FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Thanks, Panman! What grow mix...I'm looking at a 50:50 peat/play sand mix. Maybe a little perlite mixed in down below.

Oh, and what do you think of the solar fan idea?

I think I used equal parts peat/perlite/sand. If you are just worried about tomorrow, toss a couple of frozen water bottles it the mailbox in the morning.

Hey, that's an idea! Thanks!

My pygmy sundews are growing super well and are putting out dew now, they actually look like tiny sundews now.

The only thing that concerns me is that I have some of them where they're at the surface and I see like a tiny red root coming out the side and poking into the ground, do I need to like cover the root or something, or will it settle itself eventually?

It sounds like the are pegging down another root, my guess is that it knows what it's doing and I'd let it do what it's gonna do.

Nikson wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 6:07 pm The only thing that concerns me is that I have some of them where they're at the surface and I see like a tiny red root coming out the side and poking into the ground, do I need to like cover the root or something, or will it settle itself eventually?

That's completely normal pygmy behavior. You don't need to worry about it because the roots will eventually find their way into the soil.

Panman wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2024 10:12 pm I think I used equal parts peat/perlite/sand. If you are just worried about tomorrow, toss a couple of frozen water bottles it the mailbox in the morning.

The gemmae didn't make it Thursday, but they arrived yesterday during rainy, semi-cool conditions. I'll be planting them later today. I'm going with a 1:1:1 recipe as you mentioned...peat:perlite:sand. I've got some of the "play sand" that I've been pilfering from my wife's play sand stash she uses for the kids at Sunday school all along...it's pretty much gone now. She had a couple of plastic containers of it for the granddaughters to play sitting on the porch. All our granddaughters are getting a bit long in the teeth now...youngest one is eight now. So....I'm raiding the granddaughters' sand containers!!!! Of course, I have to pick out the plastic bunny rabbits, scoops, strainers, cups, thingamajigs, etc,. but...it's paid for!!!! "OCD-Me" also goes by the moniker of "O'Cheap-Me", on certain occasions.

It rained a good bit yesterday so I collected probably 15 gallons or so of rain water. I've already got a quart of sand soaking in some of it. Initial TDS reading reflected the rain water TDS...4ppm. 4ppm is kinda "dirty" for what I usually get...I'm not sure what that rain passed through, though I know there's been a lot of clear-cut burning going on recently. Anyhow, I'm going to rinse the sand good and try to get all the snot, lollipop droolings, cookie crumbs, etc., out of it. I'll recheck the TDS and might do a vinegar test just to be sure, though I'm pretty sure this is some of the sand that I've already used and tested.

Anyhow, we'll see how the geriatric gemmae do!!!

In my experience the most important part of starting gemmae is making sure that temperatures aren't too hot. Put them under grow lights or on a bright windowsill, but no heat mat. Provided you keep the soil wet, they should start growing in a few days. They also don't seem to be very picky about soil mixture.

Thanks for the temperature information! I planted them yesterday and have them sitting on a wire rack and in the gap between two white Yescom 225s. Hopefully the temperature will be okay...usually in the mid-70's.

For the grow mix I ended up with something like this: 3:3:1.5:0.5....3 parts peat, 3 parts perlite, 1.5 sand, 0.5 LFSM...so basically one part heavier in drainage material. I put a layer of LFSM for a screen in the bottom. When I had the pot filled I mixed a bit of shredded LFSM in with the mix on the surface to make a finer seedbed...kinda "rubbed" it into the surface to mix it in. I misted the surface down good to get it nice and wet before placing the gemmae on it. "OCD-Me" strikes again, I guess.

The gemmae themselves were still green in the paper towel and showed no signs of mold on them, though there were a couple of round pink spots of mold in other areas of the paper towel. Them being still green and the mold not touching them (that I could see) gives me hope I might get some growing....provided something I do doesn't doom them.

As mentioned above, I've got the pet sitting between two grows lights for the time being (gotta get some room made...as in "move some plants outdoors!". I've also got them domed with a slight gap in the cover...when I see some growth I'll give them more open air and get them under better light. Right now we've got a freeze predicted for Monday night (now where the heck did that come from!!! ) so rather than move a few more plants outside I'll be moving the ones out there back under cover.<sigh>

So now...patience.

Ah ok, yeah, makes sense. Just looks really funny how the root is curving off like that haha

Wow! That’s quiet a reach that gemmae’s making!!! It looks like the gemmae may have landed on a clump of perlite and managed to peg down a couple of roots but this one started growing out where there wasn’t anything…gravity and nature are showing it where to go.

He looks like he's at a gas station or something haha

4 to 6 inch deep should be fine. If you do go deeper, there’s no problem with that either.

The pot I planted the gemmae in is called a 6" pot...roughly 6" deep but maybe only 5.75" across. As of now, I've probably got ten or so green specks unfurling leaves!!! So I'll have a few to hopefully make it! It looks like I'll have two or three little communities that hopefully over time will grow towards each other and outwards. We'll see how they go!