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Byblis liniflora in LFS?


ebeyonder

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I grow my Byblis liniflora in peat/sand (1:1 approx.) but I have had stray seeds accidentally fall into an adjacent pot of Genlisea violacea and germinate and start growing in NZ LFS without problems. I transplanted them after a while into sand/peat, mainly because I didn't want them to stay where they were, so I don't know if they would do well in this medium permanently. If you think it will help control algal growth on the top of the pots, I can't see that it would do any harm to have a very thin layer of LFS on top, the roots will soon grow down into the peat/sand below.

Also, I grow my plants wet all the time (tray water level 1-2cm) and have never had any problems with this. Some of my oldest plants are now over 2 1/2 years old and still flowering well, so they don't seem to mind being permanently wet.

Vic

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  • 1 month later...

I agree with Vic's experience, my Byblis liniflora have been known to grow just fine while constantly wet, if they get too lanky the tops can be removed and rooted while the remainder of the plant will form new buds and branches to replace the missing top portion and continue growing with even more gusto.

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Hi PinguiculaMan,

how do you root the head cuttings? Do you simply put them in the substrate or do you use some special medium or some chemicals?

And another question to vic: During these 2 1/2 years of growing, which temperature range or changes do you have in your growing space? Do you grow them more tropical? What is the minimum temperature they had to bear?

Jan

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Jan,

For the first two years I grew these plants in a brightly lit terrarium which I also use for tropical sundews. The temperatures fall to about a minimum of 15C at night and they are on a constant 13 photoperiod, temperatures when the lights are on reach about 28C. In May this year I decided to move these older plants out of the terrarium into my conservatory for the summer. They were getting too large and straggly, yet still flowering and producing seed. They are still alive and flowering now and getting night temperatures of about 10C. I imagine that as winter comes with much shorter days and cooler day temperatures they will probably not be alive next year.

Byblis liniflora 2 1/2 years old

oldliniflora.jpg

Also, something that is interesting to this discussion. In late June I had an accident whilst taking photographs of my plants and knocked the growth tip off one of my B. lamellata plants. I was aware of Joseph's interesting results with tip cuttings of B. liniflora so I planted the detached tip at the side of the 'mother' plants pot. Amazingly, after nearly 4 months, this tip is still alive and growing (slowly). According to all the reports I've seen on propagating this species (or at least B. gigantea) it can only be done by seed or root-cuttings. I know I really should dig this small plant up to see if it has formed roots, but I don't have the heart to disturb it. So I'll just wait to see if it continues to grow.

Byblis lamellata tip cutting, 3 1/2 months old.

lamellatatip.jpg

Vic

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I don't think they would like heavy, tropical rain on a regular basis. From what I understand of the climate in N. Australia, where they live, there is a fairly short period of very heavy rain, which is when they germinate. This is followed by drier weather, during which the plants grow whilst the soil remains wet and they then die down as the soil dries out.

I would protect them from heavy rains, but give them plenty of light. Bright shade in Singapore might be OK, its probably brighter than full sun in the UK :)

Vic

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