8 replies to this topic

[Martin Hingst]

Hi,

I haven't had too much time for my plants recently, but this new planting I made was really worth it for me. I grow an ampullaria clone that I really love - just a speckled form, but this one stays compact over many years. Perfectly for a small tank that needs only few maintenance. Here an older thread of mine:

My link

I only have to take out a shoot or two every five years or so. This time I took two little plants that grew too close to the glass and made a new small tank - dimensions 20x20cm, 30cm in height. On top a little cfl that has 24Watt.

The two shoots (only one had already some roots) were planted in a 19x19cm container, that can easily be removed out of the tank (in contrast to my first tank, where the substrate was placed directly inside the tank, so everything has to stay in there)
Planting was done in February. After some weeks of struggeling, both shoots had established. Some weeks later, they started pitchering. This is how it looks like today.







The whole tank with the lamp on top:



And here two pics of the mother tank of today - a bit untidy, have to remove some sundews soon ;-)





A nice, easy-care and low-maintenance plant. Hope you like it -

Martin

Edited by Martin Hingst, 15 July 2012 - 14:23 PM.

[bugmuncher]

beautiful plants , i dont have any nepenthes yet but hope to get some soon. what is the drosera you have in there?

[Richard Bunn]

Is this always kept somewhere really warm or is there some sort of heating in it or is it just room temperature? I'm interested in the temperature it's being kept at.  Also is there a front glass on all the time or is the front just partially glazed?

Lovely setup by the way, great ampullaria.

[Martin Hingst]

Thanks :-)

The Drosera is D. adelae. The tank is not heated, except the warmth that comes from the lamp on top during the day. The tank is placed in my bedroom, I would guess night temps in February were several times (if not any day) below 20°C. The front is closed by a glass door all of the time - just open it for watering (you can see it leaning on the right of the tank in the 4th picture.

Regards

Martn

[North]

Beautiful, amazing it stays so compact in ten years!

[mobile]

I've always been fascinated with your miniature ampullaria Martin. I tried to grow one in a tank and it grew so large that it filled it and died when I had to remove it. I don't know if it's the conditions that you grow it in, or whether your plant is simply a naturally small form, but I would love to be able to replicate your setup.

[Martin Hingst]

Thanks again! Carl, I am a bit in doubt what is the main reason, because there may be several factors mixed in.

First, I know of a friend to whom I gave a division of this clone, that under his conditions the plant grew indeed bigger.

Then - I once introduced two other clones in the tank. The first one - a red clone - grew too big in there within a year, I had to take it out again. The other one was a tricolor, that is still in there ( you can see it in the mother tank pictures, on the right in the foreground) that forms bigger leaves than the speckled one, but still is smaller than other tricolor plants would be after three years.

So - I guess it has to do something with both the clone and the conditions.

Regarding conditions: the tank is unheated, and well lit - both could be a reason for stunted growth. I have once read that plants in the open grow much more compact than the same plant in a darker forrest. What makes sense somehow. Though this would still not answer the question why the pitchers stay quite small too. Maybe the low temperature is one reason for that.

Anyway - it works nicely without caring too much ;-)

Regards

Martin

[Martin Hingst]

Did a bit of cleaning today - still fits in perfectly (though 20cm tank size is quite ambitious…)





Colouration isn't too bad either for a north facing window (artificial light, see above)



Still love my new little baby

regards

Martin

Edited by Martin Hingst, 07 October 2012 - 13:55 PM.

[mobile]

You're still making me jealous of that lovely miniature amp