Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

This is what my gracilis does after being neglected for a long time. Decided to repot it so I knocked it from the pot and all I see is like a case of bad hair day, all knotted and meshed together.
Attachment 2574


The plant had started producing a lot of basals with nice brown/red pitchers.
Attachment 2575

The view from the bottom of the root ball.
Attachment 2576

Strangely, there are knobby nodules on some part of the roots (blue arrow)
Attachment 2577
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Whereas some of the roots are nice and cylindrical (white arrows).
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More basal shoot
Attachment 2580

And finally...in its new home
Attachment 2581
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The pitchers of this plant - varied from red/brown to red speckled to lemon green with traces of red
Attachment 2583

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Hey I think you planted it in the wrong media!!!Isn't this the type of soil that you can buy anywhere?I don't think this is a good idea.....

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Its washed burnt soil. Never had problems with it. I do my rafflesiana, gracilis, hirsuta, reinwardtiana, ventricosa, sanguinea, ampullaria, ventrata, truncata, lowiixcampanulata, eustachya, rajah, albo-marginata, bicalcarata and gracilima in it. Just that you need to be diligent in watering the plants and the pots are really heavy ie not very practical to hang it.

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Heard its also good for northiana marvin ;)

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Hi, is that the Tanah Bakar which can be found in various nursery/ supermarket gardening section?

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Yes, Ulat... eeemmmm... Feel weired to called you with yours nick name... *biggrin2*

You can put yours name in signature
https://forum.petpitcher.net/profile....=editsignature

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

oic..
hehe, signature added, thanks for the guidance :biggrin:

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Wow.. those are some roots.. Is the previous media burnt earth too? I don't see any soil at all in the first pic, or have you washed the roots..?

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

I will echo what paphioboy says... that is a massive block of strong thick roots your gracilis has there! Looks like a very strong plant with strong roots.

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Kelvin, looks like you have been diligently expanding your collection too. Good for you! Gracilima lowland? Eustachya, lowii x xampanulata... Wow! These be interesting. Expect visitor soon.

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Oh sorry I had no idea....but don't they contain mutrients?When I wash that stuff(when my non-cps die)they always have something black come out like balck-silt.

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

The previous media was 1/3 burnt soil, 1/3 spaghnum moss, 1/3 cocopeat. The cocopeat and spaghnum had deteriorated and flushed out through copious watering in the past 3 yrs i think. But I did washed off the remaining potting mix. Good thing of burnt soil is that it is easy to remove completely.

That 1:1:1 mix was from the earlier days of experimenting with burnt soil. Never used it once I found that 100% burnt soil is cheaper and easier to gauge the water requirements.

To answer David and paphioboy, it was a vining crazy 'at least 3-yrs old in the same pot' plant that I was hoping to see it flower to see if it is a boy or girl. Since it didn't and i kinda got fed-up, I slashed and trimmed it.

Marvin, the red burnt soil (not the black one) can have bits and pieces of burnt wood used in the process..and occasionally if you are lucky...dog or cat poo :spinning:.
The rest are ash (ie oxides, hydroxides, phosphates of potassium etc), all except phosphate are highly soluble, hence the reason for washing.

N. gracilima from BE grown under LL condition with full sun till midday. Soil surface occasionally dries out till bone dry. The new leaves are the ones that are smaller than the original when it came from Fauzi.
Attachment 2588

N lowiixcampanulata from EP (all through Fauzi)
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Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Nice neps.. Can gracillima be grown under LL conditions? Thought it is a highland species..

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Knock on wood, so far so good :-). A little gritty, as you can see, the plant becomes smaller in size. But as long as it is growing and producing pitchers albeit super miniature sized ones, I am happy. Would love to hear frm those who bought gracilima frm BE and growing them in LL conditions. I think Fauzi is doing quite well with growing them as well.

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

What about campan x lowii?

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Hybrid vigour plus campa is a lowland, so should be no problem in LL.

To be honest, I was quite reluctant to take lowii x campa as I am no big fan of hybrids. But seeing Fauzi's lowii x truncata (EP's hybrids with lowii is something) and after asking him if lowii x campa will do okay over here, which he said it does for him, i got my lowii x campa.

Mine is kinda etiolated as I kept it in the shade after buying it (more like just chuck the darn plant somewhere after collecting it from Fauzi :tongue:). After I repotted it (it had grown 3 new leaves in neglect), and placed it in 70% light, the tips on the three new leaves that did not seemed to be pitchering started to grow and swell. It may be anecdotal in nature, but EP plant seems to have very healthy root system. So worth the money...(pocket still feeling the burn = mee maggi for 3 months)

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Nice to see you're also using a healthy amount of burnt clay and the neps are doing well. From my observation, N. campanulata x lowii seems to prefer drier and well drain media, it also like a lot of sun. I'm a sucker for any nep hybrids with N. lowii in it... *biggrin2*

I tend to agree that most EP plants are robust and have healthy roots to give a good start to quickly acclimatise to our new growing condition. :1thumbup:

Very nice collection you have there... :1thumbup:

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

wanted to ask something about the potting mix that you used. you actually thorough mix them or you put it in layers? do you face any snails problem? especially the see-through type of snails that attacks orchid rhizomes and shoots. :confused::blush:

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

From my experience, whatever attempts to mix different media of different density and particle sizes would invariably result in a certain amount of separation. I do mix them, but nature reorganises them in her free time :tongue:.

Snails are aplenty in the garden...from the giant Achantica (siput babi) to Bradybaena similaris and Subulina sp but they don't seem to be a problem. This could be due to the presence of other lush vegetation that are more palatable than Nepenthes.

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Hi poweramp......I just got a bag of burnt soil from ace hardware but i'm not sure if i can use it for my CPs.....Well i ask u since you use it quite often. heres the link

https://forum.petpitcher.net/show...2902#post22902

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

Try metaldehyde snail baits. May stink a little...but worth it if doing eradication. Remember to repeat after some time cos that would catch the eggs that hatch into snails.

Re: Bad (Root) Hair Day
 

kevyn, I suppose you mean those mini snails with cone-like shells which often live among orchid roots. For phalaenopsis, try changing all the media. Use completely new media, and its better to use a more airy, drier mix like brick + charcoal instead of sphagnum moss. Also helps to hang your phals to prevent snails getting them.. :)