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Healthy root system?

Jcal

Decumbent Fanatic
Can anyone tell me if the pictures below shows a healthy root system? Also if not any suggestions to correct the problem would be great. The reniformis seems to be growing great. Nelumbifolia....not so much. Both are growing in orchid pots with a equal mix of peat,sand,bark,lfs using the tray system. I keep these two very wet.

utricularia nelumbifolia
0899fe598269d2958d43886b3bddef17.jpg


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utricularia reniformis
(I'm assuming this one just needs a bigger pot)

4512830503c3aeb363ebe77bc8c4e68c.jpg


dd069ad5503f5166e0efb4b0836f7e82.jpg
 
Looks like you have some mold on both. Looks like you have healthy roots on the reniormis, but all I see on the nelumbifolia is mold (the white fluffy stuff...Yeah, not roots...). Whether it's causing a problem or not though, is hard to tell. Not all mold causes a problem, but keep a close eye on it, or spray it with sulfur based fungicide. Looks like the reniformis has no problem with it though (so far).
 
Thanks for the info.

Could it be that I am keeping them too wet?
Is there a benefit to using orchid pots?

I will get some spray sometime this weekend.
 
I have a mold problem to. I over wintered some in the fridge and they all have developed mold. Could you use the baking soda mixture instead? Which one is safe? Your plants look healthy! Let me know if any one answers please! Thanks, Mary
 
I've never heard of using baking soda. The sulfur based fungicides are perfectly safe (at least the ones I'm aware of). I don't think your problem is keeping them too wet. In fact, I've noticed that mold tends to happen more often on moist organic medium compared to wet medium (though, it doesn't look like that's your problem either). Sometimes mold just grows, but that could be a possible disadvantage of net pots in this case, as mold will tend to grow more in the spaces open to the air, which a net orchid pot allows.

I don't grow either of these species myself, but if you want the reniformis to spread more, it will obviously need a bigger pot. Otherwise, I imagine it's perfectly happy in it's pot. The nelumbifolia is far from needing repotting, and I don't think the mold will cause much of an issue for a while to be honest, because the mold will tend just to grow on the outer soil surface, and the underlying soil is perfectly fine.

Hopefully someone with actual experience with these species will offer you some better advice :)
 
That mold may actually be mycellium, almost all my pots using orchid bark grows mushrooms several times a year. I have a new crop now of little brown 'shrooms in my N. thorelii x aristolochioides pot. If I use shredded cypress bark I don't get the 'shrooms but when I use real "orchid bark" is like a 'shroom factory, if only they were magically delicious I probably wouldn't mind so much! :lol:

If you wanna get these kinda utrics to "take off" put that net pot on a bed of moist LFS inside the bottom of your terrarium, they'll grow like wildfire once the roots discover that moss base layer.
 
Hold up, those look like root hairs not mold. Is there mold anywhere else on the pot, if not my guess is those white tufts are root hairs.
 
Hold up, those look like root hairs not mold. Is there mold anywhere else on the pot, if not my guess is those white tufts are root hairs.
Utricularia sp. don't grow root hairs, because they don't grow roots:) The so called roots are actually modified leaves and stems...
 
Hold up, those look like root hairs not mold. Is there mold anywhere else on the pot, if not my guess is those white tufts are root hairs.

This is exactly why I asked the question and what I was hoping for, but alas the experienced have spoken. It appears I have a slight issue.
 
  • #10
I have the same issue on my reniformis net pot. Also, the reniformis really needs a bigger pot. Mine is in a 14" net pot, and is beginning to sprout leaves from all over the surface, despite the fact that it is around a month old.
 
  • #11
wow nice leaves ! i didnt know that specie !

i want one now :( lol
 
  • #12
If you wanna get these kinda utrics to "take off" put that net pot on a bed of moist LFS inside the bottom of your terrarium, they'll grow like wildfire once the roots discover that moss base layer.
I've 'discovered' the same phenomena. However, I've been unable to create these same hyper-successful conditions within a pot (yet). Until I do, in one tank, I 'allowed' U. humboldtii to escape and inhabit the lower regions. Based on the size & vigor of that plant, I allowed another clone to do the same in a 2nd tank. A month or two ago, I also did it with U. nelumbifolia in a 3rd tank & 'seeded' a 4th small tank w/ U. quelchii - but I think I used too small of a piece because it hasn't taken off like all the others (figures). :censor:

I've also had the same hyper-growth experience when a Nep escapes into this live LFS layer...
 
  • #13
I'm still waiting for my U. quelchii to do ANYthing. :p I think it's still dormant. Let's see how it does. I have it in a net in live LFS. Not a net pot, a net, like what those chocolate coins come in. :D
 
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