What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Getting some plants to flower

jimscott

Tropical Fish Enthusiast
I keep the majority of my plants at window sills, mainly the SW ones. The tropical sundews, many of the Utrics, and two types of pings all flower. Under the same conditions, other plants just have no inclination to flower: D. adelae, all Mexican butterworts, and a few Utrics. There have been many theories posited, such as the window pane, the age of the plants, natural difficulty of species, quality of light, dormancy/ slowing down period, etc... I was wondering how significant the day/night temperature differential is for the afore-mentioned plants, since the there is less occuring inside a room than there is outside?
 
Are these windows the "Energy Efficient" type or are they regular ol' glass windows. Energy efficient windows will insulate better and have less cold air forming at the glass/air interface inside the house. What I'm getting at, it there will be less of a temp drop at night on the windowsil of energy efficient windows. There will also be less UV and infrared transmitted by many of them due to special coatings applied to them. While these light waves tend to fade furniture and carpets and add to the heat inside the house, they may also be part of the light frequency used by your plants for photosynthesis.
 
I would say that these windows are older than us and nothing special about them - typical city apartment and all. They are definitely receiving a draft, too!
 
Are they afraid of heights?
smile_n_32.gif
. The only other things that comes to mind is the humidity in the windows doesn't suit them (draft may make it too dry) or possibly the light is too intense and heats up the soils damaging the roots.
 
I'm not certain as to why your plants aren't flowering, but I've also found that my D.adelae and pings don't flower as reliably as the tropical dews. Perhaps all of the factors you named have some effect on the plants in question; that is, less than ideal conditions may enable the plant to survive but not with the vigor needed for energy-expensive activities such as flowering. As you're probably already aware, some plants will flower vigorously under almost any condition, but many species won't unless they're feeling REALLY good.
 
Except for D. adelae, the tropical sundews turn red and flower. The plants don't dry out. All the easy plants flower. Even a G. violacea is sending up a stalk. I wasn't too concerned about lack of humidity because of them all being kept in pots that were in one way or another, sitting in containers, perpetually with water, provideing "local humidity". Now root damage from high temps is a possibilty. I never measured the media with the temperature gun, but the area around the plants, and the glass, when taken in the afternoon, has been 88-95 degrees. So they did get a bit of greenhosue effect, possible doing some damage. But the Mexican pings weren't on those sills until September.
 
Back
Top