Darlingtonia from mass/Lowes UPDATES!

[adnedarn]

Hey everyone, I can't find any picture updates of the plants that mass was kind enough to put into our hands so here I'm starting one for all of us to share our updates. My plants arrived looking pretty good...

Here they are like 2 days later and falling over/drying up

And here is what I have going on now

So, lets see your updates!
Andrew

 

[mass]

well that's fun!! May your new traps be as big as the last!

 

[seedjar]

Those look like they have the potential to get big. Congratz! My cobras are just barely waking up for the season. (They also aren't from this batch so I guess my updates would be irrelevant to this thread.)
~Joe

 

[adnedarn]

This is my first time having Cobras grow (cept the tiny seedlings I have going) Should I unpot these and toss the whole ball into a bigger pot with LFS or somethin? Or just leave them in these tiny pots. I kinda didn't expect them to do anything. lol

 

[amphirion]

LOL! i would have been super depressed if my plants declined like that! mad props for you sticking with it!

 

[seedjar]

Some folks in the know say that shallow, wide containers are sufficient Andy, but I like to use really big ones - deep as well as wide. My plant that I got from a nursery as an adult is in a ~25 gallon pot, two feet tall by two feet wide, round. LFS is good but put something hard and porous in there with it, like lava rock or Hydroton. The chunkier the better, I think. In lower parts of the mix, peat and perlite can be useful for increasing moisture retention, but the upper half needs to be airy and resistant to compaction.
~Joe

 

[Not a Number]

It's usually better to oversize the pots. The stolons like lots of room and larger pots take longer to warm up.

 

[eou812]

Mine died not sure why i have grown several cobras before and i still have them.

---------- Post added at 12:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:42 PM ----------

Mass probably put miracle grow fertilizer in it before he sent it.

 

[Brokken]

My own plant, I moved immediately to a mix of long-fibered sphagnum moss, perlite, bark and lava rock - not unlike my usual mix for nepenthes - except maybe for the addition of a little peat moss. Since I got it in winter, there was little acclimation shock. Nevertheless the tips of the leaves browned within days of me getting it. About a month ago, I started seeing signs of life and this is how the plant looks now. The only growth under my care is the new bright green stuff:

 

[mass]

Mine died not sure why i have grown several cobras before and i still have them.

Mass probably put miracle grow fertilizer in it before he sent it.

Maybe it just went dormant and you threw away a live cobra plant.

 

[eou812]

No it wasn't dormant. I had it sitting outside in 80 degree weather for 3 months and no new growth or anything. I guess it was just a dud.

 

[mass]

highly unlikely.. Probably didn't keep the roots cool enough.

 

[Brokken]

No it wasn't dormant. I had it sitting outside in 80 degree weather for 3 months and no new growth or anything. I guess it was just a dud.

It's a dud, alright!

 

[mass]

Blame it on me.. it was all my fault.

 

[amphirion]

umm....80 degree weather, and you probably kept it in the same small pot that it came with? sounds like a perfect recipe for sauteed darlingtonia rhizomes.

 

[eou812]

highly unlikely.. Probably didn't keep the roots cool enough.

I watered it evey day with pure water. I also repotted it in it's proper soil mix. (one part peat moss one part perlite and one part orchid bark with no fertilizer)

---------- Post added at 02:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:21 PM ----------

Blame it on me.. it was all my fault.

I'm not blaming it on you. I was teasing you. You didn't see the wink? It was just a plant that didn't make it is all it's fine.

 

[mass]

Just cause you watered it everyday doesn't mean you kept the roots cool enough. Many people resort to using ice cubes to cool the media.

 

[Not a Number]

81F is the limit for root/soil temperature for this species. Exceed that and the plant will likely expire. Soil temperatures can be higher than air temperatures since it absorbs more solar radiation.

If the package sat in the sun or in a hot truck long enough the plant could have cooked. A small pot will heat up completely quicker than a large pot. That includes any water in the media.

 

[eou812]

I meant the air temp. I didn't let the soil temp get above 70 degrees F.

---------- Post added at 03:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:36 PM ----------

Oh well good luck everyone with your cobra's.

 

[Baylorguy]

Mine did nothing for a good 2 months and then threw out 4 new pitchers... all of them small, but it's great seeing signs of life. We'll see if it can survive the central Texas summer. I have it growing in a very large and shallow pot with live sphagnum and I flood it every day. I am out to prove that you can grow one of these guys without obsessing over them.