Plant at the edge of the pot?

[swords]

I have been reading one of my newest books CPs of New Zealand by Bruce Salmon and noticed that in the cultural information pertaining to Utricularia it states to plant Utrics at the edge of the pot.
I have planted mine in the center and they are slow to establish (had them a couple months now) will moving them to the edge of the pot speed up their vegetative productivity? Or does it really not make all that much difference?

Utrics in question:
U. calycifida
U. caerulea
U. simplex
U. livida
U. sandersonii
U.

I've several of these

 

[Spectabilis73]

I haven't heard of it before...good question.I'd like to know.

 

[Pyro]

I have never heard of this nor have I ever noticed any difference in growth as a result of where the plant starts in the pot. I often find that Utrics will establish themselves via production of new stolons long before they begin to produce new leaves. So while it appears that the plants are not growing in reality they are actually very busy you just can't see it.

 

[dodecatheon]

I've read that book too, and I can think of a reason to plant them like that. Unless the strategy is for the plant to grow around the pot along the edge, and then grow back towards the center.

I don't think that planting them in the centre of the pot would result in poor growth.

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

I have noticed that there seems to be good dense growth at the edge of things. I first noticed this when I had a substrate terrarium (before the fungus destroyed it). I planted sandersonii in the medium, and eventually it grew thickest in the corners of the tank. I also noticed the leaves seemed to surface at the pots edge when I started growing this way. Maybe there really is something to the recommendation. I think I will test this hypothesis when I divide my plants. Why not?

 

[swords]

Thanks for your thoughts folks!

I've noticed that the various U. ?

species which have very dense leaf growth and are in pure peat are flowering lot in comparison to the others which were not growing fast or flowering. I put all my terrestrials into drained pots full of peat tonight and took them out of the undrained clear deli tubs of LFS (the idea was I could eventually observe the traps but there was almost no growth except the moss they came in). I also put them on the edges of the pots since I've alredy tried the middle of the pot I may as well try the edge this time.
I'll let you all know what happens with mine anyway!

 

[Pyro]

My theory for the "edge factor" is that when a stolon hits an obstruction it then surfaces and produces leaves. I have noticed this when there are little scraps of twig or some such in the potting media. Where ever the twig was there was more growth. So with the side of the pot taking up 90 degrees of spread direction you would see what looks like massive production while in truth it is probably equal except the stolons on the other side of the plant are still subteranian

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

Pyro I think you are right with that theory of stoloniferous obstructification.

Josh: one way to observe the traps is to grow them in clear containers, but with a section blacked off (electrical tape?) I have heard that the stolons will grow against the container if there is no light, then the tape can be removed and then the stolons are visable with their bladders. I haven't tried it, but thought I'd pass this on.

 

[swords]

I've got my utrics growing in those 3" round and 1" high clear plastic "drain trays" that people put under their houseplants to keep extra water from running out of the pot and ruining your coffee table or something. I poked holes in the bottom of these so the water level can rise and fall as the sundew terrariums waterlevel evaporates and gets refilled I don't have the plastic tray sides blacked out though, is that really necessary? I ask because It's not very light inbetween the "pots" since they're packed so closely together in the terrarium.
My best growing utric is in the D. capensis pot and came as an unknown hitchhiker. The whole pot is densely covered in 1/4" long/1 mm lance shaped leaves (which come to an abrupt point) there's about 10 flower scapes. The flowers look like they are pure white but don't seem to open all the way or if they do are very tiny, only about 1 mm. The traps are about 0.5mm diam. with a round profile.

...I sure wish my copy of Taylors Utric book would get here... darn Kew Books shipping dept...almost 8 weeks now!  

 

[Pyro]

Josh,

I'm almost willing to bet your hitch hicker is U. subulata. Do the scapes form seed pod with out flowers?

If it is subulata I highly recommend you keep that pot far far away from your other Utrics, subulata has a real bad tendancy to jump pots and strangle out other Utrics.

 

[swords]

The scapes on the U. "D. Capensis hitch hikerii" look like they're about to flower, then they poke out a bit of white "something or other" (like a white fuzzy tongue but not really a flower) then they blow up like tiny grey/green ballons.Is that similar to subulata's antics? I sure don't wanna ruin the others, esp calycifida and tricolor (thanks again Tamlin-these guys do still live! ) which have interesting leaves.
I'm very new to utrics and just have a basic starter selection of terrestrials and of course gibba. Are there other "weed utrics" I must be wary of like subulata?

I currently have the following:
U. tricolor
U. calycifida
U. simplex*
U. caerulea *
U. sandersonii*
U. livida*
U. "D. Capensis hitch hikerii"
(* =maybe. Rumors say my commercial source is often mistaken, hence the need for the book&#33

I have a few more Utrics on the way in the next week or so(diff source this time):
U. alpina
U. bisquamata
U. graminifolia
U. nana
U. praelonga

 

[Pyro]

Sounds like subulata to me. The tricolor and calycifida will probably be okay as they are larger and their leaves will grow over any subulata leaves, I would just be careful of your smaller species.

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

I hear that bisquamata can be a self seeder/sower, and I have had lateriflora show up in other pots, fortunately of Drosera species!

 

[carnivorous23]

Interesting, I also have a pot of an unknown Utricularia, which seems to form seed without flowering. Oddly enough, mine also came with a capensis (2 years ago). Luckily, mine was separated from my other plants a while ago because of aphids, and it has since grown out all holes in the pot, and spread into the water tray. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if it was a utric, or some other weed, and I don't pay much attention to the plant. It's never really flowered, but I've never flooded it either, maybe I'll give it a try and see what happens. Anyone know how to get it to actually flower, if it is a U. subulata

 

[dodecatheon]

I think that we are being too wishy washy here: if you have a hitchhiker utric with fine stolons producing cleistogomous flowers, then it *is* U. subulata. There is no maybe about it.

Anyway, chris once told me (and she may want to speak for herself here), that she had good results getting it to flower by growing it in a sealed glass jar.

I only ever had it flower properly once, and I can't think of any reason why it woulf have happened.

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

I can't get mine to stop flowering.  I think some clones are naturally more cleistogamous than others.  Mine flowers best when the medium begins to approach dry rather than moist, and more often outside in full sun and in high humidity.  It's because of those flowers that I am not more vigorous in my removal of it.  It is a vile weed.  I always have to remind myself of this, but those flowers!