Now THAT's the way Utricularia should look, nice job!
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Utricularia graminifolia - My Experiences
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Just thought I'd post an update. In the last batch of U. graminifolia divisions I used a few different mediums and as I would never have guested.....rockwool had the best growth rate hands down, nothing was anywere near it in overall coverage and density. About twice the growth rate in every rockwool container, all under the same lights with the same humidity everything. Really odd.
Anyway I had to leave for a 6 week class for work and when I returned this is what I came home to. Someone needs a haircut
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Anyway I had to leave for a 6 week class for work and when I returned this is what I came home to. Someone needs a haircut
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It amazing you don't have algae/slime mold problems.
Lookin' good!
Lookin' good!
Oh there is algae, its just underwater with the Blyxa japonica. I left and the wife doesn't have that "feel" for feeding the killifish and water changes, since its not her tank. There is always some random algae somewhere, the U. graminifolia just grows so fast in that tanks there is no chance for algae to overcome it. Now if it would just flower..........
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Hi,
Just thought I'd share another odd way I'm growing this plant, this tank is basically were I stick all my scrap/division plants/pieces to see if they will live or die before either repotting them or trashing them......
Here is another batch of U. graminifolia growing in some pond mud, yep mud, high in fertiziliers and all those bad things. And to make things even worse....I add fertizlier to this closed system every week
. This batch of U. graminifolia started out as a wee little cutting maybe an 1/8" in size if that. Its under very very very low light levels, 2 13W daylight compact flourscents 16" away from the bulbs, these bulbs are about 18-24 months old to boot 
.
The picture is a bit on the red side due to the plant light bulb color.
The tank gets misted every day, well the orchids in the tank get misted, the run off gets down to the mud sometime later. 1-2 times a month, I add about 1/8" to 1/2" of standing water to the mud to flood the various plants in there.
Just thought I'd share another odd way I'm growing this plant, this tank is basically were I stick all my scrap/division plants/pieces to see if they will live or die before either repotting them or trashing them......
Here is another batch of U. graminifolia growing in some pond mud, yep mud, high in fertiziliers and all those bad things. And to make things even worse....I add fertizlier to this closed system every week
. This batch of U. graminifolia started out as a wee little cutting maybe an 1/8" in size if that. Its under very very very low light levels, 2 13W daylight compact flourscents 16" away from the bulbs, these bulbs are about 18-24 months old to boot . The picture is a bit on the red side due to the plant light bulb color.
The tank gets misted every day, well the orchids in the tank get misted, the run off gets down to the mud sometime later. 1-2 times a month, I add about 1/8" to 1/2" of standing water to the mud to flood the various plants in there.
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Some time ago I bought a Utricularia graminifolia for my fish tank, but unfortunately algae got the better of it. I managed to salvage a very small piece and washed off as much algae as possible before transfering it to a undrained container, where I now grow it as a semi aquatic. Here are the results...
Having read through the post again, my growing techniques don't look much different to yours. The undrained container contains peat and grit. The container is translucent, almost clear, plastic so the underground portions of the plant are exposed to light around the outside, the exposed portions are green so maybe they photosynthesise? I water everyday which completely submerges the leaves but, due to evaporation, they become partially exposed before the next watering. It is next to a window which receives good light but no direct sun, there is also a suplimentary 70W metal halide light which is on for 14 hours/day but it covers a large area so intensity is quite low. It has now been flowering non-stop for several months.So....how did you make it flower
I think I've grown enough to carpet our living room, and not 1 little flower
Lovely pictures by the way.
Not at all, items sometimes have different names in different countries and this could be the case here. It's a coarse grade quartzite sand consisting of particle sizes of approx 5mm down. It's often used in cacti and succulents soil mixes. It's available in washed hortcultural, lime free grade here in the UK.
Mobile,
Thanks for sharing your impressive results with this species.
Any idea what temps the plant sees in summer / winter? How long has it been growing undisturbed in the same pot?
Mobile,
Thanks for sharing your impressive results with this species.
Any idea what temps the plant sees in summer / winter? How long has it been growing undisturbed in the same pot?
I live in northern Scotland, right on the North coast, so the temperatures are never very high. They rarely get past mid-twenties celcius during the summer and the room would get down into the mid-teens celcius in the winter. I'm not too sure how long the plant has been in the pot but I would guess that it was around about the beginning of the year.
Perhaps it is daylength? Mine are starting to send up flower stems now. These are just little plugs that have only been growing about nine months. I don't grow them totally submerged but pretty wet with the water level about halfway up the side.
I've just been growing mine as a terrestrial in 50/50 peat/sand. I normally keep the water level about half way or less up the pot (4 inch tall). Grown out doors on a covered west facing balcony, so only about 4-6 hours of direct sunlight.
It normally tries to flower around this time of year. The flowers aborted last year.
It was doing great until moss started taking over the center of the pot:
It was in a white "cottage cheese" container which I just now exchanged for a transparent container as the tray. It might do better as an aquatic, but this is the reason I keep my Utricularia isolated with individual "trays". The stolon can spread to other pots via drain holes.
I guess I should pull out the Drosera capensis since the roots get massive.
It normally tries to flower around this time of year. The flowers aborted last year.
It was doing great until moss started taking over the center of the pot:
It was in a white "cottage cheese" container which I just now exchanged for a transparent container as the tray. It might do better as an aquatic, but this is the reason I keep my Utricularia isolated with individual "trays". The stolon can spread to other pots via drain holes.
I guess I should pull out the Drosera capensis since the roots get massive.
Mine gets no daylength variation, so that may be it, or it could be the near constant pruning. Its never "crowded".
Here is a good example of a Utric. escape artist. I never planted this plant in that worm feeder, nor did this Utric ever grow into the water column more than like 1-2 inches from its little shelf, nor has it flowered to set seeds. But it did manage to travel about a foot and up 2 inches and then grow in the sphagnum moss, then root down through it and this morning I noticed the second picture.....bad plant
. Get out of my water!!!
P.S. Some Utric's were harmed in the filming of this material. They were removed from there happy waterly home and relocated against their will to another location.
Here is a good example of a Utric. escape artist. I never planted this plant in that worm feeder, nor did this Utric ever grow into the water column more than like 1-2 inches from its little shelf, nor has it flowered to set seeds. But it did manage to travel about a foot and up 2 inches and then grow in the sphagnum moss, then root down through it and this morning I noticed the second picture.....bad plant
. Get out of my water!!!P.S. Some Utric's were harmed in the filming of this material. They were removed from there happy waterly home and relocated against their will to another location.
Mine are deffinately not crowded so i don't think that is an issue. They have always reliably flowered during the Summer for me. So it seems pretty certain to me that it requires long days to flower. The question though is does it require a short photoperiod to prepare it for flowering during long days. I have also never had it flower underwater, It grows very well submerged but the flowers always come from the plant that is above water, while the water tray is filled with submerged plant and no flowers.
How long do you have the lights on?
How long do you have the lights on?
This tank the lights are on approx. 11 hours, I have others ranging from 10 to 14 hours. They are all stable thou, they all get the same amount of light per day year round.