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Hello everyone,
 It has been a long time since I have posted here, although I have continued to benefit from reading all the interesting topics on this board.

And my small collection of plants have all been doing fairly well, with the exception of U. sandersonii.  When I first got this plant, it did quite well in a peat/perlite mix.  I later added a top coating of LFS, and it seemed to go downhill after this, although I am not sure if this was the actual cause of the problem (the LFS did seem to build up some algae).  The symptoms included the leaves thinning and turning yellow, and the flowers slowly dying off.  I tried repotting it in the original mix, but was unable to find very many roots to move, so maybe it was worse than I thought.  The microscopic bit I was able to move seems to have died off.

I just recently picked up another plant for a second try, since this is supposed to be a fairly easy plant from what I have read.  My current setup is a 10 gallon terrarium with temps of about 68-75F, 55-65% RH, and a 65W Fluorex light.  All the other plants in the terrarium are doing great, including D. capensis, D. muscipula, N. rafflesiana, and H. minor x heterodoxa.

My main question is what type of soil mix is best.  I have seen a lot of mention of sand and peat, but what kind of sand is this?

Also, how much water is the plant supposed to sit in?  I had it in a saucer full of water, but perhaps this was not sufficient.  I am thinking about making the setup that elgecko suggested.  

Any help would be greatly appreciated, since I do not want to make the same mistake again!

Thanks,
Ben
 
Hi Ben,

U. sandersonii takes a little while to get established, it's sort of slow at first.

The culture for this is pretty standard.  I grow most of all my terresterial Utriculatia in pure peat which I have rinsed out and fluffed up to get rid of hard little chunks.

I occasionally use sand.  The sand I use is washed silica sand.  It's white and I buy it at pool supply concerns where it is sold as filter sand.

All my Utricularia are flooded, and then the tray is allowed to dry out and sit dry for a few days.

I am not familiar with your lighting system.  I grow mine under 50/50 cool white and grow lux, no terrarium, sitting on a shelf about 6 inches beneath the tubes.

There are 2 forms in circulation.  The blue flower form is slower growing and shy to flower.  The other form does well and spreads quickly once you have it established.  Oddly enough, my best pot of this species grows in a media of Utruicularia subulata with which it became infected.  They seem to get along very well though.
 
i have no particular problems with either form, bright light, constantly damp to wet media and its fine. im growing it in pure peat, in pure LFS and its even growing on the outside of a plain terra cotta pot. this is one of my "weed" species. infact my main probem with it is keeping it out of other pots as its stolons can go "airborn" for a decent distance.

Tamlin i have found no particular difficulties getting the blue form to flower(Jim hates me for it
smile_n_32.gif
). it doesnt flower in mass like the typical but i have a dozen flowers in a 3.5 inch pot. it also grows about as fast as my typical form. i guess what ever conditions cause my U. aureomaculta to grow like a weed are what my blue form of U. sandersonii likes as they are side by side and spreading like there is no tomorrow.

keep trying Ben, your bound to hit on the combination of conditions that it will do well for you. there are plenty of ppl having excellent luck with it, you will always be able to find another plug
 
I have had success, in general, by mixing peat and sand, keeping them outside as long as possible. The peat comes from Home Depot (Canadian peat) and I use pool filter sand, purchased at a pool supply place. All media is washed thoroughly.

AS mentioned earlier, by my buddy, Rattler, I have yet to see the blue form of sandersonii flower. Maybe this year? The white form needs little coaxing, having bloomed while indoors at a window sill. By summer you should see "bunny ears"!
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]I have seen a lot of mention of sand and peat, but what kind of sand is this?

I use silica sand used for sandblasting. They come in 100 lb. bags at hardware stores. It's approx. $8 per bag, so its very cost effective. Just make sure you rinse it well before you use it if you decide to go this route.

-Homer
 
Thanks for the info.  I think I will try using the same type of mix that the grower uses, since it appears to consist of peat, sand, and some perlite.  These ingredients seem to be adequate from your responses, and I imagine the plant is already accustomed to them.

Does U. sandersonii have any preference in regard to thick or airy mixes?  I could add some extra perlite if it prefers this.

I am still unable to determine what killed the original plant.  It did have some algae in certain areas of the soil, is this dangerous?  

Could it be too much light?  The Fluorex light is quite intense (5000-8000 lumens at 6500K I believe), but this has not hurt any other plants.  

Too much/little water?  Does this prefer about the same amount of water as Dionaea or D. capensis?
 
I keep mine in a pot sitting in a yogurt container on my windowsill, 50-50 peat/sand mix (silica natch)
I do as Tamlin does; flood it then let it dry out for a day or two then repeat
I received it in November and it took a while to really get going, but over the last week or so it has been flowering like mad
IMO it seems to be the easiest of all my plants- heck, I have houseplants that are more fussy that it

Keep trying, once you get it right it will be okay....

BTW- did the LFS you topdressed it with have fertilizer in it, possibly??? that could have done it some damage I'd imagine
 
i dont think U. sandersonii has much of a preferance for what soil you use. it is a lithophyte(grows on rocks in nature) and it tends to grow more on the soil than in it in my experiance. anything from pure peat to pure LFS and any mix in between should work. like i said i also have it growing, literally growing and spreading, on the side of a pot, dont think your soil mix is the problem unless you got a bad batch of peat that may have to much in the way of dissolved salts and minerals.
 
OK, I think I will just try the sand/peat mix and water off and on and see how things go.

Thanks for the help.
 
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