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U. nelumbifolia Growing Tips

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jimscott

jimscott

Tropical Fish Enthusiast
Believe it or not, I googled cultivation for them and about all I can find is a reference to LFS and high water table. Do they need a cold period or should they be in warm temps?. Are they a good terrarium plant or are they best on a grow rack? Do they need a big day/night temp differential?
 
I've got mine in a net orchid basket of live sphagnum moss in with my highland Nepenthes which means cool temps (days 65-75*F and nights 40-50*F) and high humidity (80-90%). I water it like a Nepenthes, flushing the pot but I don't have it sitting in water.

I treat all my larger Utrics this way, I also fertilize them with Grow More Urea Free Orchid Fertilizer, they seem to respond well but too much kills the moss - if you're using live moss.
 
I'm establishing some live moss that I trimmed off on my last maintenance day, I should have enough to trim in a couple months but I haven't got any onhand at the moment.

You can use the dried / dead stuff too just don't pack it densely let it be loose.
 
This Utricularia is primarily an epiphyte so I grow mine in an artifical urn (brandy snifter) in live Sphagnum moss. From what I've read these like highland conditions. Mine is just growing on my plant shelve near the door/window and gets filtered light with maybe an hour of direct sunlight a day. It didn't seem to like ambient humidity, the photosynthetic stolons that grew out of the snifter were burning. So I covered it with a dome. I've had it less than six months so expert I am not. Mach and Ron Lane have much more experience with these than me.

Pyro's growing methods should work just as well.

I can send you a handful of some of Mach's Hawaiian Sphagnum moss and a handful of moss from Clint's bog in Georgia. The Hawaiian stuff is a monster and will needing trimming every few months.
 
Do not think this one will need a dry period to flower. I have kept mine wet all year and get flowers all the time. There may be a minimum chilling requirement to induce flowers, but there is also a point when it gets too cold and flower buds will abort on the spike. Maybe mid 30s F. I tend to keep them in artificial bromeliad urns composed of 1 gallon plastic water jugs with the tops cut off. The top can used to help add more humidity. So far have used un drained containers and had decent luck with live sphagnum with some large chunk perlite and or lava rock in the mix. Once it gets going it will go walking all over the place..........

it doesn't seem to like bright light. Might be in my case a UV light issue.
this one is near the open door of the greenhouse getting more light. rarely puts leaves up above the sphagnum
DSC_00010001_32.jpg



Back side of greenhouse on lower shelf . Does fine nice leafs. Flowers all the time
DSC_00020002_13.jpg
 
The Iperua utrics have been somewhat tricky for me. In general, they are quite easy to get them to be moderately happy but getting them to thrive (get huge, flower consistently, etc) is a bit problematic.

Last year in my 75 gal tank (where all the pots are ether on a shelf or sitting on 3-4" empty pots) I 'allowed' an aerial stolon from a humboldtii & a nelumbifolia to escape into the lower region - as I was curious how they would grow. The bottom of the tank is filled with a thin layer of light-starved live LFS and huge D. prolifera and a water level that normally ranges from 0 to 1/8" or so. The nelumbifolia acted as if it went to heaven. Within a few weeks it sent up multiple flower stalks. Both plants sent up leaves above the existing potted plants. The nelumbifolia leaves eventually reached 4-5" in diameter and blocked a significant chunk of light from the other plants - so I had to cut them all back. The humboldtii leaves are also 2-4 times larger than any in pots but due to their different structure, do not block as much light as the nelumbifolia - so the humbo has been allowed to stay (for now).

My potted nelumbifolia typically have leaves which are 1-2" in diameter and flower when they are in the mood (1-3 times / 2 years). The potted humboldtii leaves have maxed out ~1-1.5" wide 7 ~6-7" tall (compared to 2-3" wide & 12" tall). None of my humboldtii have flowered yet. All of my potted humboldtii & nelumbifolia grow in live LFS (my original experiments showed that they didn't like my peat mixes).

So far, I have not figured out a way to duplicate these nasty conditions in a pot ... As NaN noted, Mach seems to have found conditions to make his plants consistently happy as has Jeremiah iirc...
 
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This is a great thread. I have tried to establish U. nelumbifolia twice so far, both failures.
Most likely due to high temperatures in my apartment and my bright growrack.
 
swords said:
I'm establishing some live moss that I trimmed off on my last maintenance day, I should have enough to trim in a couple months but I haven't got any onhand at the moment.

You can use the dried / dead stuff too just don't pack it densely let it be loose.
Click to expand...

That I can do..... again.

---------- Post added at 10:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:56 AM ----------

Much thanks for the input. On thing that has frustrated me is the inability to produce an environment that is cool, humid, and well-lit (tuberous sundews, Helis, D. schizandra...) At least in this case, I don't have to provide well-lit conditions. It actually sounds more like what provide for U. longifolia, for which I have had success. Looks like I'll be switching to an undrained container and buying a bag of "orchid moss".
 
jimscott said:
That I can do..... again.

---------- Post added at 10:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:56 AM ----------

Much thanks for the input. On thing that has frustrated me is the inability to produce an environment that is cool, humid, and well-lit (tuberous sundews, Helis, D. schizandra...) At least in this case, I don't have to provide well-lit conditions. It actually sounds more like what provide for U. longifolia, for which I have had success. Looks like I'll be switching to an undrained container and buying a bag of "orchid moss".
Click to expand...

Could you achieve this with humidifier line and fans? This will cool the air in the growspace and provide additional humidity.
 
Mine seems to be doing fine under 24" HO's, humidity 65%-99%, daytime temps now are around 74* and nights are in the mid 50's.
I also have it in a net pot, a very loose mix with lots of LFS, standing in 1/2"-1" of water, misted daily.
 
Larry do you grow it in the basement? Im just curious how you get such a temp range.

boxofrain said:
Mine seems to be doing fine under 24" HO's, humidity 65%-99%, daytime temps now are around 74* and nights are in the mid 50's.
I also have it in a net pot, a very loose mix with lots of LFS, standing in 1/2"-1" of water, misted daily.
Click to expand...
 
gill_za said:
Larry do you grow it in the basement? Im just curious how you get such a temp range.
Click to expand...

No basement here on the Oregon Coast....too wet!
I have the Nelumbifolia in with the Nep's .... in a greenhouse in my office.:0o:
The lights do most of the heating during the day. I shut the door at night and crack the window in the room. I also keep an old "milk room" heater in there just in case the temps sink too low.
 
Difficult photo due to the curvature of the brandy snifter but you can kind of make out some bladders on the right.
IMGP5219.jpg
 
un-intended Nelumbifolia!
After coming home from a few days away for surgery, I noticed a leaf laying in the water tray....with a plantlett growing from the leaf margin.
 
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