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gill_za

Never Knows Best
Alrighty, this was asked wayyy before a few times so maybe there is a better way today.
Here we go:

I recently received 11 plugs of various (mostly terrestrial) utrics. Very happy about it :hail: ! The sender warned me that surface of most plugs is overgrown with carpet moss but that I should have enough to start fresh moss-less cultures. The utrics I have now:

- U. livida
- U. graminifolia
- U. nephrophylla (very vigorous clone)
- U. bisquamata 'Betty's Bay' (confirmed by flower - from BCP)
- U. pubescens - Serra Caraca, Minas Gerais, Brazil (from BCP)
- U. blanchetii - white flower, Chapada do Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil
- U. tricolor
- U. welwitschii (from BCP)

There is also
- U. humboldtii
- U. nelumbifolia
- U. reniformis
but these are planted in LFS


Since my experience with Utricularia is limited to a little plug of sandersonii I received moss-free a while ago, I am not sure how to start the new colonies of utrics, especially moss-free.

I have read here that Utrics can be propagated by root cuttings or by pulling a leaf with a bit of a root and placing onto a fresh substrate.

So could I start the fresh moss-less colonies by:


1) ...dividing the plug in half (top portion with moss overgrown leaves and bottom portion with roots) and plant the portion with roots only thus preventing the moss from ever getting into the pot?

2) Or is it better to try and pull several leaves with portions of roots, maybe submerge them in water to try to wash off the spores and plant them into the fresh substrate?

Any help is appreciated! Thank you all in advance.
 
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don't need to take any substrate with the pullings. just keep moist in LFS they will develop into a clone of the plant you are working with. In pots with several invading species, use a flower stalk pulling. So far this works for all the smaller utricular species that I have tried
 
don't need to take any substrate with the pullings. just keep moist in LFS they will develop into a clone of the plant you are working with. In pots with several invading species, use a flower stalk pulling. So far this works for all the smaller utricular species that I have tried

Keep moist what in LFS? The plug (with carpet moss on top), the roots, or the leaves pulled out?

Flower stalk is an option i did not know about. Is is as good as pulling the leave out of the plug?
But this will not apply to tricolor that blooms when (as Ron put it) stars and planets align.
 
place pullings on moist LFS. leaves flower stalks work well. i like flower stalks because you know for certain you got the plant you wanted....
 
place pullings on moist LFS. leaves flower stalks work well. i like flower stalks because you know for certain you got the plant you wanted....

Got it Thank you!

I guess nutrients poor dead sphagnum will also prevent carpet moss from sprouting...
 
LFS is not not always nutrient devoid, sometimes dead LFS will support the growth of other mosses, slimes, molds, etc. I gotta move my Nepenthes seedlings from their slime covered pure dead LFS pots into something new and clean.

For the little terrestrial utrics what I've been thinking of doing to try and grow out cultures with no pest mosses is trying them in pure APS (aquatic plant soil / turface) as it's small grains of inert mineral and doesn't grow moss, but may grow algae if kept wet and in bright light, I haven't tried it yet.
 
LFS is not not always nutrient devoid, sometimes dead LFS will support the growth of other mosses, slimes, molds, etc. I gotta move my Nepenthes seedlings from their slime covered pure dead LFS pots into something new and clean.

For the little terrestrial utrics what I've been thinking of doing to try and grow out cultures with no pest mosses is trying them in pure APS (aquatic plant soil / turface) as it's small grains of inert mineral and doesn't grow moss, but may grow algae if kept wet and in bright light, I haven't tried it yet.

Currently I'm washing a batch of Better-Gro Orchid Moss, which is a sphagnum moss. It seems to be of a better quality than similarly sold Canadian LFS. I've previously used it to germinate seeds and it worked good. No slime, no mold. I also used it to move cyanobacteria infested chunks of peat with seedlings onto. It stopped the spread of green and killed the slime. Since I already have it I will use it to try to propagate leave/stalks pullings moss-free as kulamauiman suggested. If that will not work next bet on APS :)

Thank you for the idea!!!
 
For the little terrestrial utrics what I've been thinking of doing to try and grow out cultures with no pest mosses is trying them in pure APS (aquatic plant soil / turface) as it's small grains of inert mineral and doesn't grow moss, but may grow algae if kept wet and in bright light, I haven't tried it yet.

I'm trying the same thing as well, coincidentally. I actually have Turface that is 1/8"+ in size since I sifted out everything smaller than 1/8" for my non-CP potting mix. I just had it laying around so thought I'd try it with some extra utrics.
 
For the little terrestrial utrics what I've been thinking of doing to try and grow out cultures with no pest mosses is trying them in pure APS (aquatic plant soil / turface) as it's small grains of inert mineral and doesn't grow moss, but may grow algae if kept wet and in bright light, I haven't tried it yet.

Many of my Mexican Pinguicula are in pure APS and have a nice layer of moss growing on them. It usually dies during the winter when basically I stop watering them. That's probably not an option unless your Utricularia forms turions and you can dry them out. But the bottom line is moss will grow on APS.
 
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