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  • #101
I meant this type of soil for nelumbifolia. I have planted the utric you have sent me in live sphagnum and trying to grow it like Pyro did (trailing some moss strands into water while the pot with the plant is suspended on top of it absorbing water through capillary action when not top watered). It is not doing to well. Reniformis and humboldtii are doing ok in it...
I've been unable to make U. nelumbifolia happy in a peat-based mix. Others have had different results. I believe that both Pyro & Jeremiah have had success w/ peat mixes on the somewhat dry side. The best results I've had came when I set one loose as I mentioned above:
- a month or 2 ago, I allowed aerial stolons from both a U. nelumbifolia & a U. humboldtii clone to reach the lower reaches of my 75 gal tank where there is a layer of live LFS (I felt reasonably safe since all of the other utric pots are sitting on pots to raise them closer to the lights). Within a few weeks, both had launched the largest leaves that I've seen from any of my plants to date. Then a week or two later, the U. nelumbifolia sent up three simultaneous flower stalks. The largest was over 1/8" diameter near the base. I've had to train it multiple times to keep from frying in the lights - it is probably close to 3' long. I'm not sure what the two plants find down there that is so much better than in any pot - but I'd love to find out ... I'm also thinking that I'm going to need to stop this experiment soon before those two completely own the tank
One of the current U. nelumbifolia leaves has ~4" diameter.
 
  • #102
here's an update on my loofah experiment...seems that all the utrics didnt mind being hung...
campbelliana:
IMG_2804.jpg
IMG_2804a.jpg


geminiloba:
IMG_2801.jpg


praetermissa:
IMG_2798.jpg


quelchii:
IMG_2796.jpg
IMG_2797.jpg
 
  • #103
Wow cool! I like that Loofa idea, firm but stretchy, will be awesome when the moss overgrows it!
 
  • #104
Never thought to use that stuff before, wonder if there is a clear version? I've always used fishing line to attach things to other things.

Defiently have to add mounting Utric's to my todo list.
 
  • #105
Hmm guess I could add to the pile..

I have had these tree fern stakes for ages. The treefern is very brittle and coarse.. not the light brown soft osmunda fiber...Think they are about 2" thick and 3-4" wide. I cut off a couple pieces about 10" long and put some LFS on the face, tied on with some nylon thread.

Here is a U. quelchii growing through the block. It's been about a year or so since I put a tiny piece with a few leaves in the center of the moss. They get watered every day so the moss stays pretty wet. You can see from the photo on the right side the leaf sticking out from the block of tree fern, so the Utric seems to be growing into the block, not just staying in the moss layer. Hard to see but there are some Utric stolons growing out of the moss on the bottom right in the photo.

UquelchiiTreefern.jpg
 
  • #106
Looks like it's working really well Tony. Nice!

p.S.. welcome back buddy.
 
  • #107
Ya seems to be happy. The leaves don't seem to be gaining much in size yet though. So either it needs to get to some critical mass or it could use some feeding.. what though is the question. I was hoping by using the tree fern that it would break down slowly and feed the Utric but dunno if that is working. The tree fern does stay pretty damp also and seems to be breaking down a bit. Particularly at the bottom edge. Maybe I should turn the block upside down periodically ;> right now they are just standing on end in a tray on the bench in between some potted utrics.
 
  • #108
Finally got to see this plant in flower.
U. alpina Pittier Moon
UalpinaPittierMoon1.jpg
 
  • #109
wowza....you had to get the squirt bottle didnt ya?
 
  • #110
Oh my GAWD! :laaa:
 
  • #111
you had to get the squirt bottle didnt ya?
LOL, totally mandatory for a plant that gorgeous.

That is a great picture of a beautiful plant. :drool:
 
  • #112
Oh hehe
It's in a section of the greenhouse that gets 'rained on' every day and it was mid morning so things were still wet. So I guess I will make this followup on how it's growing.
In a pot of my Nepenthes mix which is coconut husk chunks, chunky perlite and LFS with a light watering daily. It stays pretty wet but the mix drains really well. My Orchidioides Utrics stay in this location all year. During the Winter I reduce the sprinkler on time and the number of days each week so they might get a little less water then but I think they still stay pretty moist and don't receive any type of noticeable dryer rest period.
 
  • #113
Very nice Tony!
thanks for the pic's
 
  • #114
Ahh so jealous ( in a good way).
 
  • #115
hi all. i would like to share with you the progress i've made with U. jamesoniana, apparently it's made perhaps a flower stalk or two.

for sure i know this one is:
WP_000230.jpg


a possible second flowerstalk:
WP_000231.jpg


perimeters for cultivation similar to U. campbelliana. receives direct ultrasonic misting for 15 minutes every two hours.
 
  • #116
Wow! :hail:

Interesting shape to it.

Considering how big many of my macro utrics are, I'm doing something wrong. I've got to get the astro-timer hooked up - maybe that will make a difference - provide some real seasonality... ???
 
  • #117
@ron: you? do something wrong? never. :p

also in terms of seasonality, i dont know if im consciously or unconsciously trying to make any significant differences. i have a strong inclination to give the smaller leafed species stable perimeters as much as possible, as i believe this is what allows them to grow well, and they tend to regress significantly if exposed to abrupt changes.
 
  • #118
Here's an example of some weirdness regarding flower production. I recently gave a friend one of my U. asplundii - one that was completely filling a 4x4x4 net pot and growing strongly out of all 4 sides & the bottom (leaves & roots). It had escaped into some adjacent live LFS and put up a leaf. I sent my buddy the large netpot plant and cut off the small piece that went feral. Within a month, the small piece had put up a flower stalk but the large, super-robust monster plant had never even tried to flower.... What's up with that?

The plants are definitely large enough to flower but they are choosing not to - at least many of them. So I need to make some changes ..... :scratch: The astro timer will be first and then I might play with a seasonal dry period ... ???

Another asplundii that was somewhat smaller than the one above has been putting out stalks & flowering constantly for over 6 months (10 to 15 stalks?).
 
  • #119
ohhhh wow, very cool amp....

we have got to know what the trigger is....
 
  • #120
Below are some pics that everyone will look at & say - so what? But they represent a nice 'advancement' for me in my propagation efforts.....

For a while now, I've had a number of robustly-growing macro utrics with lots of roots (aka: rolons or non-photosynthetic stolons or whatever term you'd like to use). However, my attempts to utilize these roots to propagate the plants were either failures, almost-failures or a pain. I was reluctant to disturb the plants as I didn't want to set them back or retard possible flower production (another story --- aaargh). Every few weeks I need to give each pot a haircut to keep it out of it's neighbor's pot. Since my efforts with propagation were failures, I had no issue with allowing the root fragments to fall to the floor of the tank (where there is light-starved LFS, a thin film of water or one of many thriving D. prolifera). At some point I noticed small leaves coming from some of these castoffs. During the next trimming session, I gathered several of these roots & placed them in one location. Sure enough, after a few weeks, there were leaves popping off the roots. From what I could tell, the main differences from what I was trying and the conditions at the bottom of the tank were levels of light & moisture (I previously usually used wet but not sopping-wet live LFS).

I gathered up a bunch of U. quelchii roots & placed them in a small plastic tray with some live LFS & a small film of water & ....
Uquelchiiroots111811RS.jpg


..... & some U. 'Jitka' roots ...
Ujitkaroots111811RS.jpg


When I have pots that look like this ...
Uquelchii071611RS.jpg


.... or this ...
Ualpxhumbbot062111RS.jpg


Now, I have a fairly easy method that actually works (btw - my 1st attempts with sticking roots in test tubes also seemed fairly productive).
 
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