FlyTrapCare Forums

G. hispidula is more yellowy green when grown in sphagnum, and darker green when grown in something peat based. I almost melted my adult plant recently from putting it in a really heavy peat mix, so I think peat and some chopped sphagnum with lots of aggregate (sand is great for Genlisea, since they have a much harder time going through dense mixes than Utrics).

It's the oddball out of the three since it likes pretty wet conditions. With the cooling fan, be careful it doesn't dry out the air. Genlisea can get very unhappy with humidity drops.

U. reniformis is actually a pretty durable plant and doesn't really *need* the temperature drop as long as it doesn't get unreasonably warm, while U. alpina is very tolerant as far as other members of the section go so you don't need to rush.
I'm don't have a lot of experience with the sect. Orchidioides utrics but they seem to be yellow when the moisture level isn't right, when they don't have enough light, or are suffering from nutrient deficiencies. Putting a smidge of peat in the mix definitely greened up my U. reniformis, but I'd be hesitant to do the same for U. alpina.

Hey w03,
Thanks again for all the information.
What's your favorite Utricularia?

I did add a little bit of a coarse peat based mix to all three pots. Only about a table spoon. It's a little layer about an inch deep, in between the LFS at the bottom, and the live sphagnum on top. The yellowish bit at the tip of the Alpina is turning more green, if ever so slowly. Reniformis is being a little odd; the leaves that were there and yellowish when it arrived are staying yellow, or simply wilting away. However, there is quite a bit of new growth, and all of that, though very tiny, is much greener than the growth it had when it arrived. Ginlisea is slowly darkening a bit too, and reaching for the lights with it's little leaves. I have added two lights and a fogger in the last couple days. That seems to be helping the humidity, holding steady at 85%. My temps went up a little too though from a high of 82* to a steady day time temp of 84* and a high of 86*. :/

The first wave of cooling components for the system I'm designing are ordered and will be here tomorrow.

So I think I'm well on my way!

Thanks again for all your time and information.
Cheers,
-@.

My favorite is U. praetermissa - at least among the utrics that are in cultivation right now, otherwise it's U. delphinioides. :p What's yours?

You can add more peat to the Genlisea as long as you also add more drainage (like sand) to break it up. It loves soggy mixtures as long as there's drainage, and your light sounds pretty bright so that shouldn't be a problem.

When I first got U. reniformis, a lot of it turned yellow, and a lot of it rotted very fast. However, it settled in and was really easy after that. The new growth sounds promising; I think it'll do well for you. There's lots and lots of different forms in cultivation - 'Enfant Terrible' is one of the small leaf forms (but not the only small leaf form) and their preferences vary a bit depending on their original locality. Growing it in sphagnum is a pretty safe bet, but you can try transplanting bits to very well drained peat to see if they'll do better. I've heard the large leaf forms - especially 'Big Sister' (which, by the way, is now known to be the very closely related U. cornigera) do better in peat mixes.

Anyway, it sounds like everything is working out well!