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Cobra lily - my nemesis

jimscott

Tropical Fish Enthusiast
Re-inspired by BobZ's picture a couple weeks ago in another topic, I decided to buy yet another Lowes cube of Cobra Lily. first I had to get rid of, I mean re-pot the VFT & D. adelae.

I thought I had this cobra lily thing beat when I has seedlings in a mini-bog setup. They were doing just fine until I decided to take some advice and poke drainage holes in the pail, toward the bottom. Within a week, they all shriveled up.

I am re-visiting a former failed variable - the infamous stream. I have made modifications. I am still using a Sterilite container, with all those holes. but this time, I put the cobra lily in a larger pot, with that plastic collar still emplaced, to hold everything in. But now I have rocks - BIG ROCKS - weighing down the Sterilite - like 30 lbs worth. I also put smaller stones on top of the collar, covering as much as I can. It aint going anywhere this time!!! I now achieved cool, running water over its roots, and a bit more permanence.

Wish me luck!
 
Sounds like it will work,keep us posted!By next summer I will have some sort of setup for my cobra lily,90f-100f temps,it will have some sort of running water system.Anybody grow them in hot temps?

                                        Jerry


                             
 
Doesn't that stream overflow in the spring or after a big rainstorm? If it does, those 30 pound rocks aren't going to hold it there. Just a thought.....
 
Oh Scott, just grow your Cobra Lily indoors. Away from the raging stream and blazing summertime heat. Mine enjoys the safe windowsill location in the airconditioned house.

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Steve, I'll try that after this experiment fails. In the meantime, I added about 20 more ponds of rockage. It aint going anywhere!
 
I'm going to try the dual pot method with my cobra's I got from Lowes as an experiment. I'm going to put the pot the Cobra's are in, into a bigger pot filled with 50/50 Sand/LFS. I'm then going to cut the bigger pot so it's just an inch or so higher than the smaller pot, and bury the little pot inside the bigger pot. What I'm thinking is that by doing this dual pot method, in return the roots will stay cooler.
 
I wanted to experiment around to find the best way to grow cobra lilies here in San Diego.
I was reading Savage Garden and it said to use a light colored glazed ceramic pot. So I went out and bought one(not cheap either). I have 3 darlingtonia in there and 1 in a white plastic pot sitting outside, and 1 in my indoor greenhouse sitting in a waterfall thingy.
I do not add chilled water to any of the pots, and the temps are getting up in the upper 80's here. The 2 pots I have outside are in a tray with about an inch and a half of water in it. There is also a cephalotus in the tray with the cobra lilies, and it is growing too
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The ones in the ceramic pot are doing excellent! Lots of new pitchers coming up.
The one in the smaller white plastic pot, which sits in the same tray as the ceramic pot, is alive, but not showing any new growth. I pulled some of the live sphagnum out of the way and I see new roots growing.....
The cobra lilies in the waterfall is history.....
I will post pics as soon as I find a new hosting site.
 
I think the plant you starting off with is the problem. They are young and have shallow roots, so the top of the soil is heated up too much in the sun. You'd be better off with a big cobra that has its roots sitting in the water at all times.
 
Alexis, was that in reference to my seedlimgs?
 
  • #10
i'd be afraid to buy a great big mature one then have my experiments fail.

you could grow one to maturity but then experiments would be pointless.
 
  • #11
Scott,
I hate to say I'm gonna laugh when you come back and say after the storm your bucket was there, but the plant and soil washed out.
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Good luck conquering the stream.

What are you doing August 6th? I might be heading up that way to Hamburg for a reptile show.
 
  • #12
But I reinforced it. I know what you mean though. I've been thinking about that possibility. I can put some netting over it. How are you doing the cool roots thing on the window sill?

AFAIK, 8/6 is free. Hey, how do you upload the zip file to another hosting site - the picturs you took are all that I have left to upload.
 
  • #13
Scott,
You do not need to cool the roots of the plant when it's in an air conditioned house around 70-75 degrees.
I use hdpixel.
http://www.hdpixel.com/
 
  • #14
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Alexis, was that in reference to my seedlimgs?

Is it only your seedlings or the Lowes plant that have died? It might be too hot in the sun for the seedlings, but I'm wondering if young tissue cultured plants from Lowes might also not be as easy as a large, established plant.
 
  • #15
The seedlings died. They had been established, mainly in swampy or aquatic conditions and they were hanging in there when the temps were around 90. While the temps haven't changed significantly, poking the drainage holes chnaged their environment. I think that is what did them in.

The TC plant is a stream whose temp is in the 50's. I lost 3 pitchers in a few hours, but none since then. They are still firm. I knew I was setting the TC plant up for shock, but gambled that it would be happier in the long run, assuming, as Elgecko asserted, that plant doesn't get uprooted when we get a deluge. I have the plant itself somewhat weighted down but am looking for ways to improve it.
 
  • #16
You know what might also work? Can you get electricity out there? Becuase you could put a hose into the middle of the stream and connect it to a little pump to pump water over to a Cobra Lilly that you put up the banks of the stream where it won't be washed away. That way you'd get the constant cold water, and the runoff would just roll back down into the stream.

Capslock
 
  • #17
That's a good idea, under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, we live in a townhouse apartment and they are persnicketty about what we do. I asked and received permission to put in a strawberry patch out back. But then the people who cut the grass complined because they couldn't get by it. So out the strawberry patch went out the window. Then I put a misting hose on the side, to water my garden. But again that was vetoed - and the hose was severed, hopefully by accident. There is electricty and I could physically run a cord out there, but I don't think it will fly. I thank you for your input, though.
 
  • #18
Another thing you might could try Jim, is siphoning the hose. I don't know what kind of setup the stream has but depending on conditons, that could work.
 
  • #19
That's a good idea. Now to find a safe spot that is lower than the stream... So far, nearly all of its pitchers have turned brown, but I kinda expected that, from shock. But we had a 3/4" rainstorm a couple days ago and nothing budged. I'm waiting for one of those hurricane remnant storms that dump 3" in a short amount of time, backing Wyomissing Creek up.
 
  • #20
Uhm , I use to have a bunch of problems growing darlingtonia and i tried everything that seemed to help but was'nt . I live in the San fernando valley in southern california and it's pretty much hot dry desert conditions here , especially now during the summer but i have 2 darlingtonia's outside and there doing just fine . they weather even get's up to more then 106 and they do fine sitting outside in the dry ehat . I don't know how they are able to survive but my setup is one darlingtonia in partial shade in a 5 inch plastic container that's always waterlogged and filled to the brim . It's potted in lfs , perlite and pumice , and some orchid bark . I have an aquarium air pump pumping air in it's root 24/7 in it's water lgoged conditions . But i don' think that it's the waterlogged aerated conditions that keep it alive because like i said , i broguth 2 darlingtonia and i wanted to experimen with them . The other darlingtonia was in it's original 3 inch pot with lfs and it's grow on a water tray in partial shade as well . the only physical difference between the plants is that the waterlogged aerated plant grew taller then the one grown like in normal conditions , the water logged plant also flowered twice , actually three times . So i don't know what it is that keeps them alive but maybe trying to ahrd to keep them alive is why darlingtonia is so hard to achieve satisfaction from
smile_n_32.gif
 
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