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Very sick D. Binata can't seem to come out of dormancy?


supadik

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Hi there.

 

Last year I bought a D. Binata, I can't remember which type it is but the leaves forked and each fork forked again....maybe that will help with id-ing it. At first I placed it on a south facing window sill it didn't seem to be doing too bad but there didn't seem to be much dew production so I moved it into my poly tunnel behind my house. It seemed a little happier from a dew production point of view but it's growth wasn't all that vigorous. Never having had a D. Binata before I wasn't sure how vigorously it should grow so I just carried on doing what I had been doing. The plant seemed happy enough sat in an inch or so of water. Then winter came along, I decided to leave the Binata in the Poly tunnel with the rest of my cps. Near the end of winter/start of spring horror of horrors my poly tunnel had decided to sod off to the neighbours garden during a thunder storm :( The contents of the escaped poly tunnel were all over my back garden. Since the weather was still horrid me and the wife just stuffed the cover of the poly tunnel into the garden shed and forgot about the back garden until the weather improved.

 

So spring arrived and I decided to tackle the back garden, the only cp's I could find was a couple of flay traps that had sprouted from seed sown the previous summer, a pitcher plant and the Binata. The trouble is it seems to be having a major problem coming out of dormancy and baring in mind it's now July I am thinking the poor thing is near death :( What is happening has baffled me...it has no leaves at all and every time a new leaf breaks through the surface it turns black and dies within 2-3 days. I thought perhaps the roots were suffering from rot or perhaps the soil was a bad mix so I checked the roots which seemed fine (black, thick and strong) and re-potted the Binata in pure live sphagnum moss. I then placed the plant in a bowl with an inch or so of water in it and stood it on a bench in my south facing front garden where it receives full sun. Still the leaves kept turning black and dying as soon as they appeared so I moved the Binata to the south facing window sill...there was no improvement so now it's back on the bench with my other cps.

 

The fact that it is trying to grow new leaves suggests it's not yet dead but what's going on? Should I return the plant to the poly tunnel behind my house where it's warmer but receives less direct sun light because where it is currently positioned doesn't seem to be working? I'm thinking that maybe the evening temperatures are too cold for it...I live near Beveley, East ringing of Yorkshire.

 

I hope somebody can shed some light on this issue as I'd like to save the plant if at all possible.

 

Cheers

 

Rich

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Ok it may all be academic now as I decided to bring the Binata in over night. While I was in the shower my Great Dane pup has dragged it off the kitchen counter and shredded it, there's a reasonable amount of root left on the plant but as it was already sick I imagine this will have finished the poor thing off :(

 

So, what's the best method for growing Binata from root cuttings? lol

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I got one off ebay last year or so and its a very poor grower, not like i remember them being at all from many years ago. It has to be in direct sun all day to get anything like growth on it.

There seems to be some very poor growing clones around, at least the one i have currently is.

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I got one off ebay last year or so and its a very poor grower, not like i remember them being at all from many years ago. It has to be in direct sun all day to get anything like growth on it.

There seems to be some very poor growing clones around, at least the one i have currently is.

Yes this plant of mine didn't seem to grow very much and the leaves were quite "floppy", over the entire growing season last year it didn't really make much headway at all.

 

I went through the remains of my plant and found 4 growing points still had a decent amount of roots still attached so I have re-potted them to see what happens. The rest of the roots I chopped up into 1-2 inch lengths and laid the horizontally on the surface and covered to a depth of about 1/4 inch. The 4 re-potted growing points and the root cuttings are all sat in a tray of water that is about 1-1/2 inch deep outside in full sun...is this ok or do they need to be put somewhere else?

 

Also does anybody have any idea what the original cause of the plants troubles could have been?

 

Cheers

 

Rich

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I got one off ebay last year or so and its a very poor grower, not like i remember them being at all from many years ago. It has to be in direct sun all day to get anything like growth on it.

There seems to be some very poor growing clones around, at least the one i have currently is.

 

The results of bad breeding in horticultural.

 

I've only seen two clones of D. binata I like.  Both collected directly from the wild:  The giant golden dichotoma and a very sturdy D. binata with two points.  All the other horticultural clones I've tried grew into ugly messes.

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Dave, the sturdy one with two points: I had this as a kid and it was lovely, but my parents killed it when I moved away. I'm looking for it again.  I also have the giant one you mentioned and love it thanks to Stephen Morley.

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  • 7 years later...

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