FlyTrapCare Forums

I bought three species of pygmies about 6 weeks ago. I kept them in the nursery pots because I read that pygmies should not be re-potted. But the original pots are extremely small ( diam 7cm approx 2 3/4" and depth 6cm approx 2 3/8"). Is it too great a risk to re-pot these little guys into bigger pots?

My pygmies are outdoors under cover (balcony) getting full sun about 6 hours and bright indirect light the rest of the day. Media looks to be 100% peat. Watered daily 0 ppm. They are alive and moderately dewy but not thriving. What can I do to get them growing better?

I also started a few gemmae that came with my new pygmies. Gemmae were sowed immediately on 1:1 peat:sand and sprouted quickly. But after more than a month the gemma-lings remain totally stalled at less than 3mm diam (1/8"). They are probably invisible in the photo but I can see them with a magnifier!

In cnrose's post pygmy-party-t55291.html I learned that @cnrose and @panman had pygmies starting to flower only 3 weeks from sowing their gemmae, so I know mine are woefully slow

What can I do to improve things?

The peat may have compacted, causing issues for the plants, but they look fine. Those pots look deep enough for them, and, with their delicate roots, they may just have to deal with it. Harvest gemmae when they produce and sow them on some other media in the future.
It is strongly recommended against repotting them due to their aforementioned delicate roots, so I would attempt it only as a last resort. As yours are in what appears to be pure peat, that might make it easier. If I were to try to repot these specific pygmies, I would maybe slip pot the entire pot into a bowl of water to possibly make the peat just melt off the roots. Again, yours look like they're doing fine, so I wouldn't recommend it.
As to others results, they have different environmental conditions than you. Panman is only a four hour drive from me, but he has different, often better, results than me. He also babies his plants more, I just throw mine to the wolves and let nature weed out the weak ones.

FWIW, I tried slip potting a small pot of pygmies and it did not go well. the slightest disturbance of the media seems to snap the tap root. Now the plant can't decide what it is doing. It lost all of its leaves and looks like it has a hairy hibernicula. No gemmae to be seen.

The nitidula and closterostigma are so cute! I love how short their petioles are.

In case it helps at all, my pygmy conditions are roughly as follows:

• Sitting in 0-5 cm of water at all times (pots are 6.4 cm tall, for reference)

• Bright LED light for 16 hours a day (will have to be adjusted for gemmae production)

• 60%-90% humidity, depending on the season

• 18°C-30°C temps, depending on time of day and season

• 1:1 peat:sand (with added perlite) potting media

• Regular (800 ppm) MaxSea feedings via syringe

Thank you all for helpful advice, good to know the small pots are okay. I will avoid repotting, grateful to be warned about the risks.

In case it helps at all, my pygmy conditions are roughly as follows:

Sitting in 0-5 cm of water at all times (pots are 6.4 cm tall, for reference)

Bright LED light for 16 hours a day (w ill have to be adjusted for gemmae production)

60%-90% humidity, depending on the season

18°C-30°C temps, depending on time of day and season

1:1 peat:sand (with added perlite) potting media

Regular (800 ppm) MaxSea feedings via syringe

Many thanks cnrose, these details certainly do help! I think the first thing for me to try is setting up a more sunny position with tray watering, then try syringe feeding.

You said water level 0 to 5cm - does that mean you top it up to 5cm and then wait until it gets down to 0 before refilling? Is the changing water level important to benefit the plants? Or is just more convenient, not needing to refill very often?

I'll usually let my trays stay dry for a day or two before refilling! This is mostly because I grow most of my other carnivores in the same setup, including those like Nepenthes that don't want to be constantly waterlogged.

There are many pygmy drosera that grow fully submerged or in constantly-waterlogged soil, so the changing water level properly/2 day dry period isn't that strictly necessary. It does, however, have the benefit of limiting tray algae/cyanobacteria/fungus gnat/mosquito build-up, and also ensures that the plants get completely new water every couple days, which helps somewhat with aeration and preventing anaerobic conditions!

cnrose wrote: ↑Fri Jul 29, 2022 1:12 pm ... There are many pygmy drosera that grow fully submerged or in constantly-waterlogged soil, so the changing water level properly/2 day dry period isn't that strictly necessary. ...

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. In my conditions, I'm afraid tiny pots would dry out very fast if I let their trays stay dry all day. I will try topping them up more often and watch how the pygmies respond. In case it's actually too wet, what are the warning signs of pygmies suffering from waterlogging, that I should watch out for?

plantnerdjules wrote:

cnrose wrote: ↑Fri Jul 29, 2022 1:12 pm ... There are many pygmy drosera that grow fully submerged or in constantly-waterlogged soil, so the changing water level properly/2 day dry period isn't that strictly necessary. ...

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. In my conditions, I'm afraid tiny pots would dry out very fast if I let their trays stay dry all day. I will try topping them up more often and watch how the pygmies respond. In case it's actually too wet, what are the warning signs of pygmies suffering from waterlogging, that I should watch out for?

I did a little bit of research and as far as I can tell, the plants themselves basically can't get too wet. Some secondary problems that could theoretically occur would be pests/fungi that inhabit saturated substrate, but if you're growing these outside on a balcony this wouldn't be a likely issue.