Robert Pulvirenti Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Pulvirenti Posted March 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 This is a young plant of the McIlwraith Range form with a 28mm caudex and yet to develop the typical holes with the raised perimeters DSCF3088 (copy).JPG.zip This older plant with a caudex of 70mm at its widest has developed three typical entry holes. DSCF3089 (copy).JPG.zip A closer view of the caudex and holes The larger plant has a caudex of 95mm at its widest and has developed only five of the typical entry holes, but on closer inspection many small holes are starting to develop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Pulvirenti Posted March 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 Sorry about the mix-up with two of the pictures, I tried to do three together but only the last one came out. This is my first attempt to post pictures. DSCF3088 (copy).JPG.zip This plant has a 70mm caudex at its widest and has developed three of the typical holes with the raised perimeters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Pulvirenti Posted March 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 Can't seem so get two of the pictures to upload, so will just make a quick comment on Hydnophytum ferrugineum. Speaking to other growers of Australian Hydnophytums and Myrmecodias, this species is fairly straight forward to cultivate but is the slowest growing of the Australian species. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stone Jaguar Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Robert: Thank you very much for having posted these images and providing some information on your experience growing them. I think that it is fantastic that Australian ant rubiac growers are starting to participate more frequently on this forum. I have two plants growing in northern California which were sown from seed obtained almost four years exactly to the date. Like others, I have found this species to be very deliberate in its growth and, like other cold sensitive Hydnophytum spp., is extremely prone to shutting down growth and dropping their leaves when conditions are not to their liking. The image below was taken in early January of this year and the plant has started quite a bit of new growth as day length and temperatures have increased. The plant is being cultivated as a hanging plant (15 cm basket) in a warm greenhouse, so is somewhat more leafy and bulked up that the one I grow under less benign conditions at home. Caudex diameter is ~7 cm. No entry holes on this one yet, but the slightly smaller plant at home has one that has appeared recently on the top of the caudex. No flowers yet on either plant, unlike some species of hydnos that will fruit profusely as young as nine months from seed having been sown. I am curious to know whether single plants of this species will fruit for you? Cheers, J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Pulvirenti Posted March 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 Stone jaguar To answer your question, as far as I know they will fruit on their own. Now for some not so good news, they have to be really big before they fruit, the one in the photo above with the 95mm tuber which is in a 150mm squat pot is still to young to flower. Fellow forum member Rita Kupke from Mackay, Queensland has grown many of these in her nursery and she informed me today that hers start to flower by the time they have to go into 200mm Squat pots. I would be happy if my larger specimen flowered next season as our main growing season will start coming to an end here in Aus by late april. As to your comment of this species being cold sensitive, what do you consider cold sensitive? Where many of these plants are produced in Mackay,Qld. in open shade houses the temperature in July (our mid winter) averages 12.6c to 21.1c with the odd night going down to 5c with no trouble. On the other hand the mid summer temps average 23.3c to 29.9c with high humidity and rainfall. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Pulvirenti Posted March 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 Stone jaguar I have just thought of of something that could increase the growth rate of your plants, and it has to do with sunshine duration. These plants actually get more sunshine hours in winter than they do in summer over here. As winter here is the start of the Dry season with clear blue skies and summer early autumn is our wet season with frequent rain. As an example July (mid winter) in Mackay averages 7.7 hours sunshine a day, January (mid summer) 7.1 hours a day. Considering your latitude in Nth.California plus your winter dominant rainfall your plant probably suffer more from lack of sunshine than cool temperatures, so extra artificial light in winter could possibly extend your growing season with this species. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stone Jaguar Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 Robert: Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I alluded to importance of increased day length, as well as temps, in generating recent growth spurt visible in these plants. Winter solstice here shuts down growth in most tropical fairly effectively. Even in Guatemala, where we never get below 11 hrs of daylight, photoperiodicity is very, very evident in most plants that I grow. Glad to read that single plants can produce seed. Hopefully, I can double the size of my plants over the next two years. Cheers, J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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