A year or 2 ago, I remember seeing elgecko's approach to growing utrics suspended over a pool of water. Since then, I'd always wanted to give it a try. When I saw RSS's great efforts with U. graminifolia over here, I figured the time had come. When I got some a few months ago, I stuck a chunk in a small pot & placed it on top of a jar filled with water - similar to what French3z did over here. I covered the jar with a sleeve to avoid algae issues (based on elgecko's recommendations). I had set up several pots in different conditions & this one always seemed to have the worst growth - very sparse & small leaves.
Finally, one day I decided to slide the sleeve down & see if there was any growth below the surface ...
So that's where the energy was going. Even though virtually no light gets to the water pool, the plant still makes quite a few 'leaves' (photosynthetically-modified / adapted stolons)(is that right?). Several weeks ago, I took a small piece of U. longifolia and placed it in a similar (but larger) setup. One of things I've noticed with it, is that it forms 'leaves' if the stolons come out above the level of the water and regular 'roots' if below the water level. Since I started to notice this, I've attempted to keep the bottle full - but since the sleeve keeps me from seeing the level - I keep forgetting to check...
Here is an attempt at a close-up view of some of the traps. Between the poor macro facilities on my little point & shoot camera & the distortions from the circular bottle surface - this was as good as I could get. Still - interesting to be able to see the traps this clearly. Anyone have a culture of vinegar eels they want to share so I can try feeding the bladders?
Finally, one day I decided to slide the sleeve down & see if there was any growth below the surface ...
So that's where the energy was going. Even though virtually no light gets to the water pool, the plant still makes quite a few 'leaves' (photosynthetically-modified / adapted stolons)(is that right?). Several weeks ago, I took a small piece of U. longifolia and placed it in a similar (but larger) setup. One of things I've noticed with it, is that it forms 'leaves' if the stolons come out above the level of the water and regular 'roots' if below the water level. Since I started to notice this, I've attempted to keep the bottle full - but since the sleeve keeps me from seeing the level - I keep forgetting to check...
Here is an attempt at a close-up view of some of the traps. Between the poor macro facilities on my little point & shoot camera & the distortions from the circular bottle surface - this was as good as I could get. Still - interesting to be able to see the traps this clearly. Anyone have a culture of vinegar eels they want to share so I can try feeding the bladders?