157 replies to this topic

[kisscool_38]

Fernando Rivadavia, on 10 February 2013 - 03:22 AM, said:

I may have to install some sort of irrigation system to water the wall from the top...

Just a small aquarium pump with a microdrip system all along the top of the wall, what works from time to time, would be a good solution. This is easy to find and economic. Possibly, you can find some small pumps that works with solar panels for a good price, even more economic solution.

[mobile]

I agree with kisscool_38, I would be inclined to set up some sort of drip wall system which comes on now and again to water the Sphagnum from the top. It would be simple to set up and maintain, just requiring occasional replenishing of the reservoir. If you set it up to pump from the reservoir then collect the run-off in there, you could empty the reservoir more frequently at the start to help remove the mineral build up.

[Rodrigo]

Great Rivadavia, its "wall carnivore" is increasingly astonishing. The images of C. folicularis and D. schizandra me very happy, because they are very beautiful plants.

It is here and do a little exploration in portuguese, since I believe that there is no translation for it: "Casa de ferreiro o espeto é de pau," how do you make the mistake of watering their carnivorous plants with aquarium water containing fertilizers? His luck was that the damage was limited to the top and was soon noticed, but imagine the damage it would cause him.

I'm not here to give lessons, after you have years of experience in growing CPs and, thus, only for me to wish you good luck in your cultivation.

Best Regards,

Rodrigo

[werds]

You have a beautiful wall in there!
That problem with the water can be bad, because water will go down .
But if you give good water , the other water will disappear, i wish you good luck

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Thanks for the tips and support guys! ;)

I will try to water from the top for a while, collecting the water from the bottom, hoping that this will be enough. If it doesn't work, then maybe I'll go with the aquarium pump....

I can already say that the Sphagnum looks better and healthier at the top, after about 3 intensive soaks from the top.


Fernando

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Hello everyone,

A quick update. My Cephalotus is going crazy! Here's what it looked like about 2 weeks ago:


Do you see the young new pitcher appearing in the middle of the rosette? Now look at this same pitcher about a week later:


What a huge pitcher!! Looks like this will be the first mature Ceph pitcher I've ever had! Here's the same pitcher viewed from the side:


These last two pics were taken a few days ago, here's one taken today:


It's still growing!! And the D.schizandra is also growing nicely, each leaf larger than the next, as you can see from the pics above.

Unfortunately I won't be able to follow the progress of this Ceph pitcher for the next two weeks while I'm out on vacation. Can't wait to see it when I get back! :)


Best Wishes,
Fernando Rivadavia


P.S. The sphagnum at the top of the panels is looking a lot better after several complete water soaks from the top.

[Rodrigo]

Wow !!! That's what i call a big jug. Your Cephalotus to generate healthy traps can only mean that the plant like the conditions offered to him, and thus this returning all their dedication towards him, throwing traps bigger and more beautiful .

Have a small D. schizandra this development with a shy , since a long time that she inhabits its "wall carnivorous." Well, at least she is still alive and i hope that in the future we toast you with a photo of her blossom .

Until next Rivadavia and success in its cultivation.

Best regards,

Rodrigo

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Hello everyone,

It's been a while since my last update. Things are looking very nice with the arrival of Spring. Lots of Pings seem to be coming out of dormancy, the summer leaves filling out a lot of the empty spaces on the wall. Also the accumulation of salt at the top of the wall seems to be under control -- I just need to perform a few more deep soaks so that plants will thrive up there.

Remember that young Cephalotus pitcher shown last time? See below what it looks like now. This is my first ever mature Cephalotus pitcher! :)  When I last tried growing it ~20 years ago, all I could get were baby pitchers. Another new pitcher is being produced, I hope it will also be a biggy.



And notice also how nice D.schizandra is looking in the pic above, compare it to previous pics!

A few months ago I also introduced U.sandersonii and this is finally taking off, see below. At first I was a bit scared of introducing such a weedy Utric, but then I just said "what the heck!" And soon it'll be too late to change my mind, we'll see what happens...



Another Utric that seems to have been able to get a grip on the wall is U.humboldtii! I placed it right near the bottom of the wall, on the shadiest corner, inside the gutter so that it gets frequently flooded when I fill it with water before going on work trips.



I'm still making leaf cuttings to fill in gaps on the wall and I've got lots of seedlings coming up from some of the crosses I made (and which I'm not keeping track of, LOL!). I've been surprised with seedlings of D.binata appearing at several spots on the wall, as you can see in the pic below. I've no idea where these came from!! I'll probably pull them all out before they get too big, but may leave one or two somewhere.



And last of all, just a quick view of one section of the wall, showing flowers of that mysterious Alfred Lau hybrid (gigantea X pilosa?).




Best wishes,
Fernando Rivadavia

[Rodrigo]

It's amazing how your "wall carnivorous" is increasingly beautiful and flawless, professional thing. Your Cephalotus this magnificent and dua D. schizandra wonderful. The strange thing is the emergence of all these D. binata, maybe (i said maybe) they have caught a ride on the substrate of your Cephalotus or Drosera.

It's funny the nature of the wings who would not want to fly because you get without sowing D. binata and i can not germinate this plant here. Do what you know, one day i can hit and be born this CP in my cultivation, there i am content to see your success in the cultivation of this plant.

Best regards,

Rodrigo

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Hello everyone,

Soon my CP wall will complete it's first birthday!! One more month to go. Although I hoped that it would be completely covered with CPs by now (it's not), it is filling up quite nicely now that spring has arrived.

I spent the last week at home (after much traveling for work), so i took the opportunity to spread tons of leaf cuttings all around. I also removed most of the D.binata seedlings, leaving only a few behind in special spots.

See below some pics I just took today. First the right panel:






U.sandersonii spreading... (I confess I'm a little scared):


P.ionantha? Lots of plants on the right panel, don't remember spreading them all. Some larger plants are looking a bit strange, the younger leaves not really developing. Not sure what's happening.


U.humbodtii is still alive and apparently doing well:


An unknown Drosera coming up on the right panel (no idea how it got there):


Now the left panel:




I believe that's a P.X aphrodite about to flower:




And there are D.schizandra and Cephalotus. I pulled a few older leaves off D.schizandra, hoping leaf cuttings work for this species (I've no idea!). Also notice the new pitcher developing on Cephalotus (to the right of the large pitcher). There's another young pitcher beginning to develop to the left of the open lid of the big pitcher:


Of the tuberous Utrics, new leaves have shown up for U.asplundii / endresii (not sure if one or both). U.quelchii is also still thare, but not doing much:


There's also a narrow leaf D.capensis that showed up out of nowhere:


And finally a beautiful pink P.rectifolia in flowering from a winter rosette (there's another one sending up a bud):


One possible bad thing I've discovered over the past week is that there are small pill bugs (wood lice, Armadillidiidae) on the right panel. Should I be worried? Should I apply an insecticide?

As the wall fills out, I am planning to isolate into clumps each Ping species/ hybrid, instead of having them randomly spread out.

Hope you like it!!


Best wishes to all,
Fernando Rivadavia

[31drew31]

This is really starting to look great Fernando, nice work!

[mobile]

You will soon have very nice looking U.sandersonii wall

[kisscool_38]

Really nice! Your wall is getting very beautiful. Your plants have very nice colors now.

[Zlatokrt]

I still cant believe, that all these plants are growing such well in the same conditions.
Congrats!

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Zlatokrt, on 29 April 2013 - 18:11 PM, said:

I still cant believe, that all these plants are growing such well in the same conditions.

Neither can that pessimistic Will from Belgium, where is he now? LOL! :)


Anyway, how about another update? My Cephalotus is really taking off, here's a pic taken about a week ago:



And here it is today:


The new pitcher is even bigger than the previous one! Not only is it ~5.5cm long (about .5cm longer than the the one on the left), but it is also wider. I can't wait to see how big that new pitcher on the left will turn out to be - especially after feeding some of the pill bugs I caught on the wall to those two large pitchers. :)

Also, I think I've been able to make a leaf cutting of the D.schizandra, there's a tiny Drosera bud showing up nearby.

I've got a few new Pings in flower and was hoping someone here could help me with IDs.

The first mystery Ping is this one:




I'm suspecting this must be some kind of cross between P.moranensis (or P.hemiepiphytica?) and P.ehlersiae/ esseriana.

And here's the 2nd mystery Ping. I think it's a cross between emarginata and maybe agnata/ pilosa/ ibarrae (look at that short spur):





And here's the last mystery Ping, I suspect this may be emarginata X cyclosecta:




So what do you guys think these 3 Pings are?

Another Ping is in flower right now, a pink P.rectifolia:



Yesterday I went to California Carnivores, where I bought a few new plants for my wall, it's becoming quite diverse. :)

D.paradoxa(?):


VFT green dragon (green? really?):


And this one will surprise many of you I'm sure... N.singalana X aristolochioides:


Might be nice to have a Nep vine hanging from the wall, we'll see. :)  I also added leaf cuttings of several new Pings, U.reniformis, & 2 forms of U.livida.

Anyway, here's a panorama that my friend Stephen Davis took yesterday of my ~2.5m (~8ft) CP wall (before I added the new plants):


Hope you enjoyed it! ;)


All the best
Fernando Rivadavia


P.S.  Next, I'll be updating the post on the CP wall at California Carnivores, where Steve & I planted ~60 Pings + another ~10 CPs yesterday: http://www.cpukforum...showtopic=49298

Edited by Fernando Rivadavia, 19 May 2013 - 18:13 PM.

[kisscool_38]

Great! The last picture is nice. I also decided to plant Drosera, Dionaea and Darlingtonia on my outdoor Ping wall. It's working very well.
As for your IDs, I think your guess are right.

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Ooooooh, you have a Ping wall too?? Pics please! :)

[kisscool_38]

Hello Fernando,

Here you can see my old wall:
http://www.cpukforum...c=36398&hl=wall
As I didn't have time to take care of this one during my thesis, it aged very badly and I nearly lost all my plants. I decided to change it and I made a new one this automn. As a consequence, I don't have many flowers this year. Here is a picture:

It is closer to Jurg Steiger system. Also it seems to demand less maintenance than the previous one.