

what ever you do dont place it in a stream.....................
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  • #14
That's the second reference to this infamous stream in the past 24 hours!

s_Wed_106.jpg


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  • #15
lol Jim, i have to admit it was a good and sound theory, it just didnt work in practice. i would have done the same thing if i had a stream out my back door
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  • #16
You'd be amazed at how many ill-fated ideas I have had!
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  • #17
[b said:
Quote[/b] (jimscott @ June 02 2006,10:09)]You'd be amazed at how many ill-fated ideas I have had!  
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what did u do?..........oh man u put ur plants in the stream didnt you?!?!?! did they float away or did it die because of minerals or somethin?
 
  • #19
Umm, there was this rainstorm you see and the stream sorta got a little extra flow as the rain water ran into it. His plants upped anchor and sailed off for parts unknown. They are believed to have been lost at sea....or something like that
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EDIT: Jim, I thing my version is more romanticle. LOL
 
  • #20
the stream idea sounded like a good one how about u try it again but u put a TALL cage/fence ontop/around it and see what happens sounds like it would work with other CPs too
 
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