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stolon cuttings

In cobra lilys seed grown plants are usually more vigorus than plants from tissue culture. If fact i have heard of may whose only succes was a seed grown plant. I have also heard of people succeding with african violetes in Dart frog terrariums when cuttings of the plant were rooted in there.

I wonder if people on the east coast might succed with plants grown from cuttings.
 
Possibly, but the challenge with Cobras lies mainly in keeping the roots constantly wet and cool. I have seen these plants in the wild in sever conditions such as full sun, little organic soil, heavy metal environments (ex. magnesium from serpentine) and the consistant factor which determines their healthy growth is cool water around the roots, either running or in some cases stagnant. Achieving this condition will allow your cobra to thrive.

Plants originating from mountainous locations have been speculated to perform better than those from coastal areas. You might want to look into a clone with known mountain origins or that other growers on the east coast have had success with.
 
I'm not certain how vital cool temperatures are for the roots, so long as water is freely available. I've actually let several of my seed-grown plants go crispy dry on accident and had them come back several days later, good as new, after immersing the rootball and allowing them to rehydrate. Of course, I'm spoiled by my location.
~Joe
 
Good luck finding the mountain location plants! there is one nursery that will release a small number of them every now and then, and a friend of mine who rarely sells cobras but his are all seedgrown or divisions from his mother plant which is from a mountain location...and yes, in my experience, they are a bit more tolerant than the coastal origin/location plants, though otherwise are no different as far as looks go....
the problem in my opinion does seem to be keeping the roots cool, as well as good oxygen flow...these plants generally grow in areas where cold water from the mountains, passes through or over the roots...
though just as Joe above me said, i am also spoiled by my location, sharing the same zone and everything as the darlingtonia just south of me, so i have no problems with them what so ever...
i will say, that live sphagnum seems to be like the miracle worker with cobras...ive had divisions from my plant, planted in dead LFS, or peat/perlite that never do as well as my plant in live LFS, probably again indicating the oxygen available...


Would also like to point out the irony that the first 3 people to reply, are spoiled location brats :p (all in the northwest where these things are easier than what they normally would be for anyone else)
 
I say go for the stolon cuttings, it's worth a try.
As far as environmental conditions go, I've had success using a large white ceramic soup mug that I drilled a hole in (using a bit made for ceramic). The white color of the mug helps to reflect as much light away as possible to keep the soil (LFS/Perlite) from warming too much. The mug sits in about an inch or so of water in the tray that dries between watering sessions, I top water.
I have low humidity (less than 40% usually) and my cobra is grown on an east facing windowsill with an average of six hours of sun each day. Different from the spoiled ones above, I live in a very arid and hot location (at least during the summer.) Cobra is a death cube rescue but very vigorous.
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Its intresting how all the difficult carnivores are difficult for the same reason. D regia, Heliamphora, Highland nepenthes, cobra lilys... they all need cool tempatures and are therefore easily grown by people in the pacific northwest and UK!

I have heard of many people succeding their cobras on east and north windowsills when all else failed, but never in a place like utah!!
 
A crappy or vigorous growing plant is just that, no matter what the source. In any large enough batch of seedlings you have those that grow faster than others as well as some very lamers. If crappy growing plants were the source for tissue culture stock then odds are the resulting clones will also be crappy growers.

Plants from stolons have the advantage over plants from seeds in that they mature faster. Say 3-5 years to flowering versus 5-7 years from seed. Odds are a stolon offshoot of a crappy grower is going to be a crappy grower.

I have seedlings from mountain and lowland populations and as a groups there is little difference between the growth. If not for the color, the highlanders are D. 'Othello' x ? (all except one have no red coloring) I couldn't tell them apart base only on growth. In my conditions neither group is any easier or more difficult to grow.

Dr. Leo Song found that root temperatures over 81F are fatal to this species. As long as you keep the root temperatures below 82F the plants should survive. If you have to resort to chilled water or ice cubes due to your cultivation situation so be it. Large, thick walled, insulated or shaded pots will help keep the medium from warming up.

This species appear to need fairly cool winter periods for adequate dormancy. They also appear to need a decent night time temperature drop. Cooler climates again give the cultivator the advantage.

Like others I've come to the conclusion that this species requires the roots to be well oxygenated in order to thrive. Running/circulating water or top watering without constant flooding and loose airy media helps to achieve this.
 
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In cobra lilys seed grown plants are usually more vigorus than plants from tissue culture.
I have my doubts about this assertion ...

Plants originating from mountainous locations have been speculated to perform better than those from coastal areas.
Interesting that plants from higher elevations would be more receptive to warmer temps ... Is this due to the coastal cooling effect on the west coast?

I tried to grow some cobras outside for several years - always failed. After one of those trials - I had an epiphany - the farm where I was raised had a small spring which had cool water all summer trickling over rocks next to the house (the springs origin supplied our drinking water). I got a few plants and took them back to plant a few next to the house ......... My brother (who now owns the old farm) had timbered the hillside the prior year to get a few dollars. The silt from the logging had made the little spring creek a muddy mess filled with three foot high invasive grasses - no longer Darlingtonia habitat ... :crap:
 
From what I can gather in the summer the highland areas can have temperatures in the low 100sF during the day and drop as much as the mid 50sF at night, sometimes even lower. The lowland areas can get day temps as high but not as much of a drop at night. You'd expect the lowlanders to do better in warmer conditions.

I would suspect what is going on is that east of the Rocky Mountains you have less genetic variability from whoever supplies the tissue culture plants for the acrylic coffins then being finished in marginal or less than ideal green house conditions or that the plants are just in poor shape from being trucked thousands of miles from the west coast.
 
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I have friends in Austin, Texas, who have little problem growing their Darlingtonia in the open under direct sun -- even over 100˚ -- and frequently take stolen cuttings. They generally keep the cuttings saturated in live sphagnum moss and the heat doesn't play that much of an issue . . .
 
  • #11
I live near Buffalo, NY. We get summer temps that from the 70's to the low 90's. There was nothing sophisticated about this setup - just a planter with a cobra lily, sharing space with a couple Sarracenias. That plant sent out a stolon the previous year and two more last year. The stolon produced a stolon. The parent plant sent up flowers. I don't have a cold water drip system and it was in direct sunlight. Go figure...

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