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U. tricolor

Hi,

I am new to this forum and have been growing CP's on and off for 25 years.

I recently obtained a U.tricolor this is my first Utric and it seems to be growing very well though I have heard that I probably won't be able to get it to bloom.

Anyone have any luck making U.tricolor bloom? Or hints at this Utric type?

Thanks Philip
 
someone answer him! i have one i just recieved about 2 weeks ago and had a rough trip through the mail but it looks like it will pull through. i would like some info too.

Rattler
 
U. tricolor is a little fussy about flowering, that's true. Still, it's a challenge, and the thrill when it finally does flower comes from the rarity of the event.

There are 2 current schools of thought regarding the cultivation of it. Some say to grow it as a shallow aquatic. This seems to produce lush growth, but few flowering events. The above ground stolons tend to be shorter lived and thinner.

The other school grows the plant considerably more dry. The "leaves" are fewer, but are thick and long lived. It seems most of the flowering events I have heard of are associated with drying or stress. I am currently experimenting with this method.

Good luck with your culture and plants. I hope you will be the ones to evolve a perfect regimen for flowering this species!
 
thanks for the info Tamlin, i guess this ones going to require some experiments but i better get it established first
tounge.gif


Rattler
 
I would keep it on the wet side until it establishes then wean it to drier conditions over time. I hope to see mine flower this season, but they are not high hopes. I often get scapes, but they always abort before the flowers open. Another very frustrating species for me!
 
Thanks,

You have been quite helpful.

Always ready for a challenge.
Looking forward to giving it a go.

Philip
 
I am currently bucking the school of thought that says this plant is a semi-aquatic. The strongest growing plants I have are a rough that ended up in a Nepenthes pot and one that is potter in a 2"x2" square by 4" tall pot of my typical Nep media. Both plants are dry for the most part and grow stronger by orders of magnitude than the plants I used to grow under water. I also have one plant putting up scapes at the moment and more than anything I atribute that to being in my sunroom for the winter where temps dropped to freezing a couple nights and photoperiod was definitly winter specific. Once the temps got up and the light hours increased fully half of my terrestrails flowered.

But that is just what works for me.
 
Pyro, let us know if your scapes actually produce flowers. My plant puts up scapes every year, but they have never developed into a flower.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]There are 2 current schools of thought regarding the cultivation of it. Some say to grow it as a shallow aquatic. This seems to produce lush growth, but few flowering events. The above ground stolons tend to be shorter lived and thinner.

The other school grows the plant considerably more dry. The "leaves" are fewer, but are thick and long lived. It seems most of the flowering events I have heard of are associated with drying or stress. I am currently experimenting with this method.

now im confused. mine is in a 3.5 inch pot that is about 4 inches high. it is sitting in a dish that has about a half inch of water most of the time cause i was going for the fewer, thicker, long lasting stolons. ummmmm it didnt work, 75% of the pot is so thick with lolons that you cant see the soil. it would be 100% but i took cuttings to give to ppl. the rolons are 3.5 inches from the water level...... what did i do wrong or right?

Rattler
 
  • #10
Actually your method would be what I consider the wet method. I grew mine nearly dry at the surface the one time I got scapes. They aborted though. Wet culture seems to produce lots of lolons, but mine have never flowered in wet conditions, they just spread.
 
  • #11
well i guess ill let it fill up the pot again and start trying to dry it out. thanks for the info. actually i shoud just split it and keep growing one the wet way and grow another one drier.

Rattler
 
  • #12
Hello..

Let me add some light to this topic from observations I made recently when i found U.tricolor growing in its natural habitat on my last trip.

The habitat is what is known here and in Venezuela as a "Morichal". It is a wet grassland with Mauritia flexuosa palm trees with soils composod of fine sand and some peat. During the wet season (June to November) this habitat is really wet and during the dry season (December to May) it is humid but not wet.

What i observed when i was there at the end of June was that the plants of U.tricolor were growing submerged. Every lieaf of U.tricolor i found was growing at least under 1 cm of water and there were long stolons with very few leaves. The other observation was that the U.tricolor was flowering. I could find, without searching a lot, about 5 blooming plants.

What all of this makes me think is that this species needs to be grown in with both methods (wet and dry) at differnet times of the year and that introduction from dry to wet conditions can induce flowering.

I dont think temperatures play an important role here because the plants gow at a place where temps wont change a lot during the year. Also to note is that the plants grow under tall grasses getting a good amount of shadow so i also think it will grow better under some shaded conditions.

I warn you.. this is just my theory based on field observations of just one population of U.tricolor but i think this might help here.

Regards,

Sebastian
 
  • #13
makes sence, most ppl are growing them one way or the other. a combination of both could be the key.

Rattler
 
  • #14
Hi guys,

Let me just add to the confusion a little more....
smile.gif
:)

Asking which is the prefered habitat of U.tricolor is almost like asking which is the prefered habitat of humans! ;)

Let's not forget that U.tricolor is a VERY widespread species. Maybe everyone here is correct when describing how to grow these plants, depending on WHERE your form came from. I have seen them in a variety of highland and lowland habitats, from the Equator to S of the Tropic of Capricorn. There are numerous forms varying tremendously in size, but mostly it seems to me that the larger forms prefer boggy-grassy habitats (often by natural springs or along streams)while smaller forms prefer sandy habitats which probably dry up more in the dry season.

Good luck to all!
Fernando Rivadavia
 
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