Aldrovanda in cultivation

[David]

Looks like my chances of growing them gets slimmer and slimmer since I cannot provide a natural pond for them. Sigh!

[rsivertsen]

Dave, If you find an isolated small pond somewhere, like I did, behind a shopping mall, maybe you can get permission from the owner and try to introduce them as a natural mosquito control effort! - Rich

[bactrus]

Richard, I think natural water systems in this country is not healthy. High BOD and COD, caused by disolved salts.

[Cindy]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the library of information. It really shatters the paradigm that Aldrovanda needs cooling in order to grow well.

[arvin555]

Thing is Cindy, Rich's Pond is found in New York, so it is naturally cooled or even partly frozen Not sure if there are any among us who has kept aldrovanda for years in the tropics? Lim?

TTFN
Arvin

[plantlover]

I wanna row them in my waterlily 'pond'(actually a very large pot

[Cindy]

Arvin, I was refering to what Richard said...

"They can tolerate very warm, even hot water, which may be lethal for most fish, 95(F), (40C) is not unusual, and in fact, it is one of the factors that will cause them to produce flowers. In my ponds, if they have temps in the 90(F) for at least 2 weeks prior to the summer solstice (June 21), they will produce flowers in mid July, and often profusely at that!"

It has been a common misconception that they need highland temperatures year round. So tropical growers have them in air-con rooms!

[rsivertsen]

Yes, that seems to be yet another misconception about these plants! They actually do better in warmer temps and can tolerate cooler conditions, but when the photoperiod drops to less than 8 hrs, combined with the cooler temps, they will go dormant, and form turions; I doubt that they will go dormant in tropical conditions when the photoperiod is essentially the same all year long, and the temps are well above those that which may induce them to form turions.

The water temps in my ponds are very warm during the summer months, and is actually a problem in one site where the fish population is in decline. The Aldrovanda loves it! I actually have two sites, one in New Jersey, and one in New York.

As for the water quality, the site in New Jersey gets all the salts and chemicals from the parking lots and streets around the shopping mall, ice melting salts, gasoline, soap, oil slicks and all, and so long as there are loads of companion plants growing with them, (they actually take the hit, as their roots absorb these things), the Aldrovanda does just fine! - Rich

[arvin555]

Thanks for the clarification Cindy and Rich, so that means they really don't need dormancy, unlike VFT! Nice!

TTFN
Arvin

[Varhoon Vystra]

Wonderful pics on your plants.