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CP30

A Cajun(isc) Carnivore
I have found a renewed desire for thriving flowering utrics. I have had several species for several years, but have not seen them following flower, or even seem to thrive. I have looked online and in other forums, but have found conflicting info and many, many "best practices". I am looking for feedback about medium, pot size, temps, lighting, humidity, dormancy, etc. from any interested in sharing regarding the following species that are struggling for me:

tricolor - produces many leaves that only lay on the ground - covering some pots
longifolia
praelonga
prehensilis
reniformis 'Enfant Terrible' - very small leaves on stems no taller than 2"
and I will throw in a few newer acquisitions - warburgii and welwitchii

I have kept these mostly under grow lights year round for 3 years - winter temps down to the 50's, summer heat up to the 100's with summer lows in the 80's (right now 92F at 5pm May 26). I have most in 50:50 pest:sand and others of each species except the last 2 in other airier mixes. All on tray system. I have kept several in a N facing window terrarium for periods - gets filtered sun and gets up to 85F during the day, house kept around 75F - so that would be the nightly lows. The 'Enfant Terrible' has been kept consistently in this window sill tank.
What might I be doing wrong?

Steve
 
Ya know... Travis has a real good handle on them. One piece of advice he gave me, which probably isn't relevant, is that what doesn't do much the year that you receive, it, can do extraordinary things the next year. Having said that, longifolia has done nothing for me. Neither has praelonga. and the whelwitchii I received is apparently praleonga. Also, what received as nelumbifolia turned out to be grammifolia. I was forunate to get tricolor, prehensilis, and warburgii to flower... the latter is pretty easy.

There does seem to be a general set of "rule of thumb" - airy media mix, fluctuating water levels, some seasonality, and a sense of overcrowding. Beyind that, I'm about as unsure as you.

The hobbyists called Martin Hingst, Fischermans, Sean Spence are also very experienced. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few out there.
 
Well I do not have as much of a handle on them any more. LOL. Not that suddenly started to fail growing them, just that I have become more interested in other groups so I have let these sort of dwindle from my collection. But here is what I can offer.

For the terrestrials

Media: Most anything will work, my preferred is a peat/sand mix that has about 10% cyprus mulch added

Pots: I use the tall style 6cm pots

Lighting: I grow these in a tank with a pair of 60cm tubes on top of the tank. The tank is in my sunroom so it gets incidental sunlight as well.

Temps: As I said, the tank is in my sunroom so it basically gets outdoor temps. Only exception is that in winter I run a heater to keep the temp from dropping below freezing.

Watering: Basically deep tray system. I fill the tank till the water is level with the top of the pot then I wait till there is no water in the tank before adding more. During winter I only add 2cm max of water.

Humidity: Never really measured it. Figure that since they are in a tank then it is high-ish.

Dormancy: None of these really have a dormancy but they still get a seasonal flux of temp and light.

I treat longifolia and reniformis differently.

For longifolia I end to grow them along the lines of my intermediate Neps. I use live sphag or LFS. Pots are larger anything from 12cm typical type pots up to 30cm x 30cm water lily baskets.

For reniformis I grow it similar to Orchidioides. Live sphag, cool temps, top watered never standing in water.


And just a small note, your tricolor sounds like it is behaving normally to me...
 
after 3 years i gave up trying to get tricolor to flower, it always grew well reguardless of conditions but never flowered....though i think hot(above 90) and humid may be a key, least thats where i was headed when i moved and managed to loose it........prehensilis flowers regularly but not often same with warburgii and welwitchii, atleast for me....dont think i ever flowered the rest
 
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