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U. humboltii & U. alpina winter dormancy ?


Guest nick_99

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Hello everyone,

till now I've my U. humboltii & U. alpina standing on my north-east facing windowsill (sun from ca. 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.). They are doing fine standing all time in water which stands only a few cm under the surface (semi-aquatic).

Ok, my question is now, what about watering in the winter month. I guess my roomtemp will be around 15°C to 20 °C in the winter, windowsill might be a little bit cooler. Through what I know U.humboltii can found together with sunpitchers which don't need a winter dormancy.

Now I heard from other growers U.humboltii might need cooler temps to flower in summer...

So has anyone suggestions how warm or cold to keep my plants and if I should reduce the amount of water in which the plants are standing?

Thanks & have a nice weekend

Nico

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I'm not sure that alpina wants as much water as you're giving it. It has little tubers underground to enable it to cope with drier periods. I keep winter mins of 50F/10C for both species, as neither requires a cool dormancy. I remove both from the water tray and keep moist in winter, but just as a precuation against rot - growth slows down with shorter days and lower temps.

Then again, I've not flowered humboldtii yet.

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You were definitely right when suggested that alpina dislikes being flooded all the time...

After reading your reply I just wanted to take the pot out of the water, while doing this I had suddenly a quarter of my plant in the hand. :shock:

The roots of the part which I was holding looked white and healthy the rest in the pot... Well smelled awful, looked brownish and rotten.

Just repoted the plant in an open mix. I guess I won't flood it again for the next month :lol:

So thanks for the advice, I believe you just saved my alpina :D

Greetings

Nico

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How well does U. alpina grow in pure Sphagnum, compared to Sphagnum mixed with perlite? I have just been repotting one plant, in peat/Sphagnum/perlite, as some of the stolons were looking not too healthy, but it has several healthy tubers so is actually better than I thought. I have replanted it in pure live Sphagnum, so do you think it would be better with perlite added?

Giles

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I like to use the same mix I use for Neps with all my Orchidioidies species, that mix being 1:1:1 Orchid bark:LFS:perlite and then I top dress with live sphag. The plants are potted in mesh baskets and sit in only about 0.5cm of water. I top water them once every 7-10 days or as the live sphag looks a little dryish. Plants like alpina and quelchii do not ever stop growth but they do slow growth at times and during those times I water less frquently.

My humboldtii is in a pot of pure LFS and it stands in a tray that gets filled to6cm and refilled whenever the water drops to 2cm. It never goes through a dry period and to my knowledge never needs one.

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I like plastic mesh baskets too - seems to keep the sphagnum moss better aerated, which asissts with prevention of decomposition.

I had my alpina in vermiculite/orchid bark earlier this year, but it didn't like it as much as the sphag/perlite mix (though longifolia loved it!). I don't know whether it was the vermiculite it objected to, but I eventually repotted it and removed all the old compost for good measure.

I don't generally like pure sphagnum as it compacts easily and can go sour, but use it for humboldtii, nelumbifolia, being careful not to firm it down any more than is needed to anchor the plant gently (and also for Drosera villosa, which appeciates the sterile conditions it helps create).

There's also economics: sphagnum moss is usually more expensive and harder to source than perlite, so I prefer to bulk up with the cheaper ingredients where possible!

Cheers.

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There's also economics: sphagnum moss is usually more expensive and harder to source than perlite, so I prefer to bulk up with the cheaper ingredients where possible!

Sphagnum moss is free and plentiful, so that's not really an issue here. However, there is free perlite here too, so maybe I'll mix some in with the Sphagnum. Thanks for the advice,

Giles

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I also had pure Sphagnum moss for one of my nepenthes (which sits in a self-made mesh pot).

After a while you could see that the whole soil would sink. The lower part was compact and very wet. I didn't had a real good feeling about it, so I unpotted the plant and mixed the Sphagnum moss with an Orchidmix (bark,peat, coconut fiber) on a 1:1 rate.

The soil still holds water but is more open. Only the first 5 cm are pure living Sphagnum.

I would not use only Sphagnum as media, better mix it with something, so it won't get to compact and rot.

So long with my personal experience.

Greetings

Nico

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