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Does utricularia propagate faster with any hormones ?
- Thread starter Salgadoxx8
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- grow utricularia
To respond to your question: I don't know
But why bother? With a decent methodology, even a 'difficult species propagates like a weed...
But why bother? With a decent methodology, even a 'difficult species propagates like a weed...
Yup - a live sphagnum slurry with roots laid around in it. The light wasn't even that bright ~14" below T-5's. When they develop leaves ~1/4" or larger - move to a pot of all live LFS. This simple method works great for all the large Orchidioides (not including Iperua species).
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What do you use for the Iperua species? I heard from Cthulhu138 that live sphagnum is the ideal growing medium for all Orchioides but my main problem is that I don't have any live sphagnum. I've seen the pictures of your tank with the humboldtii growing in live sphagnum at the bottom of the tank, but do you normally use a different growing medium for it?
Great! That's essentially what I've done for my 'Jitka.'
Tanukimo, if you can get a plant in live sphagnum, the sphagnum should grow faster than the plant so you ought to be able to propagate it fairly quickly, at least, I have. Of course, I'm still looking for a source for more, since I do have a lot of plants. You might be able to use dead long fiber as a substitute, as it shouldn't be too too different.
Tanukimo, if you can get a plant in live sphagnum, the sphagnum should grow faster than the plant so you ought to be able to propagate it fairly quickly, at least, I have. Of course, I'm still looking for a source for more, since I do have a lot of plants. You might be able to use dead long fiber as a substitute, as it shouldn't be too too different.
I differentiated between Orchidioides & Iperua because they act differently for me (play by different rules). While I'm quite happy with my approach to growing the big Orchidioides - that's not really true with Iperua. Each Iperua species seems to have different preferences & I'm not satisfied that I've yet found optimal growing conditions for each - or the conditions I've found aren't reproducible (or convenient)**. As you mentioned, the best approach I've found for U. humboldtii is to set it free in the bottom of a larger tank & let it grow in the live LFS & sludge found down there. This isn't ideal or convenient. U. reniformis is one of the few large utrics to prefer peat-based mixes in my testing. U. geminiloba has yet to flower in my care - etc, etc, etc
That hasn't been my experience - for me, they have been quite different & I have not been able to grow many species as well with dead/dried LFS. However, understand that different approaches work for different people. I copied Barry's basket method for U. jamesoniana several times & killed the plant each time. Some people can grow U. quelchii sitting in water --- I can't (at least not consistently).
I believe that U. reniformis grows like a weed & flowers all summer for Bob Z. I seem to recall Jeremiah sharing a pic of U. nelumbifolia with more flowers in one pot than I'd ever seen before. I got the impression that U. geminiloba flowered regularly for Tony P. Each of these people (& any others with similar levels of success & growing time) would probably have better info on these species than I do.
** although some of my newer approaches are showing significant potential w/ U. humboldtii.
Hmm....I should cover my approaches more. Well, for my part, U. calyc. will grow in just about anything in my high humidity Nep tank. I received it in live sphagnum in a net pot, where the main body of the plant is doing well. It jumped into my N. kong pot from an aerial "runner" and is now flowering in that mix - sphagnum peat, sand, and a little cyprus mulch - and attempted to join another Nep pot filled with a mix of Seramis, lava gravel, and leca clay. I caught that one before it got established, so I'm not sure it would succeed long-term. I should try it.
My 'Jitka' I received also in live sphagnum in a net pot. It hated its new conditions, next to the U. caly. (And got algae in the sphagnum...which is never good). As a kind of last ditch effort, I filled up one of those death cubes with lfs, added water till it was fairly full, extracted as much of the plant as I could, along with a few, un-algaed sphagnum strands, and added those all to the death cube, which I moved on a shelf near my tropicals. In a week I saw a new leaf, which was a great improvement since it only had two. Now, at last count, it has around five new leaves, which is a significant improvement. So, I'm inclined to agree with you that it depends on the conditions.
My reniformis 'Enfant Terrible' looked to be growing in a peat-based substrate before it came to me. I haven't checked in too much on it, as it's kind of in the back of the terrarium, and I can't say I remember what mixture I potted it in. My unlabeled reniformis came to me as a small piece without any leaves. It now has one, and is in the same conditions as the 'Jitka.'
I haven't had the pleasure of growing any others, yet.
