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My Collection

Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2022 11:40 pm
by FriendshuhM
First post, hope this works.

The first of my Epiphyllum oxypetalum. I’ve since gained two more (different varieties) that are just cuttings.

A video of the bloom: https://youtu.be/tWPLiqIElt4
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Re: My Collection

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2022 12:45 am
by mmcavall
It worked! Amazing plant

Re: My Collection

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2022 2:28 am
by FriendshuhM
Some of my (as of yet) unidentified cactacea pals (the last two are my new Epiphyllum cuttings, one is E. anguliger, the other I’m HOPING is different than my Oxypetalum).

Re: My Collection

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2022 2:44 am
by FriendshuhM
…and my non cactus ‘pets’:
One of my giant aloes. It bloomed for me once, but KEEPS making babies.
An unidentified palm grown from seed that a coworker collected in Arizona.
My fern/flytrap terrarium, with blossom.
A hoya I got from my mother when she passed (a few of the cacti came from her as well).
A euphorbia ammak varigata. Of course I thought it was a cactus until I came here. :roll:

Re: My Collection

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2022 3:56 pm
by jerrytheplater
Your VFT should really see a winter rest in the refrigerator from first frost to last frost and will really do best if grown outdoors in full sun. Water with rain water/RO/Distilled. Unless your tap water is really low in Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). Less than 50 ppm TDS. Don't use water softened from a home water softener. It is full of sodium.

Re: My Collection

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2022 4:57 pm
by Tom in Tucson
Your palm is most likely a Washingtonia filibusta (filifera X robusta). This hybrid is far more common in cultivation than either of the 2 species. They do the best with full sun regardless of the climate.

Re: My Collection

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2022 9:28 pm
by FriendshuhM
Tom in Tucson wrote: Fri Mar 11, 2022 4:57 pm Your palm is most likely a Washingtonia filibusta (filifera X robusta). This hybrid is far more common in cultivation than either of the 2 species. They do the best with full sun regardless of the climate.
Thank you! I’ll look into that species! The only thing I ‘know’ about it are the seeds (mini coconuts) were collected under a tree that was 30 to 40 feet tall and looked just like perfectly round rabbit shoot. Looked enough like it that several coworkers teased me that it was all a gag and I was sitting around waiting for rabbit poop to sprout. :lol:

EDIT: just googled the filibusta and everything checks out, seed type, avg. tree height and distinctive features! Thank you.

jerrytheplater wrote: Fri Mar 11, 2022 3:56 pm Your VFT should really see a winter rest in the refrigerator from first frost to last frost and will really do best if grown outdoors in full sun. Water with rain water/RO/Distilled. Unless your tap water is really low in Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). Less than 50 ppm TDS. Don't use water softened from a home water softener. It is full of sodium.
Yes, it only gets distilled water, or rain water. Fortunately, in the terrarium I only have to add water about twice a year. I do have it hibernating now, though it went in late, and probably won’t be ‘sleeping’ quite as long as frost to frost. This is my second terrarium attempt… the last one survived 4 years before I accidentally broke it during a cleaning.

Re: My Collection

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:51 am
by jerrytheplater
Good thing you are using rain water. Hard water is death to VFT, as I can tell you know. My first potting of VFT I unknowingly used a pure limestone sand/peat moss mixture. I could see the immediate decline in the plants and tested the pH of the mix. Right away I knew my problem. Repotted in pure peat moss and they recovered. Dumped all of that sand on my garden and tested the pH of sand before purchasing from then on.

Assuming you are growing outdoors, you have control over when you bring your VFT out of refrigeration. Don't take it out until after your last frost date if you are growing them outdoors.

Re: My Collection

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 2:00 pm
by FriendshuhM
jerrytheplater wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:51 am Good thing you are using rain water. Hard water is death to VFT, as I can tell you know. My first potting of VFT I unknowingly used a pure limestone sand/peat moss mixture. I could see the immediate decline in the plants and tested the pH of the mix. Right away I knew my problem. Repotted in pure peat moss and they recovered. Dumped all of that sand on my garden and tested the pH of sand before purchasing from then on.

Assuming you are growing outdoors, you have control over when you bring your VFT out of refrigeration. Don't take it out until after your last frost date if you are growing them outdoors.
Apparently I’ve lucked out on my sand and gravel as I never even thought to test its ‘mineral content’… perhaps I’m okay because I’ve always rinsed it first? My terrarium setup is a heavily charred piece of wood (charcoal filter) laid in the bottom of a large fishbowl (washed, dried, then wiped down with alcohol) covered with a a layer of the rinsed sand. Then a layer of rinsed pea rock and 2 or 3 layers of live sphagnum moss. The I plant the VFT’s and add some rocks for decoration and to hold the moss down a bit. Then a glass lid (just a crockpot lid that fits). It steams up nicely during the day and let’s off the most wonderful swampy smells if I pop the lid open! The last one just had 3 VFT in it, this one had 2 (one didn’t take) and the little fern I found one day.

Re: My Collection

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2022 6:03 pm
by jerrytheplater
Have you ever checked the pH of the water in your planter? If you have limestone containing rocks it will be up around 8.3. I get what is called Yellow Mason Sand at the local garden center. Its pH before rinsing out the clay is about 5.5. After rinsing it is about 6.0. It is a silica sand. Fairly certain it is mined down in the NJ Pine Barrens where Carnivorous Plants grow profusely in the bogs. No VFT though as they are not native up here. Just down in North Carolina.

A sundew that does not require dormancy and grows nicely indoors under very very bright light is Drosera tokaiensis. It is a natural hybrid and will die if it sees much below freezing. It is a pretty nice looking plant and would grow well in your planter. PM me if you want some seeds once the current seed stalk matures its seeds.

Re: My Collection

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2022 6:30 pm
by FriendshuhM
jerrytheplater wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 6:03 pm Have you ever checked the pH of the water in your planter? If you have limestone containing rocks it will be up around 8.3. I get what is called Yellow Mason Sand at the local garden center. Its pH before rinsing out the clay is about 5.5. After rinsing it is about 6.0. It is a silica sand. Fairly certain it is mined down in the NJ Pine Barrens where Carnivorous Plants grow profusely in the bogs. No VFT though as they are not native up here. Just down in North Carolina.

A sundew that does not require dormancy and grows nicely indoors under very very bright light is Drosera tokaiensis. It is a natural hybrid and will die if it sees much below freezing. It is a pretty nice looking plant and would grow well in your planter. PM me if you want some seeds once the current seed stalk matures its seeds.
My brother and a cousin are doing some of the other carnivores including sundews (not sure of the variety). If they have a different variety (and I can get some), I may be up for a seed swap! Do yours naturally propagate, or are you manually pollinating? My brother has been propagating with cuttings… he says he’s noticed that nearly any amount of living cut material will sprout roots and regrow.

Re: My Collection

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2022 7:55 pm
by jerrytheplater
I have the three sundew species native to NJ plus this hybrid. Let me see if I can remember the species: D. filiformis, D. intermedia, D. rotundifolia. They pollinate themselves naturally. They all form hibernacula in winter. I keep them in my unheated garage over winter.

The hybrid produces viable seed indoors without any assistance from me.

I spent one day in a sphagnum bog in the Pine Barrens that had been planted with non native Sarracenia pitcher plants over 40 years ago. We walked in it since it was the flooded areas around a small stream/river and the bottom was very firm sand. We were waist deep. The property was in private hands back 40 years ago and the owner did the planting. He donated it to a conservancy and the person I went with had been weeding it out for at least 8 years. When I went with him, we still could find some hybrids and even a few that looked like they were pure species. S. rubra and S. flava were there for sure. I brought some home, along with some hybrids. A lot we destroyed.

Re: My Collection

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2022 3:02 am
by Aeonium2003
jerrytheplater wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 7:55 pm I have the three sundew species native to NJ plus this hybrid. Let me see if I can remember the species: D. filiformis, D. intermedia, D. rotundifolia. They pollinate themselves naturally. They all form hibernacula in winter. I keep them in my unheated garage over winter.
Let me guess. The hybrid is Drosera Hybrida?

Re: My Collection

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2022 2:26 am
by jerrytheplater
Evan, the hybrid I was speaking about I mentioned earlier: "A sundew that does not require dormancy and grows nicely indoors under very very bright light is Drosera tokaiensis. It is a natural hybrid and will die if it sees much below freezing. It is a pretty nice looking plant and would grow well in your planter. PM me if you want some seeds once the current seed stalk matures its seeds."

I grow this hybrid outdoors in the summer in full sun. This way all of my plants get to eat outside.

Here it is: Image

Here is D. tokaiensis growing under an LED spotlight:
Image

I bury my tender Carnivorous Plants in a leaf pile. I hope to open it up tomorrow, but here is a photo taken Dec 2020 right after finishing the pile: Image

Re: My Collection

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 6:42 pm
by FriendshuhM
jerrytheplater wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 2:26 am Evan, the hybrid I was speaking about I mentioned earlier: "A sundew that does not require dormancy and grows nicely indoors under very very bright light is Drosera tokaiensis. It is a natural hybrid and will die if it sees much below freezing. It is a pretty nice looking plant and would grow well in your planter. PM me if you want some seeds once the current seed stalk matures its seeds."

😮 You weren’t kidding ‘very, very bright light’!! I would love some seeds… I’ve never tried sundew, but would be willing to try. Are they tricky to grow from seed, or a pretty ‘willing’ sprouter?