Repotting Byblis cuttings or plants

[Cindy]

Hi everyone,

Here is my experience with repotting Byblis species. The key is to keep the ENTIRE root ball intact to minimise stress to the plants.

Ideally, pots that are 4" and larger are more suitable for B. guehoi as it seems to encourage branching. Cheers!

Cuttings
For the ones in the plastic cups, look out for roots on the sides of the cup. There is no need to repot immediately once roots appear but it will be a suitable time if you prefer a nice-looking pot.

For those that are in the thumb pots, look out for roots coming out of bottom.

Adult plants
Although I have done it successfully several times, please bear in mind that most literature discourages growers from transplanting adult Byblis plants. -_-

What I did was just to tip the whole pot over and later place the entire root ball into a larger pot. LFS is very suitable as a media since it remains intact when repotting.

B. "Goliath" from 5" pot to 7" pot.

B. guehoi roots going around the base of the pot.

 

[jimscott]

True story:

Back in 2004 a hobbyist had a bunch of B. liniflora seedlings to ship out to various others. She had them sent on plastic beverage cups, taped together. They were SO well taped together that I had a challenging time removing the tape. When I finally got things unwrapped, the plant jerked from the pot and landed on the floor. I applied the "2 second rule" and quickly got the plant in wet media. It died anyway. Moral of the story, they REALLY don't like root disturbance!

 

[Cindy]

Hmmm...I have been thinking that there are four possible reasons. One, the shock of being transplanted. Second, the media. Third, the relative humidity. And four, the amount of water.

For cuttings in perlite, I often break the roots during the transfer to their permanent pots. The cuttings are usually in the same box and by the time I transplant them, the roots are tangled. I haven't lost any of them though.

The plants seem to dislike the change of media. LFS to peat or vice versa. In my conditions, LFS is greatly preferred.

There is something in the air here that helps. Perhaps the constantly high humidity because during the transfer, I do leave the roots exposed to air for sometimes more than 2 minutes while I get the media in the pot ready.

I keep the media barely moist in-between watering. The only species I keep constantly wet is B. aquatica and even then, the water level vary on a daily basis.