It's been so long, I'm not sure but I think the seeds are from Canada.
Hydnophytum caminiferum and some other ant plants
- Thread starter Z_Y
- Start date
So the Myrmecodia "North Sumatra" seedling experiment hasn't really done too well. I had 10 seeds total but only 4 current survivors. All the ones in the black organic mix have died, they never really sprouted. I even moved a sprout from the coffee filter one to the organic mix and it immediately died. One of the ones on the perlite top dressing dried out and died (you can still see the 2 cotyledons left on the soil). What I have left is 2 on the sphagnum which did fine, 1 on the perlite, and 1 in the coffee filter.
Perhaps the Myrmecodia "North Sumatra" wasn't the best pick for the test anyway, since my original growth issue was with Myrmecodia schlechteri.
Here's a couple of older Myrmecodia "North Sumatra" seedlings, they don't seem to have the weird lanky growth
As for the Myrmecodia schlechteri subsp. pendula Sagarai Valley, Papua NG the seedlings probably need to be divided into their individual pots now:
Here's the lanky ones:
The Hydnophytum formicarum Singapore seedlings seem to have had no issue though, they remain nice and round.
Perhaps the Myrmecodia "North Sumatra" wasn't the best pick for the test anyway, since my original growth issue was with Myrmecodia schlechteri.
Here's a couple of older Myrmecodia "North Sumatra" seedlings, they don't seem to have the weird lanky growth
As for the Myrmecodia schlechteri subsp. pendula Sagarai Valley, Papua NG the seedlings probably need to be divided into their individual pots now:
Here's the lanky ones:
The Hydnophytum formicarum Singapore seedlings seem to have had no issue though, they remain nice and round.
The substrate for the lanky ones was just pure peat. For some of the other pots it is the organic component for my succulents, which is basically a even mixture of peat, coco coir, small orchid bark bits, and soil with worm castings in it. It's just a thin top dressing I was trying, below it is just sphagnum/perlite/orchid bark.
I visited SF and there was a shop in Berkeley called The Dry Garden Nursery that had a few ant plants for sale:
It was mostly M. tuberosa and H. formicarium, but there was a few that I didn't know the ID of that was labeled Myrmecodia fulva v. Horn? It's not any species I can find, so it must be some mislabel? I'm curious if anyone has any idea on what it is?
It was mostly M. tuberosa and H. formicarium, but there was a few that I didn't know the ID of that was labeled Myrmecodia fulva v. Horn? It's not any species I can find, so it must be some mislabel? I'm curious if anyone has any idea on what it is?
I'm always amazed that you can walk into a shop with interesting plants. It's very rare in Toronto.
It's the same here on the east coast where the plants stores are very generic. There was a store in nyc for rare succulents a while back but it was very expensive and boutique, and they ended up closing. Each time I make a flight to the west coast I try to hit up their local stores as they always have some nice succulents.
I was also at the Conservatory of Flowers in SF, here are some pics:
Squamellaria imberbis
M. tuberosa
Didn't see a tag on this one, but might also be a M. tuberosa?
Anthorriza, I think it's a A. chrysacantha. It was a bit too high up for me to get a good pic
No id on this one, might also be a M. tuberosa?
No id on this one, some sort of Hydnophytum? I'm actually curious what this species is, as I picked up a dropped berry that was underneath the pot with a couple seeds in it. I'm going to try germinating the seeds if they're still alive.
L. pumila
L. mirabilis
I was also at the Conservatory of Flowers in SF, here are some pics:
Squamellaria imberbis
M. tuberosa
Didn't see a tag on this one, but might also be a M. tuberosa?
Anthorriza, I think it's a A. chrysacantha. It was a bit too high up for me to get a good pic
No id on this one, might also be a M. tuberosa?
No id on this one, some sort of Hydnophytum? I'm actually curious what this species is, as I picked up a dropped berry that was underneath the pot with a couple seeds in it. I'm going to try germinating the seeds if they're still alive.
L. pumila
L. mirabilis
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I hope they germinate.
Here's a small update on a few plants:
The Anthorrhiza recurvispina (Missima Island, PNG) made a berry, but it only had 1 seed in it and I'm not sure if it's viable at the moment as it's been a few days but I don't see the sprout. Although I do see a few more fruits in the queue so maybe I'll get another chance.
The Anthorrhiza bracteosa (Normanby, PNG) has been more productive, with 30 seeds sown and right now I have 22 more seeds in some water waiting to be sown. I'm trying a few different media again. Not all the seedlings seem to be doing that good though, some have lost their cotyledons. I'm not sure if this was because I fertilized too early or if it's just some weaker ones getting culled. In my next seed set I'm sowing I wont fertilize them so early to see if there's a difference.
I seemed to have maybe lost one Hydnophytum formicarum Singapore seedling. It doesn't feel completely soft yet but I'm not sure why the growth point ended up dying
The Myrmecodia spec. Siasiada (PNG) also had some seeds, although with these guys I've experienced a lot of damping off. The stem would get a little brown spot and the seedling would collapse, you can see some of them not doing so well here. I also maybe made a mistake of fertilizing too early and too heavily, as can be seen by the green algae.
Most of my Myrmecodia schlechteri subsp. pendula Sagarai Valley, Papua NG are still doing ok, the ones in my tent which I didn't get a picture of are doing great with multiple sets of new leaves, but the ones in my smaller terrarium seem to have lost some leaves. It could also be I fertilized these guys a bit too much, as I feel like that's what's causing the leaves to curl.
So far in my experience I find the ant plants to be much harder than carnivorous plants. I'm having quite a few different issues with many of them. It could be I'm not fertilizing enough causing some yellowing or dropped leaves, and then suddenly fertilizing with a 1000ppm solution ended up burning them.
The Anthorrhiza recurvispina (Missima Island, PNG) made a berry, but it only had 1 seed in it and I'm not sure if it's viable at the moment as it's been a few days but I don't see the sprout. Although I do see a few more fruits in the queue so maybe I'll get another chance.
The Anthorrhiza bracteosa (Normanby, PNG) has been more productive, with 30 seeds sown and right now I have 22 more seeds in some water waiting to be sown. I'm trying a few different media again. Not all the seedlings seem to be doing that good though, some have lost their cotyledons. I'm not sure if this was because I fertilized too early or if it's just some weaker ones getting culled. In my next seed set I'm sowing I wont fertilize them so early to see if there's a difference.
I seemed to have maybe lost one Hydnophytum formicarum Singapore seedling. It doesn't feel completely soft yet but I'm not sure why the growth point ended up dying
The Myrmecodia spec. Siasiada (PNG) also had some seeds, although with these guys I've experienced a lot of damping off. The stem would get a little brown spot and the seedling would collapse, you can see some of them not doing so well here. I also maybe made a mistake of fertilizing too early and too heavily, as can be seen by the green algae.
Most of my Myrmecodia schlechteri subsp. pendula Sagarai Valley, Papua NG are still doing ok, the ones in my tent which I didn't get a picture of are doing great with multiple sets of new leaves, but the ones in my smaller terrarium seem to have lost some leaves. It could also be I fertilized these guys a bit too much, as I feel like that's what's causing the leaves to curl.
So far in my experience I find the ant plants to be much harder than carnivorous plants. I'm having quite a few different issues with many of them. It could be I'm not fertilizing enough causing some yellowing or dropped leaves, and then suddenly fertilizing with a 1000ppm solution ended up burning them.
I have only two of these and I fertilize them very lightly so they will grow slowly and stay on the small side. I gave one away to my university greenhouse. They must have over fertilized as it became quite big and got mushy. I haven't checked lately to see if it lived.
I was worried that some of the yellowing leaves or dropping leaves was caused by them missing micronutrients or nitrogen by being in basically pure sphagnum and bark. I started using full strengh MaxSea with an additonal half strength Turf micronutrient mix, with pH down added to get it to be around 6. I measured the ppm and it was around 1000. Not sure if it'll help improve the situation, but I did notice some weird leaf spots after I applied the solution everywhere, which may be some burnt spots, and some of the younger leaves on the smaller plants started to be extremely curled which may also be an indication of excess fertilization. I'll have to take pictures of all my current issues so if they do get fixed then maybe there'd be a record.
For pollination of the flowers, I haven't done anything special. The Anthorrhizas just seemed very productive by themselves. I did try to peel open some of the flowers and jam in the sharp tip of a rolled tissue piece to swirl around a bit, but I never see any actual pollen and the flower would drop off soon after. Because of the long delay in the flower dropping and a fruit randomly appearing, I can never tell if anything I do here has an effect.
The H. caminiferum is still alive, although it seems to only have a few small leaves. I'll try to get a pic when I get home. I also applied fertilizer to the chimneys recently so we'll see if it increases the growth a bit.
For pollination of the flowers, I haven't done anything special. The Anthorrhizas just seemed very productive by themselves. I did try to peel open some of the flowers and jam in the sharp tip of a rolled tissue piece to swirl around a bit, but I never see any actual pollen and the flower would drop off soon after. Because of the long delay in the flower dropping and a fruit randomly appearing, I can never tell if anything I do here has an effect.
The H. caminiferum is still alive, although it seems to only have a few small leaves. I'll try to get a pic when I get home. I also applied fertilizer to the chimneys recently so we'll see if it increases the growth a bit.
Here's some pics of the current H. caminiferum, this was a week ago but just recently the one on the right sprouted a few more new leaves that I haven't taken a pic of yet.
I think I did a oopsie with my seedlings, I really shouldn't have fertilized them. I think some of my damping off on my Myrmecodia seedlings was maybe also caused by this. The fertilizer solution I used was at 1000+ ppm, which I think was burning the leaves on adult plants so I guess the seedlings might not have liked it much either. Here's how they looked like before I went in and tried to rescue what's left:
M. schlechteri seedling, I think the overfertilization has killed the moss and made it drop some leaves. I see the moss is also getting moldy. However after repotting it the caudex seemed nice and firm so I think it might still be ok.
A couple of M. "North Sumatra", they dropped a few leaves but I think they'll be fine once I do a repot
M. spec. nov. (Mt. Kaindi, PNG) seedlings, these guys had some damping off. There would be a rot spot halfway up and then it would collapse on itself. I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing the overfertilization didn't help.
M. spec. Siasiada (PNG) seedilngs, 2 seem ok, the third lost it's leaves but still seems alive
More M. schlechteri seedlings, these 4 were the ones grown in the peat and they were slower than my pure sphagnum ones. They still seem to be ok though, but I'm giving them some fresh media:
The H. formicarum "Singapore" seedlings did not make it, they kinda just rotted away. I'm assuming it's the fertilization or I just kept them too wet:
I'll post the after-repot pics in the next post as I think I'm limited to 10 pictures per post.
I think I did a oopsie with my seedlings, I really shouldn't have fertilized them. I think some of my damping off on my Myrmecodia seedlings was maybe also caused by this. The fertilizer solution I used was at 1000+ ppm, which I think was burning the leaves on adult plants so I guess the seedlings might not have liked it much either. Here's how they looked like before I went in and tried to rescue what's left:
M. schlechteri seedling, I think the overfertilization has killed the moss and made it drop some leaves. I see the moss is also getting moldy. However after repotting it the caudex seemed nice and firm so I think it might still be ok.
A couple of M. "North Sumatra", they dropped a few leaves but I think they'll be fine once I do a repot
M. spec. nov. (Mt. Kaindi, PNG) seedlings, these guys had some damping off. There would be a rot spot halfway up and then it would collapse on itself. I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing the overfertilization didn't help.
M. spec. Siasiada (PNG) seedilngs, 2 seem ok, the third lost it's leaves but still seems alive
More M. schlechteri seedlings, these 4 were the ones grown in the peat and they were slower than my pure sphagnum ones. They still seem to be ok though, but I'm giving them some fresh media:
The H. formicarum "Singapore" seedlings did not make it, they kinda just rotted away. I'm assuming it's the fertilization or I just kept them too wet:
I'll post the after-repot pics in the next post as I think I'm limited to 10 pictures per post.
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Here's the first M. schlechteri after a bit of repotting, the caudex and everything seemed fine.
Here's one of the two M. North Sumatra, I'm going to keep one in my terrarium and one in my tent just to spread things around a bit. There's a bit of browning on the side but it feels firm to the touch so I'm not sure if it'll be an issue.
Closeup of some of the other M. schlechteri seedlings that had some overfertilization, which I think is causing the leaf curling. Also a couple do have some brown discoloration on the caudex too, but it's still firm to the touch. For example, the one on the bottom left in the picture on the left. I went and did a flush with tap water and removed a bit of the algae covered moss, I didn't really repot any of these for now.
Some repotted M. "North Sumatra" (left, the 3 survivors from the different top dressing peat/perlite/sphagnum/coffee paper experiment, only the sphagnum and coffee paper ones made it out alive) and M. spec. Siasiada (PNG) (right)
Some more seedlings of Anthorrhiza bracteosa (Normanby, PNG) on the left and right. The left pot I did a repot to new media, the pot on the right I'm letting it be with just a flush, in case moving seedlings around this early would kill them. THe pot in the middle is some more M. spec. Siasiada (PNG) that were repotted. I think previously I had 14 seeds, but most died to damping off so I think there's only 3 plants left and 2 small caudex stubs that I'll keep in the pot to see if they ever resprout some leaves.
Another pic showing some of the seedlings after a repot or water flush. The peat pot on the bottom is another pot of Anthorrhiza bracteosa (Normanby, PNG) that I'm testing in a peat top dressing again, just in case Anthorrhiza behave differently.
And finally a dish of more Anthorrhiza bracteosa seedlings, and 3 larger seeds of Anthorrhiza recurvispina (Missima Island, PNG) in the top right of the dish, just testing out the coffee paper sowing method. The A. bracteosa has made so many seeds often with 7-8 seeds per berry that I have some room to play around a bit with different conditions. For me this sowing method doesn't work as well since I notice the tray keeps drying out, and I have to add water every day which I tend to forget to do.
Unfortunately the A. recurvispina seeds never sprout. I've had two berrries for a total of 1 + 3 seeds sown in sphagnum and they didn't sprout at all despite looking nice and large. The 3 large seeds in this dish was from a third berry. If they don't sprout maybe the seeds from this plant are just duds, which is unfortunate as I really like the parent plant.
Anyway lesson learned, I got to dilute the fertilizer a bit more or just not fertilize at all. The reason why I started fertilizing the seedlings was because I saw some yellowing or dropped leaves. But I guess I should dilute the solution down a lot more, maybe to like 200 ppm.
For damping off, I'm going to start applying some Bonide Fruit and Tree plant guard fungicide: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FGIPO5C
I'll try it on some test seedlings, if they don't die maybe I'll use it more.
Here's one of the two M. North Sumatra, I'm going to keep one in my terrarium and one in my tent just to spread things around a bit. There's a bit of browning on the side but it feels firm to the touch so I'm not sure if it'll be an issue.
Closeup of some of the other M. schlechteri seedlings that had some overfertilization, which I think is causing the leaf curling. Also a couple do have some brown discoloration on the caudex too, but it's still firm to the touch. For example, the one on the bottom left in the picture on the left. I went and did a flush with tap water and removed a bit of the algae covered moss, I didn't really repot any of these for now.
Some repotted M. "North Sumatra" (left, the 3 survivors from the different top dressing peat/perlite/sphagnum/coffee paper experiment, only the sphagnum and coffee paper ones made it out alive) and M. spec. Siasiada (PNG) (right)
Some more seedlings of Anthorrhiza bracteosa (Normanby, PNG) on the left and right. The left pot I did a repot to new media, the pot on the right I'm letting it be with just a flush, in case moving seedlings around this early would kill them. THe pot in the middle is some more M. spec. Siasiada (PNG) that were repotted. I think previously I had 14 seeds, but most died to damping off so I think there's only 3 plants left and 2 small caudex stubs that I'll keep in the pot to see if they ever resprout some leaves.
Another pic showing some of the seedlings after a repot or water flush. The peat pot on the bottom is another pot of Anthorrhiza bracteosa (Normanby, PNG) that I'm testing in a peat top dressing again, just in case Anthorrhiza behave differently.
And finally a dish of more Anthorrhiza bracteosa seedlings, and 3 larger seeds of Anthorrhiza recurvispina (Missima Island, PNG) in the top right of the dish, just testing out the coffee paper sowing method. The A. bracteosa has made so many seeds often with 7-8 seeds per berry that I have some room to play around a bit with different conditions. For me this sowing method doesn't work as well since I notice the tray keeps drying out, and I have to add water every day which I tend to forget to do.
Unfortunately the A. recurvispina seeds never sprout. I've had two berrries for a total of 1 + 3 seeds sown in sphagnum and they didn't sprout at all despite looking nice and large. The 3 large seeds in this dish was from a third berry. If they don't sprout maybe the seeds from this plant are just duds, which is unfortunate as I really like the parent plant.
Anyway lesson learned, I got to dilute the fertilizer a bit more or just not fertilize at all. The reason why I started fertilizing the seedlings was because I saw some yellowing or dropped leaves. But I guess I should dilute the solution down a lot more, maybe to like 200 ppm.
For damping off, I'm going to start applying some Bonide Fruit and Tree plant guard fungicide: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FGIPO5C
I'll try it on some test seedlings, if they don't die maybe I'll use it more.
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I used full strength maxsea 16/16/16 + a half dose of a micronutrient liquid fertilizer mix (no npk, just micronutrients) + a bit of ph Down to drop it to 6.0 ph.
I wanted to apply a fungicide to the myrmecodia seedlings to try to see if it could stop the damping off, as they were damping off before I did my fertilizer.
Edit: I forgot to mention that while the seedlings may not have liked the fertilizer much, my larger plants seem to be unaffected except a tiny bit of leaf burn on some spots that I accidentally splashed a bit.
I wanted to apply a fungicide to the myrmecodia seedlings to try to see if it could stop the damping off, as they were damping off before I did my fertilizer.
Edit: I forgot to mention that while the seedlings may not have liked the fertilizer much, my larger plants seem to be unaffected except a tiny bit of leaf burn on some spots that I accidentally splashed a bit.
When I used MaxSea, I used to dilute to 100 ppm.