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Utricularia inflata

*Barracuda_45*

Norhtern Michigan Dragway Mama
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Ok everyone just wondering how do i properly set up and care for this plant? I got a pretty decent size chunk of it along in with a order of CP plants there was a small caresheet with it but didnt say a whole lot on it, also how do i go about feeding it? I have it set up in a big round vase jar right now in distilled water with no overhead lighting. Im also wondering can i use swamp pond water with this plant as i have a ton of swamps/ponds around me, would this water have anything in it that can help feed this plant?? Should i use any type of wood put in the water to help it attach itself to it or leave it free floating? I have lots rotted old waterloged wood. Thanks tons for any info/advise.
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Bump... I will snap a pic of this plant today.
 
I've found that U. inflata grows best when it has some substrate at the bottom of the water column to attach to. I use sand and LFS. Also, I grow mine in very shallow water, 1" deep and less. I let the water table fluctuate and occasionally wet the plants with a spray bottle if they're dry. They live under a bank of four four-foot, 40-Watt fluorescents (reduced light may help, as I have problems with algae sometimes.) I don't bother feeding mine, but if you wanted to feed them, you'd need to get some free-swimming larvae. You might be able to find little worms for feeding baby fish at an aquarium shop, or, if you can find a pond with appropriately pure water, you could introduce a little pond water every once in a while and your plants would eat the microorganisms growing in the water. Bringing in water from the wild does come with the risk of introducing a pest or disease into your collection. If you have a pool of standing water in your house (IE where you're growing your U. inflata) insects like mosquitos will naturally come to breed there. Your Utric will get fed whether you bother or not.
~Joe
 
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Thank you seedjar, i will try and get it set up just like you discribed. Also i dont have any aquarium shops anywhere near me in order to get any kind of food for it, i will however try a tiny amount of swamp/pond water added to the distilled water when i get it set up properly and i will also watch for algae and make sure not to use strong light on it. I have some live spag commin in here in about 2 days and i can add that and some sand on the bottom of the container i will use for this plant.

By the way i noticed after i put it in the vase its in now from shipping it lost some of its bladders is that ok? Is that just from being shiped? It has lots bladders still on it, i tried to get pics of them but the didnt show up very well with my crappy cam.. Heres the pics i took sorry there not very good.
bladderwortUinflata.jpg

you can kinda make out the bladders in this one
bladderwortUinflata2.jpg

and a darker shot.
bladderwortUinflata3.jpg


Does it look ok??
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Looks healthy to me. It should recover fairly quickly. One hint, you might want to use an opague container to grow it in or else you will have problems with algae.
dewy
 
Thanks tons dewy, i only have it in this vase right now as i didnt have anything else to put it in, i will see what kinda container i can find for it while in town tomarrow.. Plus i only sat it on that shelf for a sec while taking the pics other than that it sits on top one of my snakes cages.
 
Ok well i noticed today that almost all the bladders had fallen off the plant, i was very bummed but was thinking it was due to shiping and all. So i quickly drove the truck out to my fav swamp/pond in the woods and got out to get some fresh swamp/pond water, well that was a fun experiance in the snow, got to the edge to lean over and get some water from a open spot that wasnt froze yet and fell/sliped in, WOW was that water cold, got my container full of water and JR had to help me get back outa the swamp/pond, boy oh boy what a CP mommy wont do for her plants.. LOL!! Anyways got back home cleaned out the vase the plant is in put some sand on the bottom with a old shell from my fish tank to hold down some spag moss and then added half vase of distilled water to half fresh swamp/pond water and placed the plant back in it. I hope this helps for the time being till i get a better setup for it..
 
I would get it out of pond water for right now. Wait until the plant has established itself before adding outdoor contaminates. The water from outdoors has all sorts of bugs and algae that would just love to be in a nice, warm house this time of year with lots of nutritious, bright artificial light and some Utric to snack on. It's very possible that your plant will be consumed by these critters if it's damaged and not able to trap prey. Also, you should probably not use that shell if it's been in a fishtank, at least not without thoroughly soaking and washing it with CP-safe water for at least 24 hours (to remove salts and other minerals.) Is your vase translucent? An opaque (preferably black) container will help discourage algae growth. Also, until the plant is in good health, remove most of the sphagnum or allow it to dry out intermittently - constantly submerged sphagnum quickly rots and becomes great algae fertilzer. Until your plant is healthy enough to compete with algae, you should be careful to inspect it and change the water regularly.
I used to have four nice jars with two varieties each of U. gibba and inflata, but I stopped paying attention to them and lost one of the inflata - the remaining three are very small now and just hanging on. I have a bunch left in my terrarium, but it's all mixed together so I don't know what any of it is. Before I messed up and neglected them, I would take them out of the water, place them on a clean plate, and spray them down with RO water to wash off algae, about once a week. It would knock off some bladders but the strands grew very vigorously in response. When I stopped washing them (and I had them in too much light) the algae took hold and strangled my growing tips.
Feeding your plant isn't necessary, and probably won't even work until it's grown new traps. If you're going to use pond water, boil it to kill off any algae. Once your plant is established and growing healthily, you can give it sphagnum and pond water, which will produce plenty of little wriggly things for the Utric to eat. While it's recovering, I'd advise to play it safe.
~Joe
 
Ok update on my baldderwort, well i had left it in the pond water for 2 weeks and it seemd to be doing great then i needed to move it and desided to put it in my pond fish tank, since i have them in a tank in the house for winter and they dont need any heat nor any type chemicals in there water, i figured this would work for now plus the water is circulated as well as filterd, now the tank water was aged so it was not like putting it into staright water from the tap, i used a breeder fish net enclosure and it has been in there for several wks. It does get light from the flourescent tank light and its also use to me doing partial water changes, i have noticed there is noooooooooooooooooooo algea growth on it, nice bright pretty green color and the baldders are HUGE and theres TONS of them, the plant has trippled in size. I must be doing something right with it and the fish cant harm it in anyway. So it has found its comfy home and will stay there till spring when the pond fish go back out to the pond im gona set up a smaller tank and use the filter and air circulation just like i am now to keep this awsome plant thriving in the house..
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As soon as i can fix my stinkin cam i will get some pics of it..
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