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Growing U Gibba from seeds

anyone got some helpful hints on how to grow u gibba from seed? would they need to be grown in water? any help would be great fella's
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Here is what i heard does well:

Get some damp peat
Sow the seeds over it
Wait until the seeds sprout
Add water slowly till its totally aquatic, or you can grow it as a semi terrestrail
 
is u gibba easy to grow? i didnt want a huge aquarium to house them.i wanted to get a 5 gallon or less container for them.
 
I got two packets of Utric seed from the ICPS (one packet of Gibba and one of Longifolia) The Gibba seeds were in runny peat in an undrained pot and they got greased by fungus pretty quick. The Longifolias wer in the same medium but a little bit more protected. My prefered method for starting almost any type of CP seed is put them on wet peat in a 24 oz. soda bottle that has been cut in half so you can access the little guys. This provides good humidity and keeps the soil wet.
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i got mine in a 6 inch fishbowl with distilled water and peat moss,where does the algae form anyway and what does it look like?
 
Algea is the Green. It looks like it has the consistency of snot if you touch it, or wiggle the water it is in...

I heard... I dont remember where, but if I remember correctly, it was from a reputable source...

When you plant aquatics that dont float, you should have peat, then a layer of sand to keep the peat on the bottom,and apperently this also helps keep the wate clear... When the gibba grows it sorta sankes thru the sand, and alos sends its stolons up thru the water, and up to the surface i'de imagine...
 
The peat/sand recipe is not foolproof. See my tear streaked visage? This is from having dealt with the Curse of the Green Snot for so long. I used the p/s recipe, but in aquaria where there is enough light to support flowering, there is also enough light to support algal growth.

The key, as far as I can determine, is to include companion species in the aquaria. Peat and sand is not enough. My aquatics are shaded by duckweed, and I have rushes growing in with them. These plants absorb whatever nutrients are in the aquaria for their own growth, leaving a good nutrient free home for the Utricularia. I have given up on transparent aquaria. They always grow algae. Now I use 1 plastic dishpan for each species. There is a layer of peat and sand on the bottom, along with some small pine branches and a few old leaves from the fall. It is filled with clean rainwater and kept half beneath some long thin leaves of a lilly, and the surface has a sheet of white plastic floating on it. The sun shines on this plastic in a broken manner for most of the day. The lilly leaves break up the sun, and the plants grow quickly and have been flowering this season. I grow macrorhiza, intermedia, radiata, gibba, and purpurea in this way.

Well, its not too esthetic, but the plants seem to thrive! Most freeze solid for the entire winter, others are close to freezing from Nov.-Mar. When they start to put up scapes in the early summer, I remove the plastic sheets, and use reversed "flats" to provide additional breaking of the sunlight. In nature the plants are often protected by sheathes of.....algae! This screens out the UV. Once the algae is discouraged, the plants are far more likely to sunburn. This is why a screen is needed of white plastic.

The algae comes from the rainwater. Using distilled water is no answer either, since the plants need prey. I suppose there is something sterile in the petstores that would serve, but my resources are limited, so I add some pond water, which is a guarentee that algae is also being added. I conclude that algae in with the aquatics can't be prevented, only dealt with and controlled.

I had purpurea in a transparent apothocary jar for the better part of a year. Then, when the temps became warmer and the light levels more intense, the algae appeared. In nature this occurs as the season progresses from spring to summer. Plants sprout from turions early in the season when water temps are still too cold to support algal growth, and the light levels still mild enough to allow growth without sunburning the plant. The growth at this time is very rapid. As the warmer weather arrives and the light levels are more intense, the algae begins to sheathe the plant, and the duckweed becomes associated with the whole complex, rooting in the algae. It is a very natural process which the Utricularia need to protect themselves, and also explains the difficulty in trying to control what Nature wants to be.
 
I will try aquatic some day. In a clear container...

You watch.

I will not fail... I will pass on the knowledge that I most likely will have accidentally stumbled upon by spilling toxic fluid into the container...
 
  • #10
i got some floating mass in with my u gibba,looks slightly green but floats.any ideas what it is?
 
  • #12
Plankton are microscopic.

The floating mass is a variety of algae, you often see it as large mats in warmer ponds and streams

Pyro
 
  • #13
how would i go about taking it out,maybe use a straw and suck them out each? or change the water completely?
 
  • #14
If it is still matted you can probably scoop the majority out with a fine mesh net.

To fully get rid of it you probably need a water change, daphnia and lower light.
 
  • #15
i have used distilled water and they are in no direct light,should not distilled water be algae free?.and what are water daphnia?
 
  • #16
THe algae was probably a hitch-hiker on the plant if you have been using distilled water.

Daphnia are also known as water fleas. They are little shrimp-like critters and they eat algae as well as provide food for your aquatic Utrics
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You can probably pick some up at a pet store.
 
  • #17
im gonna try to scoop up the algae off the top cause my u gibba are growing sooo fast i dont think the algae are effecting them really.il go to a petstore tomorrow and get some water daphnia
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  • #18
Anyone know a good mail-order source for Daphnia? Our local pet shop doesn't have any
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  • #19
purplesundew,
Here's a link one of the other members of the forum posted the other day (can't remember who) :  https://www3.carolina.com/onlinecatalog/
 This will take you to the main page.  I haven't purchased from them yet, so I can't tell you much about them.
  You have to register with them to buy but not to bowse.  Quickest way to find their daphnia is to do a search for daphnia when you get to the second page.
 
  • #20
Thanks
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I'll be sure to check them out. I'm also attempting to grow U. gibba from seed so I know I'll need some daphnia soon. If the darn thing ever germinates ..
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