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My Aquatic Wetlands Prof. is going to give me all of the Utrics he collected this spring now that we have had our exam over the samples.  He has never been able to keep them alive over winter because they make Turrions and then poop out on him and die.  I figure I can prolly just give them a nice proper dormency and they will be fine.  

Since in the wild they make there dence little turrion and wash up on the mucky shallow shores and then get frozen over I though putting them in some home made muck and poping them in the fridge with maybe a cm or 2 of water on top would do the trick for dormency, but I have never actually done anything with aquatics before.  Does anyone have experience and some info to share?

Specifically, I really don't know what I would make the muck out of if I did that... and I am also unsure as to what kind of water would be best to keep them in. I am use to my sphagnum loving CPs but since these guys live in just about any sort of open water source I am not sure if I should be using a different substrait then peat or if they actually prefer water with a bit of mineral content.

Right now I can not be sure which species I have because there is no flower and samples... well these plants are definitly at least 2 diff species, but neither one fits the "size" standards in my books.  They are both too big and too small, LOL!  I am looking forward to flowers in the spring so I can slap some ID's on them, but my prof seems to remember pink or purple flowers so I am really hoping I got a purple and not just two yellow species (or 2 yellow subspecies).  The plants are so unhappy right now that I can't really tell by structure alone, intermedia, vulgaris, minor and geminiscapa seem most likely. Anyhow if it is of any help in knowing how to care for them, here is the list of potential species:

U. purpurea
U. radiata
U. minor
U. intermedia
U. vulgaris
U. gibba
U. geminiscapa

...did I mention I was excited? lol XD
 
Lucky you! ;)

I've kept a number of the species you've mentioned, but not all of them.I 'think' what I suggest should work for all of them, inlcuding the gibba, which of course does not form turions. I simply fill a tough ziploc type bag with water, place the turions in them, and place them in fridge until spring. The bag(s) should be checked every 2-3 weeks, to make sure no mould occurs, and that the turions look in good condition. I have also done this with Wolffia, and it did amazingly well.

I wouldn't bother with adding muck as it seems to me that it could cause problems such as mould or bacterial build up.

I personally would also take any left over plants or leaves, and try to grow them out. With appropriate lighting and heat, some of these plants will grow very nicely during the winter.

Good luck.
 
Hi Darcie,

The advice already given is good. My macrorhiza, minor and intermedia come back every year from cold storage. The intermedia is an semi-aquatic and will attach itself to soil, traps underground with leaves above ground. The minor form tiny little truions and can be grown in shallow water. You will need lots of room for the macrorhiza come spring. I never give my gibba dormancy but it probably wouldn't hurt them especialy if they are from MI, I think mine are southern plants.

Good Luck

Glenn
 
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