FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello all! I have been mulling over the idea of purchasing a Cobra Lily plant because I really like how they look. However I have heard that they are one of the more challenging CPs to grow. I am just curious as to other growers experiences with the Cobra Lily and what they have found is the best grow medium and method to keep them not only alive but also thriving. Thanks for any input!

As you probably know already, there are a lot of different mixes that people use for Darlingtonia.

My experience: I've only been growing them for 6 months now. I have them in a mix of sphagnum peat moss, perlite, and orchid bark, which seems to be doing fine, but if I had to do it over again I would have put them in just pure sphagnum peat moss, because that's what the person I got them from had them in.

So, my recommendation: Ask the person you get them from, and go with what they use. No reason to shock the plant by throwing a new soil mix at it.

Cool thanks! I've also heard that their roots need to be kept cool on a regular basis. I've read that it's best to keep them in only partial sun especially during the heat of summer. I've also read where some people in order to help keep the roots cool will refrigerate the water they use and top water on a daily basis to simulate the cool water runoff that occurs in their natural habitat.

I had a nice sized one that died over the winter. I kept it inside and I think it may have gotten too dry.
I used to keep it in LFS/Perlite, inside of a bucket with a recirculating water pump pouring water into the soil all summer.

This year I got some small stolon propagations in a trade and I think I'll try growing them in a small shallow tub. without the water circulation. If it starts looking bad I'll probably rig the water fountain set up again.

someone stole them?

rayneger wrote:someone stole them?

I don't think he meant stolen.

I would also love to try growing them,but I am intimidated by the stories I have heard about how fragile they can be if the roots aren't kept cool.

cdelavan wrote:Cool thanks! I've also heard that their roots need to be kept cool on a regular basis. I've read that it's best to keep them in only partial sun especially during the heat of summer. I've also read where some people in order to help keep the roots cool will refrigerate the water they use and top water on a daily basis to simulate the cool water runoff that occurs in their natural habitat.

Yeah, I've also heard of people watering them with ice cubes made of distilled water.

I've got mine in a big white pot, the thinking being that the size and color will help keep the soil from heating up too much.

Note that Darlingtonia are native to Northern California and Southern Oregon. I got mine from Phil Golding (he's around here occasionally) who lives in Southern Oregon. I'm in Detroit, which is a little cooler than that area (we rarely have days over 85 degrees) so I'm not overly worried about overheating the roots. Though this will be my first summer with them, so I may be about to learn some valuable life lessons ...

Depending on where you are in Texas, you'll definitely want to be far more concerned than I am about overheating!

HI


I grow my Darlingtonia in a mixture OF 50% irish sphagnum peat moss
30% perlite and 20% SPECIALIZED ORCHID BARK
NO SPECIAL TREATMENT KEPT OUT OFF DIRECT SUN, then once a day pour rain water over top of plant
to keep roots cool
if you check the forum i have uploaded a post showing my plants which shows extreme growth

The perceived wisdom is that above 30C the roots and therefore the plant decline, hence the watering with ice cubes, white pots, double potting etc to prevent this. However there are growers who regularly exceed this 'limit' without detriment. Looking at the Texas average temps they don't seem to wander significantly above 30C, so should be OK.
I grow mine in two main sorts of medium, peat/ perlite mix which is most of my outside bogs and they do well in even in our UK climate, or LFSM or LSFM and perlite with or without drainage holes and again they do well.
As Neville 3970 suggests I have found that no special treatment is required particularly in large containers or bogs.
Cheers
Steve

Thanks everyone for the input! I still might purchase one over the growing season and hopefully I can keep it alive! I had one as a kid and thought they were really awesome plants but unfortunately it perished lol. Maybe I'll give it another go!