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How I grow M. tuberosa, H. formicarum, and other plants


Druboi

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Greetings,

I grow M. tuberosa, H. formicarum, some Dischidia, and numerous other plants, including Nepenthes, Begonias, orchids, gesneriads, and sundry other plants, that catch my interest. I grow most, with the exception of a few grown in domes, similarly, with only the potting mix and lighting varying.

I grown under T8, T12, and T5 fluorescents, with my caudiciform ant plants being under a 6 tube, T8 fixture, with reflector, on 9 hours per day, using 6,500k bulbs, approx 12-18" above the plants.

Temperatures are typical indoor living temperatures, with 80F being an uncommon high and the low 50sF occurring at night, during the cold Winter. Otherwise, temps are typically in the low 60sF at night and between 70F-73F, during the day. Ambient humidity is highly, by virtue of having so many plants and is between 70%-90%, with 80% being most common.

I acquired my M. tuberosa H. formicarum as golf ball sized caudexes, in December, 2014. Since then, both plants have attained caudex sizes of a large grapefruit and about 1' across, in the case of M. tuberosa. Both plants flower and fruit, regularly. I think these dramatic gains are attributable to my watering practices. I grow them in plastic pots (formerly clay) and utilize a constant feed and water method, by running a length of synthetic yarn through the pot bottom and over the pot rim, allowing the dangling yarn to hang through a plastic grid, into a reservoir of fertilized Reverse Osmosis water. The reservoirs are fed, nearly every topping off, with 1/8-1/4tsp per gal each of MaxSea, Peter's or MSU Orchid RO/Rain water formula, once every 6-8 weeks, the MaxSea is substituted with Jack's African Violet Formula, at the same dose. The reservoirs have gone dry, or the wicks have failed to draw water, when the plant was too rootbound, and the caudex shriveled slightly, in H. formicarum and leaves yellowed and dropped in M. tuberosa, but with hydration restored, both symptoms abated, within days. The constant moisture causes no rot, by virtue of a porous, loose mix, of coarse charcoal, #4 perlite, long fibered, dried, Chilaen Sphagnum, orchid bark, and the smallest amount of Promix. I grow my Nepenthes exactly as described, also, only they are on reservoirs of unfertilzed water and are sometimes foliar fed, with MaxSea, as well as supplying insects to the pitchers, as well as rare bits or organic fertilizer sticks. I also omit the Promix, in the Nepenthes growing mix.

I hope I provided an interesting, novel, alternative, you might try, for growing your plants.

I have just placed a nice order with Wistuba, for some new ant ferns and caudiciforms, as well as some choice Nepenthes, to arrive hopefully in September. I hope to try my luck with these highland species and report success, in a few months.

Regards,

Drew

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Hi Drew,

 

Welcome to the forum!  Thanks for the informative post on your growing system.  Golf ball to large grapefruit size caudex in 8 months is serious growth.  I think some of us might try this system on some of the "oh-so -slow" growers we have.  More information on the yarn you use?  thickness? brand?  It would also be helpful for us to know where in the world you are at.  And what does the "MSU" stand for.  What is "1' actors, in the case of M. tuberosa." please?  Thanks.  And thanks for jumping into the forum.

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MSU is apparently a university with an extensive orchid collection and the fertilizer is searchable in eBay or Google using just the acronym, "MSU fertilizer RO water formula". There apparently is no way to edit your post and autocorrect changed 1' across to "actors". The yarn I use is acrylic, 4 ply yarn, but any synthetic fiber will work. Wool and cotton will rot, and some yarn is treated with fire retardants and water repellents, so sometimes I've needed to switch brands, if what I had been using no longer wicks. I like to run the yarn through the drainage hole, on one side and across the interior, then using a small slit I cut in the pot rim, secure it, so it forms a diagonal wick, through the pot interior, ensuring even moisture. For large pots or plants prone to forming dense mats of roots, I will double up the yarn by folding it in half and running the now U shaped yarn as indicated before, even running 2 doubled wicks through the same hole and then tieing them all together, with a knot at the end that hangs into the reservoir. This makes for an easier time getting the yarn through the grid and it ensures it won't stop wicking, if constricted by a vigorous root system. I wish I was as tech savvy as some and could share pictures, from my phone, to the forum. You can grow virtually ANYTHING wicked. It's the porosity of your potting mix that determines the amount of moisture the plant receives, not the diameter or type of wick. I have epiphytes, lithophytes, terrestrials, euphorbia, tuberous plants, Nepenthes, orchids, begonias, and many types of plants growing this way. It's the only way I could maintain our collection of approximately 1,500 species and hybrids of various things. Also, I grow in a carpeted, centrally heated and cooled, basement, so I can't water baskets and mounts easily. I live in the NorthEastern U.S., close to Baltimore, Maryland.

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Wow, informative, novel, well written, thoughtful and concise; posts such as yours Drew give me hope for the future of this forum. Obviously there are more team players out there, we just need to find them. Incidentally, MSU is Michigan State University and they have produced a few fertiliser formulations, for example see, http://www.aos.org/Default.aspx?id=417

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Hi, welcome here and thanks for your informations...

After several years of cultivation, I also decided this year to stop clay pots. I think that plant dry out too quickly, and I suspect also clay to store some fungal infections... As I have some problems with pythium or other oomycetes in Hydnophytinae, I would like to avoid any risks.

 

I've also noticed that nearly all ant-plants' grower have its own mix for potted plants, and all work well... under his cultivation's conditions. The size or material of the pot, the substrate, the fertilisation depends a lot of the sun, the moisture, the uses of each grower and is not allways transposable in others conditions.

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Potting mix and pot size are rather dependent on plant metabolism and water availability. I find that clay is just labor intensive, because to clogs with slime algae, molds, and deposits. With an extremely porous mix, and the air space created by the space between the water a pot bottom, plastic allows plenty of breathability, in my conditions. Top watering has the advantage of flushing the soil of accumulated fertilizers and carrying oxygen with it. With the fertilizers I use and the minute, but constant dose, I never see any build up of minerals or salts, even after a year, in the same pot. Mesh pots and other breathable pots would work with my wicking methods as well, I'm sure, but I do well with what I already had on hand.

I find it a common assumption that epiphytes must receive minimal nutrition, but in the tropics, ants nest in and infest the roots of a large percentage of bromeliads, orchids, ferns, and aroids, thus providing constant nutrition and the plants that don't have infesting ants benefit from nutrients carried with the rain from plants that do. I think ants are an overlooked importance in tropical ecosystems or at least under appreciated.

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 I think ants are an overlooked importance in tropical ecosystems or at least under appreciated.

Yes, even some of this group's highly experienced cultivators have learned techniques dependent upon plant physiologies accustomed to being well fed by their ant colonies. Jeff's advice herein that high nitrogen formulations promote particularly excellent growth in tuberous hydnophytinae (and probably most other ant-house species) provides an exemplary example. Although myrmecophytes often occur in generally nutrient deficient habitats along with carnivorous plants, their needs for feeding are different.  Thus, those new to the world of ant plants from a background in carnivorous plants (that primarily grow in very nutrient poor soils) may need to adjust their thinking.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bonjour

 

may be , as in Amorphophallus, a phosphorus level (P) can also be a good solution.

 Now I alternate fertilizer NPK: 32-5-5 and NPK: 12-32-14 and of course watering by rain water between each fertilization

 

jeff

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  • 6 months later...

Growing Ant-plants Hydroponically

 

Last July Druboi (Drew) started this thread.  Basically he described a hydroponic system using wicks to draw water/fertilizer from a reservoir under the pots.  In that thread I queried him about some of the details of his set up.  I have long known that one of my weaknesses is not being consistent with watering.  Plants would dry out too much between waterings for me.  They would then go into a funk, loose leaves and loose their growing momentum.  So the idea of a constant water supply appealed to me.

I started converting some of my grow spaces into hydroponic systems last October and I am very happy with the results.  I have much happier plants that have grown many times better than those still on my old system.  The only negatives so far have been an increase in fungus gnats and the loss of some small seedlings when repotted into the new system.

Thanks very much, Drew, for sharing your information with us.  I am grateful for the improvement it has made in my ability to grow these plants. I hope others here will look at this technique as a way to improve their growing results as well. 

I am going to start a new topic in this cultivation section of the forum for growing Rubiaceous ant-plants hydroponically and I will detail my change over to the hydroponic system with photos there.

 

Thanks again Drew!

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