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D. Prolifera, frustration...

She's putting up the second flower stalk, has produced a few plantlets underneath but she ALWAYS looks kinda wrecked.
It's an uncovered glass tank with peat+perlite on the bottom and a very generous portion of LFS on top. Prolifera is partly receiving sunlight for 3-4 hours. Temps are 15-20C by day and 5-10C by night.
I've tried raising the humidity but all the prey on the leaves got mouldy and things looked much worse.

Why is this plant struggling, any ideas ?

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Going by the pictures- it looks fairly light starved to me. Just the color seems like it could use a little more light (kind of a yellow green, instead of a green-green). But maybe that's your camera?

Going by your description of conditions- 5*C seems pretty cold to me. Kinda very cold, actually. Remember that this species grows in Queensland, Australia. It's right up there with, like, New Guinea. I grow mine in a terrarium as well, and the coldest it seems to get is about 16-18*C at night, day time temps look okay though.
 
My guess is that it has to do more with lighting than dealing with temps although I would agree that it is a tad bit cold. Prolifera is an intermediate highland species and would do reasonably well with nighttime drops of 10-12C. That being said, in my experience, direct sunlight happens to be too intense for them, burning the leaves. Bright cool morning light would probably be your best route, better yet, fluorescent lighting.
 
Sunlight will destroy it, but it definitely needs more light.
 
Hey guys, thank you very much for your input. I think you are right. It's not the camera, the plant has always been a yellow green instead of a deep green and she's not very dewy as you can tell.

She's actually on a southeastern window receiving all the morning light BUT she's behind the sphagnum wall and only the top bit in the photo receives direct light.
I remember reading that the Queensland sisters prefer shady spots so I was afraid of using more light. I will give her more light and increase the temps, see if she gets better.
 
I keep my 3 sisters in sealed (high humidity) containers, with live LFS, and bright indirect light. Excuse the Fahrenheit scale, but temps are as low as high 50*Fs at night, and maxing out around mid 70*Fs in the day.
These pics are old, but the plants have only grown bigger since.
I do see slight molding on their food from time to time. No worries though, just pick it off with a pair of tweezers if need be.
I also remove the lids from their containers every once in a while to let the plants breathe some fresh air.
So IMO.. I'd say you're lacking humidity. High humidity, with good airflow is their preference. Schizandra is the only one of the 3 that doesn't mind a lack of airflow with the high humidity.

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Thanks Mass, yours are looking great, that's what I want to achieve as well. Looking at your prolifera, it's so obvious that mine isn't what it should be. I also believe live sphagnum is a better choice for this one.
I think I'd better repot mine as I don't want to disturb the cephalotus while playing around with the conditions.
Thanks for your input.
 
Here's a quick update, seems to be doing better. The first flower stalk made a plantlet which i seperated and planted elsewhere; she has 4 new stalks now.

I increased the temps, humidity and moved her to a northwest window where she gets some direct light at sunset. I am wondering if she can tolerate more hours of direct light, thinking of gradually moving her to west side.

prolif.jpg
 
looking better id let it sit where it is and acclimate for a bit before you go and move it again plus kee in mind as the seasons change so doesnt the placement of the sun in the sky
 
  • #10
i would let it sit as well...those newer leaves are looking good!
 
  • #11
alright then, letting her sit there :) thanks for the feedback guys.
 
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