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Post by morphman on Oct 14, 2015 23:45:36 GMT -5
Hello all, For those of you who don't know I love ANT PLANTS. It doesn't matter which kind, if it has some kind of symbiotic relationship with ants then I like it and I want it. I already have a decent size collection and I'm really hoping availability in Canada will increase over the next few years. In an effort to help increase availability I have decided to try a community project with any and all good standing members of our community. I have big Hydnophytum formicarium that is starting to produce fruit. There will likely be lots of seeds and I don't have the ability to try to germinate them. I have other plants that also produce seeds or spores regularly and I would like to donate most of the seeds/spores to our community but there are a few catches. - First come first serve. You must post on THIS THREAD. PMs regarding this project are unnecessary and will not position you in line. - Must post what they have if they already grow any ant plants and must share a bit about their growing conditions, successes, failures etc. Past, present and future. - You cannot be greedy. If that is not self explanatory then you shouldn't contact me. - SASE required. I'm getting lazy My aim is to get as many different species distributed and to compile as much cultural data as I can. Grow them mounted, potted, shady, sunny, wet, dry etc. i want to know how it's going for you. This is a community project but I would really appreciate as much accurate data as possible and I promise to put it to good use in the end. Any suggestions on how to improve this project are welcome this is not something I do all the time so I do realize that there might be some flaws with my plan so help me out and let me know. Regards
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Post by paulkoop on Oct 15, 2015 0:09:39 GMT -5
Im very interested Haven't grown them yet As there hard to find ...... I have all sorts of orchids and nepenthes iv been successfully growing for 5 years? .there was a time before that i was into orchids but personal life got bad Wont happen again cuz my collection isnt just a couple grocery store phals lol .Been growing plants in various gardens since i was 5 so 25 years
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Post by morphman on Oct 15, 2015 1:36:30 GMT -5
I'll take that as the first request for Hydnophytum formicarium seeds.
They are hard to find but thankfully they are not so hard to grow so if we collaborate we can really get things started.
Regards
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Post by paulkoop on Oct 15, 2015 1:47:46 GMT -5
Yah id do a bit more reading on them before they are available but from what iv read epiphytes most r easy to grow
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Post by Justintime on Oct 15, 2015 2:52:34 GMT -5
Would they grow nicely next to the other ant plant seeds you gave me? Currently growing in a sunblaster done with live LFS sunblaster light is not siting on top of the dome its raised up by a mounting system.found it Provides cooler temperatures inside the dome. The moss and ant plants seem to like allot.
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Post by cory on Oct 15, 2015 6:37:45 GMT -5
Let me see if I have anything fruiting
If so I may be able to send you some of species you don't currently have. I would send seedlings but I'm in the US.
Excluding the true HL forms what I have grows well for me in typical intermediate to LL conditions.
Hynophytum, myrmephytum and myrmecodia like more light than lecanoptris.
I have my plants under t-8 lights 6-8" above with the exception of lecanoptris which are 28" below a 2 bulb t-5
They all get residual light from the other surrounding lights in the case.
Lecanoptris is in pure lfs but I have perlite under it to promote drying so they are not perpetually wet.
The others are in a more ephyphytic mix of peat/perlite and orchid bark. These seem to grow much better for me with a more airy mix that dries in a couple days before needing to be watered again.
Humidity 50-55% day 12 hour photoperiod
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Post by Dennis Z on Oct 15, 2015 7:06:27 GMT -5
I'd like some H.formicarum seeds, thanks for the generous offer. I think you have a pretty good understanding of my collection though our trades. Lol
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Post by hal on Oct 15, 2015 8:01:10 GMT -5
I'd like to try some, thanks. My CP collection is probably my smallest group of plants right now but I'm building up my pings again. I have lots of succulents and a few cacti. I have a soft spot for Euphorbias. Also lots of Tillandsias which I got from you. They are multiplying like crazy. And quite a few Phals and Oncidiums.
That's just inside. We have a big garden and my favourite plants are Epimediums and ferns and I'm trying to get some native shade plants established.
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Post by lloyd on Oct 15, 2015 9:54:29 GMT -5
Thanks for the great offer.
I have seedlings of Myrmecodia tuberosa* (lots!-thanks Cory) and one adult Pachycentria glauca (thanks morphman). I have natural light and T5HO terrariums: cool-warm moist conditions.
I'd love some seeds or spores to try.
*I have seedlings for pick-up in Toronto now. I think it's too cold now and they look too small and delicate to mail. Hopefully I'll have some to mail in the later spring.
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Post by bcmosaic on Oct 15, 2015 10:33:51 GMT -5
Hello morphman. I would like to get involved with this project as well. I think you've got a pretty good idea about my enthusiasm through our recent dealings. Great Karma happening here Cheers
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Post by morphman on Oct 15, 2015 10:56:16 GMT -5
Great start everyone. I will post some pics later to show what's to be expected.
Cory,
I know you're in the states but there is a way to get plants to here legally and it won't cost you anything extra. We can discuss it later in private. I was hoping you would get involved so thank you for your offers and information.
So this group can be considered the whackiest of the whacky !!! I love it !!!!!
Regards
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Post by cory on Oct 15, 2015 11:20:54 GMT -5
One Dr. Suess forest coming right up ;-)
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Post by WillyCKH on Oct 15, 2015 12:03:41 GMT -5
I'm interested in few seeds! Personally I have never grown any exciting Ant plant before so it will be my first time. I grow my plants with an indoor system that I built myself, it is continuously upgrading (whenever I have time and the resources). I use high power LED chips for my plants, and they seem to love my setup. Beside my LEDs, I also grow some of my plants on north facing windowsills A peek of part of my setup:
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Post by lloyd on Oct 15, 2015 13:59:27 GMT -5
It's legal to drive any house plants across the border. If there's another legal (easy) way to do it, I'd like to know too.
The way I ship plants is to pack them with something else, like a toy or CD that acts as a decoy and mislabel it. Inside I always label the plant and put that it is soil and pest free and not wild collected. I've never got into any trouble and the plants have always gotten there. I've had plants sent to me the same way with no problem. You could always put a fake name and return address on it if you're worried (plus a fake name for the receiver so they could always disavow it.)
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Post by morphman on Oct 15, 2015 15:05:17 GMT -5
Nice set up Willy Hey Lloyd, I've tried similar methods like what you mentioned especially when I have something "nice I want to share The issue is that with rare and expensive plants you risk having everything confiscated and destroyed. I think you've just been lucky and I know people who've been getting plants like that for years with no issues. Also Ant Plants get kind of big and packaging for a few plants is substantial. I have people in the USA who have a nursery and can accept plants on my behalf and get a phytosanitary inspection done for me. There are costs involved with this so it's only worth it if the order is sizeable. This way my plants get shipped to me 100% legit and I have no worries. Availability is still very limited but having the USA as a source is way better than just Canada. It's probably too late to do anything this year but we can shop around for next year. If we can just drive them across then that makes things fairly easy but I'm not sure if it's legally doable without phytosanitary certification. Cheers
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