9 replies to this topic

[Bob H]

Right...I have my seed planted on wet moss peat and the embryonic plants have 'unfurled'....what next???
I can't find pics on the net of this species nor much info regarding cultivation....LITTLE HELP????   

[gardenofeden]

you wont find much on the net, as it has only recently entered cultivation, mostly via myself!

you can leave them on the moss, tho' some people reckon that they will prosper more on a peat mix, so try moving a few to an 'open' peaty mix suitable for epiphytes

[Bob H]

OK Stephen.
Would you be so kind as to let me know your set up for these plants, temp, light that sort of thing. Now they are on the move I'd like to keep them going. They are at the "fuzzy shuttlecock" stage

[gardenofeden]

my plants stand in a water tray in the greenhouse, water level 1/2 way up the pot, plants in pure sphagnum. they are on the lower shelf, but get full sun virtually all day. summer temps upto 40C, winter minimum 7C. you may want to keep the seedlings a bit warmer, although I've had a report of frosted seedlings being OK so they are pretty tough!

[Bob H]

Cheers Stephen, and thanks for the "seeds" :-)

[Dieter]

I also want to say thanks for the seeds!

Regards,
Dieter

[JanW]

Thanks from me, too!

Jan

[Dunc]

Thanx from me2!

:dancing:

I've also got a few 'fuzzy shuttlecocks' - fasinating!  What happens next and how long will it take?  Never seen anything like this before - what's the idea of the structure and how quick did they form (they suddenly seemed to be there, I'm sure the day after I sowed the seed??).

Cheers
Dunc

[Bob H]

Dunc, My"shuttlecocks" did appear the following day. They now look like five or six armed starfish with bifurcations(??) at the tips. I think the seed must germinate whilst developing and this helps them retain their new 'home' when they disperse.

[Fernando Rivadavia]

You can see pics of this species in the wild on my webpage. It took me around 6 years to finally find them in the wild (this was in 1996), they are not very common, although widespread in SE Brazil. In nature they are ONLY known from bromeliad tanks, unlike U.humboldtii, which also grows in marshy places. I think this is mostly because the bromeliads U.humboldtii are found it are usually growing in boggy places while the bromeliads U.nelumbifolia are found in only occur on rocky cliffs. But apparently U.nelumbifolia do grow well in soil, as I have been told by CPers. U.nelumbifolia was the only species I kept in cultivation when I got rid of my CP collection in 1996. I chucked the newly discovered plants in a bromeliad at my parents' place and they developed slowly for a few years. When they finally seemed to have colonized the whole bromeliad, THEN they finally flowered. I think this was in 2001 or 2002. Maybe because they always flower from the outermost bromeliad leaves, where it's drier. So actually the bromeliad had to grow and "push" the U.nelumbifolia outwards, drying them, and thus stimulating them to flower, as well as produce the aireal stolons to recolonize the central parts of teh bromeliad, where water is present.

As for the seedlings, I've germinated lots, but they always seemed to die after a few weeks on sphagnum...