D. prolifera is not happy :(

[Clint]

I think it's too hot for my D. prolifera in my lowland terrarium. The days are in the high 80's right now, sometimes reaching low 90's. 80-95% humidity, it's planted in LFS. Good air circulation, too. Metal halide lighting but the D. prolifera is off to the side so it gets just enough light.


The leaves are growing in smaller/shorter but they are also pointing downward and sometimes dying then. I took it out of the terrarium and put it in the windowsill under a French garden cloche. It's in shade. I put a thermometer in there so we'll see what the temp is later. It gets light morning sun (very light).

edit: hygrometer says humidity is 84% and temperature is 75. It's about 1 o'clock here. I reset the min/max readings so tomorrow we'll see what the damage from the sun is under the cloche. I don't think it'll heat it up bad. it only gets very weak sun during the early morning and for the rest of the day it's bright shade in the window.

 

[The Griffin]

I'm not sure what they are officially classified as, but I would say good intermediate and I have seen them in somebody's highland chamber.

Cheers,

Joe

 

[adnedarn]

Mine actually stopped growing so well when winter came. (even though i heated the g/h so it never got cooler than 55* or so) Now that it is warming up, They are back to active growth. One thing I do make sure of is they don't get much direct sun light. I noticed I have 2 flower stalks on this just this morning.

 

[Pyro]

I grow mine in my highland set up in straight live sphag and they do great.

 

[seedjar]

Mine seem to do best with my highland Neps, but they also do fine in lowland terrariums and open air. Over the past summer I grew all my prolifera in an open terrarium under an east-facing window, where they recieved bright flitered morning light and then indirect light for the rest of the day, and they did great. I've never had any trouble with warm conditions before, so if I had to guess, I would say your problem is likely the warmth and bright light at the same time. If you have multiple plants, try putting one somewhere that the only light it gets directly is artificial. These guys will grow with very little light, so it shouldn't be a problem if you put your pot in the shade of another plant. I've found prolifera growing almost entirely buried big clumps of sphagnum - the only vaguely bad thing that happened was that it got all spindly.
~Joe

 

[Clint]

The min/max is 75/64 so hopefully it'll do good under the cloche. It'll of course rise during the summer so I'll have to watch it. If they don't then I'll give them away.

 

[seedjar]

If it's consistently warm during the summer, you might just try putting the pot outside in the shade. If you could wedge the pot in between some dense clumps of Sarracenia or something, I think it might have a sporting chance. D. prolifera are easy enough to propagate - you should experiment with it and see if you can't find a way to make it work for you.
~Joe

 

[Clint]

I've got three of them I think I'll experiment! Thanks.

Clint

 

[adnedarn]

Here are mine as of a few weeks ago, like I said there are 2 flower stalks now... But they are definatly happier now (growing, getting big again, and flowering...) that it's a little warmer. Which is odd sine people grow theirs in highland conditions.

 

[Jefforever]

Grow them with the Heliamphoras if you have them. Yeah avoid heat.
Good Luck!

 

[Clint]

If I could avoid heat I'd be growing Heliamphora by now lol. It's a lot easier to heat than it is to to cool unfortunately for me.

Curse this Georgia weather!