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My Gymnamphora and Talangensis: Shrinkage

Despite reading warnings that Talangensis can be a difficult plant to grow successfully, I went ahead and bought one some months back. Well, despite good wintertime temperatures and good light and humidity, my Talangensis continues on its shrinking path of self-destruction. I don't know if I should trade/give it away or let it continue to shrink just to spite it :). My Gymnamphora is showing a similar pattern, but as I told Clint, I think it is because of all the basals being produced. I think I should just cut off the main stem of the Gymnamphora (root it), and let the basals grow out separately. What do you guys think? I'm not sure what to do about the Talangensis either... can anyone offer some advice on encouraging good growth? Is it pretty much doomed? What are ideal conditions for Talangensis? Any and all input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Talangensis:
Talangensis.jpg


Gymnamphora: (It originally came with a pitcher about three times the size of the largest one in the picture, but it was crushed during shipping. At that time there was only a tiny basal sprouting up. Shortly after about 3 nodes became activated, and about 4 or 5 basals sprouted up. The node growth has since died, but the basals seem to be doing OK... Would cutting the larger part of the plant kill some of the basals via decreased photosynthesis and nutrients?)
GymnamphoraPreCut.jpg
 
I've got to disagree man. This plant is known for making copious basals. It's like N. ampullaria. Furthermore, my plant put on all of the growth you see before it made any basals. The basals it has are very small and underdeveloped.
 
I think you ought to keep both.
 
I've got to disagree man. This plant is known for making copious basals. It's like N. ampullaria. Furthermore, my plant put on all of the growth you see before it made any basals. The basals it has are very small and underdeveloped.

Really? Perhaps it is just a TC runt then or something, because the leaves and pitchers it came with were all larger than the ones it is putting out now. Also, the pitchers on the main stem all have burnt off or mutated lids on the pitchers. The basals look fine, though immature. I think I will still end up cutting off the main stem though, because even if it doesn't help the shrinkage problem, it would still improve the look of the plant. IMO anyway. I wonder what is causing the deformed pitcher lids though?

I think I will end up keeping both of them, but I really would like to provide the right conditions for my Talangensis. It doesn't seem to be improving and has failed to pitcher.
 
I think mine is mainly due to dumb luck but FWIW...

60-70f, but no change in temp from day/night (sits on the shelf with everything else)
60-ish% RH
monthly trichoderma

fish pellets and occasional watering with a weak orchid mix

2008talangensis.jpg


Cheers'
Av

( I'm hoping my new aristo likes my enviroment as well, dang you Varun ;) )
 
lol! You know you like it. Don't blame me. :p lol! * hides before Av can try to lure me into Heli cultivation* ;)
 
I can't wait to get one of those plants. I love the red in them. So vibrant
 
The main cause of lack of lid or deformed lid is too low humidity.
The lower leaves on the main stem of the gymnamphora look like they have/had a fungus. If I were you I'd definitely do some separation of the plants. I don't let my plants get more than one basal really, but thats just personal preference.
 
I grow my talangensis in 70-80% humidity with 70-80F day temps and 50-60F night temps in soil mix of LFS, perlite, and orchid bark in a 2:1:1 ratio, I keep it 6" away from 2 T12 shoplights. It has done great for me in my conditions and doubled in size since I got it last september.
 
  • #10
Nice Talang Av8tor :)

Yea I noticed the deformed pitcher lids on my Neps grown on windowsills, but the Gymnamphora is kept in at least 70% humidity constantly. At night it goes way up. I think you are right about the fungus, I'm overdue for a good spraying, and I think I am gonna repot a few plants while I'm at it. Do you think I should try to separate the basals too? or just grow them out with the main stem cut off? I could always cut up the basals and root them separately I guess... I suppose if they grow out they're gonna be way overcrowded and the plant will inevitably create more basals anyway...

Edit: Thx for the conditions Av8tor and Maxposwillo. I'm gonna repot the Talangensis and hope it improves in a couple months. My conditions are quite similar to Maxposwillo's (day/night temp flux and high humidity), so I am thinking the Talangensis either had a hard time adapting to my conditions originally, or the media is all wrong.
 
  • #11
I also have a stubborn talangensis that refuses to grow well, but I'm thinking about repotting it (anyone have any suggestions on soil mix?) and seeing how it fares outside.
 
  • #12
well....My talang hasn't pitchered yet...but atleast its growing slowly. I use LFS + bark. Thats all my mix has. All my neps grow in this mix. (except my ramispina and bical).

What does your mix contain? see if its root congestion. Try making the mix lighter. I think I see some peat in there. I would take that off the mix.

You know its interesting to see that symptoms of leaves getting small. I know it must be frustrating for the grower..but I really want to know why this is happening. I know this happened to a friend's mikei. Apparently it wasn't enough of a night drop combined wiht low humidity that was the culprit.
 
  • #13
I'd separate and root the basals separately, and not touch the main vine, but that's just how I roll.
 
  • #14
I used the same cypress based mix that I use for my helis, mostly high grade shredded cypress bark with a little LFS and just a touch of schultz orchid mix.... my plants seem to love it,

Av
 
  • #15
I know this happened to a friend's mikei. Apparently it wasn't enough of a night drop combined wiht low humidity that was the culprit.

For what it's worth, my N. mikei was never bothered by warm nights (70) during the summer, but I did have high humidity. It grew fine, but never increased in diameter until winter came. Of course it could have taken that long to settle in, and it was a coincidence that that is when it picked up. The cooler temps didn't hurt, at any rate. I think Ron had the same problem, no?
 
  • #16
Yeah I did have the same exact problem. Now mine gets 65 days and probably really low 50s at night. Humidity is lower now though. Either way, I just got a new humidifier, so I might move it to 80 days and 65 nights, with way higher humidity, since now its only about 30% I think. I keep trying to trade it away, but no one wants it apparently, which is unfortunate since I'm about to kill it I think.

Looking at the title of this topic though, is anyone else thinking of that one Seinfeld episode?
THINGS HAPPEN IN THE WATER!
 
  • #17
Yeah I did have the same exact problem. Now mine gets 65 days and probably really low 50s at night. Humidity is lower now though. Either way, I just got a new humidifier, so I might move it to 80 days and 65 nights, with way higher humidity, since now its only about 30% I think. I keep trying to trade it away, but no one wants it apparently, which is unfortunate since I'm about to kill it I think.

Looking at the title of this topic though, is anyone else thinking of that one Seinfeld episode?
THINGS HAPPEN IN THE WATER!

LMAO! The first time I was this thread... I had this sentence in my head:

"You don't understand! There was shrinkage" :p

LMAO! I love that show. Must have seen all episodes like 10 times. :p

BTW PK....how come u are suddenly quoting supreme highland temp heaven?? I thought you are a lowlander. ;)

BTW JLP....that mikei of my friend's grew fantastically for like many months or so...and then it started a slow decline. That is the typical thing with highlanders...some may seem that they grow great in lowland conditions for a while....but later it eventually needs its own conditions.
 
  • #18
My mikei never did good in my lowland conditions. It started to decline almost immediately.

The reason the temps are like that, is because Lubbock is in the desert and its COLD in the winter. We had a couple weeks where the high was in the upper 30s or mid 40s. I put the mikei by the window, and only heat my house to 65 in the day. At night, when the mikei is right next to a 6' x 6' piece of glass (sliding glass doors) that is pretty much 40s from being in contact w/ the 20° outside and 65° inside, it gets even more of a drop.

The lowlanders have to tough it out at 65 at night for now. I'll be getting a heater whenever I get that friggin chamber completed. I think it'll probably be Sunday...maybe Monday, so keep your eyes peeled.
 
  • #19
makes sense. However, at those temps for the winter, your mikei should be doing very well? Maybe its the adjustment phase which normally is more than 4 months by which season would have already changed. :(
 
  • #20
I just finished repotting my Gymnamphora, Talangensis, and one of my Hamatas. I'm pretty sure all the peat in my Talangensis mix was causing the problems, and there were signs of white mold/fungus? in the media. Even though the mix seemed dry to me, it was saturated beneath the surface and quite possibly also causing root congestion as Varun suggested. I used only LFS, Perlite, and Orchid Bark this time. I didn't spray anything, but I blasted the roots clean and used all fresh media so this should hopefully eliminate the mold problem. My Hamata was giving me problems too but I believe this to be because of the tiny dilapidated root structure it was shipped with. I also had peat in the potting mix, so I added some rooting hormone and used the same mix as with the Talangensis. As for the Gymnamphora, I separated all the basals, and potted them separately using only LFS, and repotted the main vine (as suggested by PK). Hopefully this should improve the growth of the plant because I took 6 different basals off. This plant also had too high of a peat mix (I got outta hand with coco peat lol), and it definitely had fungus issues because of it. Tiny white balls of nastiness. I'm pretty sure I am gonna end up repotting a bunch of other plants even though they are doing fine with the higher peat based mix. I don't have any problems with the plants that use a lot of Perlite and Orchid Bark, although I do have to water them more. I need more media, but I hate using dead LFS. Anyone know of a good place that has Live LFS? Or very high quality dried LFS? I have plenty of Bark and Perlite but I need some water retention.

On another note, I totally was reminded of Seinfeld too after I wrote the title of this post lol. "Do women know about shrinkage?"

Anywho heres a couple pics of the basals I separated and planted. Once they're all rooted up I'll probably be giving away most of them for shipping if anyone is interested. I had to put 3 in one pot because I ran out of mini pots. I'll update this post in a couple months once they've grown out some.

GymnamphoraBasalsSeparated.jpg


GymnamphoraBasalsPlanted.jpg
 
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