13 replies to this topic

[Matheus]

I've bought an U. alpina, when it arrived the only leaf was dying , and it died, one week the tuber start go darker, its not dead at all, but I am afraid of it  

[Andreas Eils]

Could the soil be too wet? I have experienced this species likes mostly only damp soil.

[Matheus]

I dont know, cause it is in a aquarium, where there is water to maintain it humid all day long cause here is almost winter, when the weather dry (38% ~49% day/ high umidity in the night) but the water dont touch the vase
pics could help you to help me?

[amphirion]

what media are you using? if the tuber does not receive enough ventilation and humidity it turns black. using live sphagnum moss in net pots seems to help a lot.

[Andreas Eils]

I use a mix of dead long fibred Chile sphagnum with perlite and lava rock pieces in a (plastic) net pot. I have found out that the stolon system of U. alpina does not grow very deep so I have filled the lower half of the pot with expanded clay as a drainage layer. The substrate layer is only 7 cm deep. I think it is important the soil is loose and airy for a good ventilation of the stolon system as Amphirion already wrote. The large flowering bladder worts all seem to dislike wet soil for a longer period. One exception is U. humboldtii - which can be kept aquatically with a thin layer of a peat/quartz sand mix on the ground.

My U. alpina grows in normal room humidity on a window sill. But humidity below 50% could be a little too low indeed.

Now your plant doesn´t have a single leaf? It can recover from their stolon and bulb system. The bulbs are storing water to overcome droughts. But if the plant doesn´t also have a single intact bulb then I wouldn´t be very optimistic.

A pic may help, yes - to see what substrate you use and how the remains of the plant look like. :-)

Kind regards

Andreas

[Matheus]

I think my plant is dead :'(
The soil I used was long fibred sphagnum, quartz sand, charcoal and styrofoam
I tryed to put those things more than sphagnum

when i arrived :3



now, terrible

[Andreas Eils]

Oh my God, that "thing" looks already quite poor when it arrived! No miracle it has eventually decayed. I would have been upset if I had received such a piteous piece of a plant - at least when I have paid for it or swapped it with one of my plants.

One bulb but with a little more of a stolon system, a small, but reasonably branched stolon system would have been able to survive. With what you´ve got you would have needed much luck for it to survive. The stolon system - also the thicker main runners - is rather fragile. If I took a layer of a Utric I wouldn´t touch the soil around the stolon system. I would only break a part from the mother plant but leave that layer of the plant with its old clump of soil completely intact and would advise the addressee to just put this clump of soil with the Utric-layer into a bigger pot with fresh soil. That´s the safest method in my humble opinion.

I´m very sorry there´s nothing you can save of your U. alpina-plantlet. I´d suggest if you obtain a new layer of a Utric ask the addresser to send you a piece of the plant within its old clump of soil. If you remove the soil from such a fragile plant it´s almost impossible not to break the stolon system several times.

Good luck for the next time!

Andreas

BTW: There´s nothing wrong with your substrate mix.

[gardenofeden]

I would not use styrofoam in any cp mix, unless it is specifically a horticultural product. I tried broken up pieces of packing material in mixes quite a lot, several years ago, and it made many plants unhappy.

U.alpina does not require high humidity.

[Matheus]

Oh, it's a terminal patient  
I wished this plant since I knew it, when I start growing CP's, and I'll not desist, I just wanna know one thing: i live in Brazil, here this plant is quite rare, so I have to import it, but it took +- 2 weeks to arrive, and the only leaf it has  was dead. Is this a big problem?
Thank you all so much for these great advices

Edited by Matheus, 19 June 2011 - 17:13 PM.

[gardenofeden]

it is a real surprise to me that you have to import it, as it is native to Brazil! If the tubers are healthy I would expect the plant to last a long time in the post, I suspect it was a small, unhealthy piece that was sent.

[Matheus]

A funny (or sad) fact: here in Brazil, exotic CPs are more common in the growlists than the native ones, i don't know exactly why, but is very difficult to find the beautiful brazillian Droseras and Utricularias, Gelinsea and etc in brazilian growlists comparing to exotics plants (but there is a few exceptions) , if you live here and wish a native sp is more easy go to the habitat than find someone selling it O.o
Althought Heliamphoras and U. alpina grows in Brazil, they're in a area very difficult to reach, in the frontiers
I'll surely try again, and this time with the tips you  gave me :3

[Andreas Eils]

gardenofeden, on 19 June 2011 - 07:05 AM, said:

I would not use styrofoam in any cp mix, unless it is specifically a horticultural product. I tried broken up pieces of packing material in mixes quite a lot, several years ago, and it made many plants unhappy.

Hi Stephen,

I´m surprised to read this as I have used broken up pieces of styrofoam packing material as well as an addition to several CP soil mixes - for Nepenthes and particularly "epiphytic" bladder worts. I haven´t noticed any negative effects.

Well, using agricultural perlite and agrofoam made styrofoam flakes obsolete so I don´t use them anymore as well. Particularly agrofoam has convinced me which is in fact made of plastic. But because of its porous structure it provides roots much better with air. So, agrofoam is the better alternative if you can obtain it somewhere.

Regards

Andreas

[gardenofeden]

Andreas Eils, on 20 June 2011 - 00:27 AM, said:

I´m surprised to read this as I have used broken up pieces of styrofoam packing material as well as an addition to several CP soil mixes - for Nepenthes and particularly "epiphytic" bladder worts. I haven´t noticed any negative effects.
Andreas

Using it for Nepenthes and epiphytes, if you are watering from above , may be ok as the water leaches down through the compost. I used it for Sarracenia and Utrics in water trays and suspect nasty chemicals moved up through the compost as water was drawn up through the pots, plants stopoped growing and declined in health. I am not looking for a replacement product, I was using styrofoam to try and bulk out peat composts at the time to reduce my use of peat, I have better alternatives now.

[Andreas Eils]

Aaaah! *light bulb* You´re right, I´ve always watered Neps and epiphytic Utrics from above! That´s interesting! You never learn enough.


Andreas