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!

hey all! It's been quite a long time since I have posted anything and quite a lot has happened. I lost most of my already small collection of CPs over the year due to negligence on my part (things just dry up so quickly in hot/dry weather, and my cat likes to drink all the water out of my reservoir trays). That being said I have added a couple plants to my collection and have finally set up a fairly basic terrarium for stuff that can't make it outside.
Currently the terrarium only houses a (an?) Utricularia alpina x endressii (I'm kind of a species snob so a part of me really wishes it weren't an artificial hybrid). Probably not the best plant to use as a guinea pig, but it has proven rather resilient.
without any further ado, here's my rather rudimentary set up.
image
It's only 10 gallons, but I do plan to eventually purchase a larger, definitely taller container. I use a pretty overpowered LED grow light that I set up (Im only running it at 50% power at the moment) but that should allow me to grow into a larger terrarium without having to set up a new light. At first I was running it at 65% and it pretty much killed most of the sphagnum moss at the surface of the net pot, leaves seemed to grow fine and even developed red-purple veins, but eventually they turned yellow (only one has died though). Since turning the light down to 50% the sphagnum on top has slowly started to come back, some of the leaves still developed the red-purple veins but nothing has turned yellow thus far.
Unfortunately, I suspect the temperature is a bit higher than what is ideal during the day. I lost my digital thermometer/hygrometer so I have no way of determining the exact temperature at the moment, but I would estimate it at reaching about 80 F during the day. However, I think the temps drop down to around 65 F at night.
Im currently looking into providing better airflow, but I'm not sure how to achieve that without reducing humidity in such a small setup. Right now I just keep the lid cracked around 2 inches and leave my room fan on. This seems to be working to prevent stagnation as the terrarium hasn't developed a foul smell or anything (it actually just smells like sphagnum).
Anyways, that's my little set up at the moment. If there is anything you would like to know about the set up be sure to ask. Advice would also be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading!
 
Last edited:
Just a picture from when I first set up the terrarium in late august last year. I slowly acclimated the plant to higher light conditions, and everything went well (sphagnum and leaves were growing nicely) until I reached 65% power on my growlight. as previously mentioned, the sphagnum has started to regrow and the plant appears to be healthier since reducing light levels. Overall the plant is producing shorter and thicker leaves than what were present when it was received.

 
Last edited:
Neat, man! For some reason, I never even considered the fact that there were Utricularia hybrids out there. That fact has just opened up a world of possibilities for me, lol.

If you want a few random 'dews or utricularia to get you back on your feet and fill out the terrarium a bit, hit me up. I'm sure we can work something out. I've got a lot of seeds and strikes going atm.
 
yeah, it's pretty interesting, I'm not sure how closely related species of Utricularia must be in order to cross successfully though. As far as hybridization goes, I've always been more interested in making my own crosses rather than growing a clone of someone else's cross; I generally try and stick to growing species and natural hybrids though.

I found my digital thermometer today and so far the temperature in the terrarium seems to hover around 74° F during the day (but reached 78° at one point); the night temperature reading, actually measured in the morning, was 68°. Humidity is being read as ~80% as well. Seeing as it is 84° F outside today temps shouldn't get much higher than this in the terrarium throughout the year. On a side note, I don't know what I'm going to do with my Sarracenia if it comes out of dormancy and temps drop back down :crap:.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top