FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Along with dividing my Heliamphora nutans today, I also did my Heliamphora minor X heterodoxa that I got from Daren (username CN- here on flytrapcare) back in late December. It has grown well, but it's not as colorful nor has it developed the nice nectar spoons that it had when I got it from him:
http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/my-ne ... t3617.html
My guesses as to why it's not developing the color and nectar spoons are:
1) The lighting I'm using isn't as good as what Daren was using.
2) The fertilizing makes it so that the plant doesn't need to develop nectar spoons and color to attract insects because it's getting all the nutrition it needs from the soil.

Anyway, here are some photos of the dividing and repotting process.

Uprooted:




Divided:


Repotted:






At home in their terrarium with all of their Heli friends:

Really nice! The H. minor x heterodoxa looks really good. So many divisions too. It will be interesting to learn over time what conditions make the plants produce pronounce nectar spoons or not.

I'm starting to think of Heliamphora as partly-carnivorous plants that try to benefit from any natural fertilizer they may obtain from rotting plant debris around their roots, bird droppings at the top of the tepuis where they grow naturally (if many birds fly over them!), etc. I'm wondering whether to treat them more like epiphytic or terrestrial orchids than a typical carnivorous plant.

Anyway, great photos--

Steve said it, great photos Matt.

So.... planning on selling any of these divisions?

doku wrote:Steve said it, great photos Matt

Thanks Manny!

doku wrote:So.... planning on selling any of these divisions?

Probably at some point after they get established. I know that Steve wants to grow this hybrid as well, so one of them has his name on it. The other two I'll likely sell or trade away. I also might try to use them for tissue culture and make them my designated tissue donors. I need to learn how to TC Helis. Several people have done it now, so I know it's possible but no one is talking about how to do it yet. The more tissue I have to work with, the better my chances are of figuring out how to TC them.

Once again, nice work on growing those helis! It would be interesting to see if the plants start growing lids/spoons if you don't fertilize them.

95slvrZ28 wrote:Once again, nice work on growing those helis! It would be interesting to see if the plants start growing lids/spoons if you don't fertilize them.

Turns out that two of the more experience Heliamphora growers tell me that the nectar spoons are directly related to the amount of light the plant gets. I guess my plant isn't getting enough light. I might try moving a few of them out into the greenhouse to see how they do.