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What is growing with my cephalotus?

From the flower stalks probably Utricularia bisquamata or U. subulata. I'd clip the flowers before the seeds ripen or else you'll have it everywhere.
 
Thanks. I'll definitely get rid of it.
 
U. bisquamata is the Kudzu of CPs; get rid of it before it sets seed!
 
I would not cut the stalks but pull them out, it will be an uphill battle getting ride of that one so try and get as much out with each stalk as you can without hurting the Ceph.
 
...or you can put the Cephalotus in a new pot. I haven't found them to be root-sensitive, like some CP's. Whether it's U. subulata or U. bisquamata, they are like dandelions - pretty, yellow flowers, but too successful for their own good.
 
Decided repotting it seems to be the best method. Seems to be the only thing that's truly going to guarantee it's gone. Not worth having anywhere near my ceph.
 
krista said:
Decided repotting it seems to be the best method. Seems to be the only thing that's truly going to guarantee it's gone. Not worth having anywhere near my ceph.
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Depending on how well you're able to remove every speck of media from around the Ceph roots, even a full repot is unlikely to eradicate the bad guys. If the repotting doesn't work, do some leaf propagation (wash the leaves & propagate in a different tank). It's the only thing I've found that has >90% success. Good luck
 
why so much hate for the weedy utrics? they're not nearly as harmful to the ceph as that moss you got growing in there. i would be picking that moss out with tweezers at the first hint of their growth and ignore the utric.
 
  • #10
The Ceph looks like it's being kept a little too wet--the media in the center looks really peaty.
 
  • #11
pebes said:
why so much hate for the weedy utrics?
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Well - because they are so weedy! They are invasive like nothing else, and once they've flowered a few times, you get to look at an ocean of ugly, spent flower stalks cluttering up the growing surface. If I had known they would invade my entire Sarracenia collection within 3 years and threaten to outgrow all of my Drosera, I would have been aggressive in removing them when they arrived as "bonus" material in Sarracenia pots purchased from a couple of different sources. Strictly speaking, I don't hate them, but I certainly regard them as unwanted, invasive weeds, and I would prefer not to have them. Getting rid of them now is virtually impossible, and I resent having arrived at that state.
 
  • #12
pebes said:
why so much hate for the weedy utrics?
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I've stopped trades before when I found out there was an unwanted super weedy Utric growing in the pot with the plant I wanted and I actually grow some of the weedy ones, but they are contained in there very own jail cell and not allowed to play with others. The last thing you want to find out is that you have a weedy Utric growing with your nice Utric, they are next to impossible to separate and you have to start a sterile culture from a runner. I received some U. gibba with an aquatic plant and did not catch it before I planted a few bunch plants into a 150g tank...guess what...same thing with duck weed.

A lot of the growers of the terrestrial Utrics do not know enough to tell the differences between the weedy ones and many species are being traded/sold but are actually just an invasive one that took over the original pot. I've had to break the bad news to move than a few over the years. There are a few threads here about mis-ided Utric's that were traded around and later found to be an invasion similar version when they finally flowered or found there way into the more informed growers hands. I still have a few Utrics I received under difference names that are clearly not that plant and I'm waiting on a flower to get an ID, if I ever get one.

I feel the same way about weedy :censor: mosses!
 
  • #13
theplantman said:
The Ceph looks like it's being kept a little too wet--the media in the center looks really peaty.
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That's how the ceph came... I wasn't too thrilled with it, really. I recently had a problem with powder mold, which I think was probably caused by leaving too much of the peaty mix in the center.
 
  • #14
Apologies for hijacking the thread but I wanted to chime in on weedy utrics. I've been trying to grow the weedy utrics (bisquamata and subulata) and they've been the opposite so far. I had subulata growing with longifolia for three months and it didn't spread much. It never sent up any flower stalks at all. I transplanted the longifolia while leaving the subulata in the pot and so far I see one plant left which I'm not sure is alive. I've ordered subulata seeds and they haven't germinated for me. I then ordered a small portion of subulata, potted it in peat moss, and it's dying from the looks of it.
I received bisquamata growing with a pot of sandersonii I purchased. It has sent up three flower stalks and while there is a lot, I don't think it's spreading. I crumbled up a seed pod hoping it would germinate in my Sarracenia pot but nothing happened. There is still a bunch of soil in the pot which no utric has spread to. I don't know if it's my growing conditions because my other plants are doing fine, but these weedy utrics just don't seem to want to spread for me.
I have a little experience in planted freshwater tanks, and most people in the hobby treat U. gibba as a pest and a weed. I grow it and it's grown a lot for me. On carnivorous plant forums, though, I don't really see people treating it like subulata. It seems like there are more posts about how to take care of it. It's interesting how there is this dichotomy between the terrestrial and aquatic "weedy" utrics.
Just wanted to add my two cents to the discussion.
 
  • #15
krista said:
That's how the ceph came... I wasn't too thrilled with it, really. I recently had a problem with powder mold, which I think was probably caused by leaving too much of the peaty mix in the center.
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i would treat the mold with a sulfur based spray, but the best thing is provide some constant airflow. that will quickly lessen the problem.
 
  • #16
RL7836 said:
do some leaf propagation (wash the leaves & propagate in a different tank). It's the only thing I've found that has >90% success. Good luck
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Tomorrow I will take a picture and post what that looks like.
 
  • #17
It's not entirely impossible to get rid of U. bisquamata. U. bisquamata apparently needs lots of light. I had a pot of Drosera aliciae that was infested with U. bisquamata. Eventually the D. aliciae clumped and grew large enough to cover the entire pot. When I repotted there there was no trace of the Utricularia. Nor did any start growing in the old and new pots from the divisions.

I have a pot of U. sandersonii that is infected with U. bisquamata. The U. bisquamata was taking over but I moved the pot a few feet away from the window and the U. sandersoii is recovering. U. sandersonii had larger, broader "leaves" (photosynthetic stolons actually) with three "bumps" on the edge of the "leaves".
 
  • #18
pebes said:
why so much hate for the weedy utrics? they're not nearly as harmful to the ceph as that moss you got growing in there. i would be picking that moss out with tweezers at the first hint of their growth and ignore the utric.
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+1
 
  • #19
+2... i agree with Pebes regarding the moss
 
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