FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

After speaking with other local growers, I decided to take a chance on applying fertiliser to my Darlingtonia. My weapon of choice was Seasol http://www.seasol.com.au/ dilited as per the manufacturers instructions and a sprayer (atomiser).

The product was applied on a cool day as a foliar spray approximately a month ago. New, vigorous growth was visible within 2 weeks and the new pitchers look like they will be much larger than those that the plant would ordinarily produce at this time of year - Autumn. A chemical analysis can be found here http://www.seasol.com.au/images/stories ... 7_2007.pdf. I welcome any comments or questions from other growers.

Very nice Linton, it surely did the job for your Cobra.

hb

Interesting stuff Linton. I wonder if there's something similar to Seasol in the US. I don't recall seeing a fertilizer here that had cytokinins and auxins in it.

Looks like the sphagnum like it too

Matt wrote:Interesting stuff Linton. I wonder if there's something similar to Seasol in the US. I don't recall seeing a fertilizer here that had cytokinins and auxins in it.

Looks like the sphagnum like it too

Here you go Matt, I ordered one a few months ago but the black color from the kelp sticks to the foliage.

http://www.megagro.com/

hb

Your Darlingtonia are gorgeous Linton.

Thanks for the info too.

What soil mix is under that live sphagnum?

Thanks for the compliments guys. Veronis the substrate is a 50/50 mix of long fiber sphagnum and horticultural perlite. The perlite has just disappeared under the live sphagnum.
Matt, if you follow the link in the original post it should take you to the Seasol site, it is now being exported, but I'm not sure where you could get it in the USA. If you are interested I could always send some over.

Great looking plant Linton!
Please keep us updated on your experiment and lots of pics as well!

Peace!
E.S.

linton wrote:Matt, if you follow the link in the original post it should take you to the Seasol site, it is now being exported, but I'm not sure where you could get it in the USA. If you are interested I could always send some over.

Thanks for the offer Linton. I'll look around for it myself (or something similar) and if I can't come up with anything, I might take you up on that.

It's been a couple of months since I started applying fertiliser to my Darlingtonia on a semi regular basis and the results have been surprising. Besides the flush of healthy new pitchers which appear about 2 weeks after application of fertiliser, the plant has also started to divide at the crown and has developed stolons or runners which are beginning to crawl over the side of the pot in an attempt to escape. I made the best of the cool weather today and decided that it must be time to repot. I prepared a new 16" terracotta squat pot and carefully tipped the plant out of it's old pot. To my surprise there were not a lot of roots in the old pot and the sphagnum & perlite fell away to reveal crisp, white, healthy roots and more stolons. The surface of the plastic container which is located next to the pot is completely covered in Darlingtonia seedlings - the germination success rate of seeds obtained from the Flytrapcare Store after 6 weeks cold stratification was almost 100%. I'm hopeful that in a few seasons this pot will be full of Darlingtonia and I'm also hoping that the larger pot size will encourage my plant to develop larger pitchers.

Has anyone got any tips to increase pitcher size?

nice cobra linton!
looks like the fertiliser worked like a charm.
i had about 100% succes with the darlingtonia seed you gave me.

goodluck with you cobra lily i hope it fills up that new pot fast for you!

Great growing, Linton! Very nice Darlingtonia. If that's real earthenware clay (instead of an artificial ceramic) it's porousness may help to cool the growing medium by surface evaporation (from the pot sides) during hot weather.

How long have you grown that Darlingtonia? It certainly seems to like the 50/50 mix of long-fiber sphagnum and perlite, and your growing conditions or climate, as well as your care of course.

Great plant, and very interesting fertiziler discovery.

I agree with Steve, that's a great looking plant and it definitely appears to be responding well to the fertilizer.

Thanks for your compliments guys. Steve, I grow my Darlingtonia in real terracotta pots that have been 'seasoned' or left out in the weather for a couple of seasons. I have found that the evaporation of moisture through the sides of the pot does help to keep the roots cool even in our extremely hot & dry Summer. The perlite allows the plant to constantly stand in water without the risk of rotting the roots, and the long fiber spagnum wicks up the water. My plant was received as a stolon cutting about 12 months ago and has done a lot of growing in the last 12 months as you can see from the picture below.

Wow! That's impressive growth Linton. I'm taking notes here on how to properly grow these guys.

Matt wrote:I'm taking notes here on how to properly grow these guys.

Yeah, me too. THANKS Linton. Your technique is obviously producing good results and I think I'm going to try it when I separate and repot my community pot of Darlingtonias.