D. gigantea

[sgardner]

I have about 50-60 baby D. gigantea seedlings, and for some reason they keep lifting themselves out of the pots, is this normal? when i see a clump with exposed roots i pack more soil around them to cover the roots. I have had about 10 clumps do it so far and i see a few more starting to do it now. I am wondering if i am doing something wrong.
I also have D. menzisi, macrophylla, stolonifera, and a few others that are growing well.

 

[CPlantaholic]

That's kind of odd. What is the medium you use? Is it packed down too tightly? If so, the roots may not be able to penetrate the surface. <EDIT> Look down to pyro's answer, as he knows what he's talking about -unlike me

 

[upper]

yeah, i think you packed the soil too tight... gotta allow some space for roots to go down.

 

[glider14]

i disagree with the packing to tightly thing. if gigantea cant get in and the others can.... its not the soil. though i cant say what the problem is...

Alex

 

[Pyro]

The problem is that you are not familiar with one of the odd traits of D. gigantea

D. gigantea and a few others will occasionally, if certain conditions are met, put out what are known as "dropper" roots. These dropper roots will usually penetrate the media and form secondary tubers. In some rarer cases they will just form tubers on the surface.

There is no need to keep packing media around them. Just let them do their thing

 

[sgardner]

I thought they would only put out "droppers" when they were in mature form? My Big D. giganteas have never Put out droppers. The plants that are doing this are only two years old and when they lift up out of the soil they usually have a small amount of soil attached to them where the soil line was. The roots and tubers are visible and pink in color. I should have taken a Picture of them. if it happens again i will get a pic and show you. The soil they are planted in is equal parts of sand, peat, and vermiculite.