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U. reniformis - summer outside in NJ

Having seen somewhere that Pyro had kept a U. reniformis outside during an Atlanta summer, I figured it would be worth a shot here in central NJ. I knew I would need to watch it closely & just hoped that it wouldn't collapse without warning (like D. schizandra sometimes does in the heat). Last summer was one of the coolest / rainiest that I can remember and I just read that this summer is officially the hottest NJ summer on record (116 yrs). Unbelievably (to me anyway), the U. reniformis has kept growing all summer. It didn't like the full sun, so I ended up placing it on the west side of some tall ornamental grasses on my blacktop driveway. Under these grasses, it sees several hours of filtered direct sun each day and indirect sun for the rest. However, temps out there are 85-100*F (29.4-37.8*C) almost every day.

Here's the pot:
Outsidereniformis-090310RS.jpg



Here's a closeup of some of the newest growth (overall there are 8 new leaves forming):
Outsidereniformis-newshoots090310RS.jpg

In my mind, this shows that not all of the utrics are as sensitive as many of us tend to think they are.... Now, after I torture it with a cold, dry winter - maybe, just maybe - it'll give me some flowers ..... :-O
 
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Fantastic looking plant, I love the leaf shape. Are you going to let it experience the full season of weather change leaving it outside until it's too cold?
 
Great information. Do you feel it is growing better outside in those conditions than the conditions you previously had it in over past summers?

I think U. reniformis is my favorite CP bare none. I don't really know why, but there is something mystifying to me, personally.

xvart.
 
Ron,
I need to pot mine up. What kind of soil mix do you use for it?
 
Are you going to let it experience the full season of weather change leaving it outside until it's too cold?
When we start getting some deeper frosts, I usually pull the VFTs & outside Cephs just inside one of the garage doors. From that point on (for a month or so), I just close the garage door at night & then open it in the morning. Sometime in late Oct or November (IIRC) I typically haul all the trays to a back basement room & stick them under lights. Since the rennie is now with that group, I'll probably keep it with them unless I see something that says I shouldn't (notice that I'm kinda figuring stuff out as I go here & I haven't really looked that far ahead). :-))

Great information. Do you feel it is growing better outside in those conditions than the conditions you previously had it in over past summers?
I'd have to check my dates but I think this is the 1st full summer that it's been in the big pot. However, I get a feeling that it is doing better outside and I'm really wondering why. It's siblings in the basement put up a few leaves, keep them until they're turning brown (& I start to get worried that the plant is croaking):crazy: and then send up a new flush of beautiful big leaves. Outside it is keeping the leaves longer & sending up more before the others brown. Like why is it now sending up 8 new leaves? ???

I think U. reniformis is my favorite CP bare none. I don't really know why, but there is something mystifying to me, personally.
I know I was hooked when I saw their blooms - they look like human faces to me (or caricatures of human faces). I am now growing 4 different types (7 different clones) - kind of the small, medium & large versions. I was given 'enfant terrible' which had tiny leaves - but it faded away into oblivion ... The new small form I have is super vigorous - so I hope it doesn't croak any time soon....

Ron,
I need to pot mine up. What kind of soil mix do you use for it?
I had read in several places that they prefer a peat based mix and my limited experience is reinforcing that view. I have a clone that I released into the live LFS around my pots in my office tank. It barely stays alive - just putting up a small leaf or two when the old ones turn brown. I had similar experiences with LFS in a pot. The one in the pics is in a 3.1.1.1 mix (peat.live LFS.sand.aps) I play around with the media but typically find myself in the 2-1 organic vs inorganic range for peat based media mixes. Lately, I've reduced the peat and added more live LFS (2.2.1.1) but I can't say I ever really see a difference in my tweaking ... :crazy:
 
I have found U. reniformis to be one of the toughest of all the Utricularia, I read an article in the ACPS newsletter written by a guy that had his flower several times over the season. He grew his in (are you ready) potting soil and used a light fertilizer. I was never brave enough to try to duplicate this feat, but it does show that the plant is way less sensitive than many believe. I grew mine outdoors in fukk sun with the best results. I think a cold dormancy is very good if you can provide it, but at the same time note that the plant did fine for me growing in the water tray if my terrarium, with no substrate whatsoever, and did so for years flowering reliably each spring. It would just naturally die back to the rollons, growing again after a period where there was no plant evident, and flowering shortly thereafter.

I believe for all their apparent delicacy Utricularia species do best outside. It was true for U. dichotoma, U. alpina, U. tricolor and several others I experimented with. It's harder to get them acclimated to the outdoors, I usually lost all the lollons no matter how careful I was at going slow, but they all came back over tine from the rollons and flowered more abundantly than under the considerable artificial lighting I used.

I found the larger clones of U. reniformis to be the toughest too, vs the small lollon forms. The flowers always reminded my of the face in the painting "The Scream" for some weird reason. Probably my favorite CP flower ever!
 
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