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Utricularia uliginosa too

4 scapes poking up so far. Outside it is Pluto, inside is is Shangri La. I noticed the sun today has a different feel: a little punch, instead of the watery diffuse sunlight we have (maybe) had since October. There is Magic in this light, and the plants are noticing that they are alive, alive-o!

Such delights make winter bearable. Thanks to my many friends who made this penultimate entertainment possible!
 
The first flowers just opened today, and they are yellow. For some reason this strikes me as being wrong: have a possibly confused my plants?
 
I'll check my Taylor for you when I get home
 
Hmmmm, appears that my misgivings were well founded. Time to send some photos to Dodec. I thought it strange that it was putting out so many scapes when so few have had success flowering this one. Thanks for the input!
 
U. uliginosa ain't yellow. If it's shaped like U. uliginosa, it could be U. bifida. Have you been able to rule out plain old U. subulata?
 
Cursed be subulata!  Now that the flowers are fully open, the miserable fact becomes apparent: I have labored long to produce a prolific flowering of this insidious weed.

I am now seeking a start of U. uliginosa in case anyone out there has pity and plants in equal measure.
 
Hello Tamlin, glad to see you back here. Sent an email to you if you still have the same address...

I know the excitement when you see a new scape appearing, or when you realize that what appears to be minimal growth above the soil line, turns out to be a riot of growth below. That is why I like to grow Utrics in individual containers of water, with the potted plant set inside, and large drainage holes; you can really appreciate the extent of growth not always visible by just looking above the soil line. I've got a U. arenaria that has literally grown out of the pot, all through the water in the container, AND attached itself all the way around the rim of the container, AND is flowering in all areas too! Simply amazing.
 
I think you may be on to something with those large drainage holes! I think I will start to include some larger holes in my future potting. Lately I have been trying to get more air to the plants below the soil line, as they seem to really appreciate it. I melted holes all into the sides of the U. alpina pot with this in mind, and I think I will do it with the reniformis as well.

I notice Genlisea filling the air spaces in my mix as well. I have them in clear plastic cups, and there are rosettes forming beneath the surface where the air pockets meet the sides of the plastic. This strikes me as a great way to propagate, as these rosettes can be removed by tapping the plants out of the pot, and removing the ones beneath the surface. I imagine that Utricularia would have a similar tendency, and I think I will try breaking up the mix with some of those styro peanuts. to provide even more of these spaces.
 
  • #10
Utrics willingness to grow in any direction can make them interesting, if a bit unruly.

I have to constantly trim off the stolons protruding through the drainage holes of pots to prevent them from infecting neighboring pots. U. reniformis seems to prefer growing leaves out through the bottom of pots rather than from the surface of the soil. I have a clone of monanthos type U. dichotoma that grows as far down in the pot as it can and sends up tall leaves to the surface of the soil. makes it a bit tricky to divide for trading as I have to tip out the pot and cut sections from the bottom of the pot.

I have seen someone grow U. sandersonii (although it would surely work for other species) in a chunk of osmunda fiber - it looked like a green pincushion. At the time it had pretty much finished flowering, but I imagine that in its prime it was quite a site.
 
  • #11
Ahhh, I had not considered the stoloniferous propensity (heh heh) of the genus, after all what goes out can also come in. I will modify my plan based on this wisdom. I like keeping my cultures pure. Thanks for the heads up.
 
  • #12
Green Pincousion... Is that like wettable florist foam?
 
  • #13
No, its looks a bit like a black loofah - I think it comes from some part of a fern. It's used in orchid growing.
 
  • #14
Osmunda Fiber is or rather are the roots of Osmunda regalis.
Fortunately its not used that commonly anymore.
biggrin.gif
 
  • #15
Isn't Osmunda regalis a fairly common horticultural species? I know my parents have it in their garden. I'm unable to find any info on the internet about it being affected by harvesting for orchid growing.

I think though, that the medium I saw the "pincusion" in was a tree fern pot. Again I cannot find anything about wild populations being affected by harvesting, although I did find this site.
 
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