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Myrmecodia lamii - cultivated plant


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Hi Jay,

for some months (from beginning of the year til September I was using Peters Excel Grower (14-6-14 +6,5CaO +2,5MgO +TE) for my ant plants. I chose it because of the fact that it contains both Ca and Mg and I thought that the higher rate of K would be nice for Succulents. However I was not really happy with the results. Leaf coloration was not too good and growth did not meet expectations at all either.

Then I switched to Hakaphos Soft Elite (24-6-12 +2MgO +TE) which I was using before for a short time. Of cause, now I have to supplement Ca separately again - I do this from time to time as CaCl solution. The improvement is dramatic. Apparently, the ant plants did not appreciate the high K content at all. Since September I have a good growth and a dramatic change in root tip quality and leaf coloration.

All the best

Andreas

 
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Andreas:

Thanks for the very interesting feedback. Honestly, if it weren't for the danger that my ant plants will be ravaged by the skunks, raccoons and opossums that frequently break into the greenhouse complex during the night from a neighboring vacant lot to search for food, I would be using deodorized fish emulsion (5-1-1 + micros) and kelp extract (0-0-1 + micros) on a fairly frequent basis. Urban wildlife is very much a mixed blessing in California! In Guatemala I used this combo a lot at the house and found it to be excellent for maintenance feeding and almost impossible to overdo. It is also fantastic for ant ferns and platys, BTW. Since I am trying to bulk up plants here as fast as possible to get them to a size where they can flower and carry fruit to maturity, I'm feeding solubles more heavily than almost anyone, I imagine. I also find Nutricote 16-16-16 six month formula is a really good component and top-dressing for many "dirty" soilless mixes, but is Ca-free (it does have Mg traces) so needs supplemental feeding or blending with a bit of encapsulated gypsum.

Cheers,

J

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Bonjour

 

I use 2 fertilizer

 

for seedling : NPK :12.32.14+3Mgo +oligos   ( for cactus and amorphophallus also)   2g/l

 

for adult : NPK :23.5.5 +anydride sulfurique+ oligos ( 0.1%Fe ,0.1%Mn,0.1%Zn) 10g/3l

 

may be, we should use boron like oligo in little proportion (it helps to maintain the integrity of their cell walls, it is essential to the growth of pollen tubes).

 

jeff

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Since we're discussing nutrients, I might mention my old fertilizer regimen that I used for Nepenthes (everything besides pitcher feeding, of course). I'm admittedly much lazier about my plants these days, so things aren't fed quite like they used to be, but this always worked well. I would use 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of Grow More urea-free orchid fertilizer (20-10-20) (or the kelp-based Maxsea all-purpose that so many rave about) as a root drench every two weeks (I feel this dilution can be made significantly more concentrated for myrmecophytes), flushing a day or two later, and then I would apply Trichoderma atroviride to the roots, mainly to aid against soil pathogens, but also to help the plants in other ways, as mycorrhizae so often do. I had also been using coffee as a root drench every few months, mainly for pH reasons, but I did notice improved growth in certain types of Nepenthes species (those such as rajah, macrophylla, etc.). When coffee was used, the soil had to be flushed thoroughly afterwards to prevent a very immediate buildup of slime mold and other unwanted contaminants. I haven't treated any plants with coffee for probably a year or more. In the case of these ant plants, I also include Osmocote pellets into the medium for extra nutrients, although the type of fertilizer in these is a bit strong for more sensitive species, in my opinion, as I have seen it quickly turn healthy, living Sphagnum into an amorphous blob of slime. Each pellet is definitely not created equal. Further, when adding laterite as a potting medium, I would collect the red, rusty water after rinsing and douse certain species with this. All of this obviously depends on temperature, light, and the type of media being used (photosynthesis plateaus in warmer weather without higher nutrients and CO2, for example).

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