Help! I've taken on a collection of ant-plants, and in the few months I've had them, I've watched about half of them die! They are potted; most are in an inorganic terracotta medium (Aliflor), but some are in a well drained potting mix and others are in pure sphagnum. They are watered about 3 times per week, and allowed to dry between watering. Many plants have simply dropped their leaves and shriveled up. No signs of pests or disease.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Scott

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Hi Scott,

Thanks for the idea to create a new forum for this niche group!

There's some great cultivation information by Nicholas Plummer to be found here: http://home.nc.rr.com/myrmecophyte/cultivate.html and there's loads of other good information there too.

What did the leaves look like as they dropped off? I've found with our limited collection here in Melbourne that the leaves shrivel and dry up if the plants are too dry, and drop off when yellow if they're too wet. Also, have you changed any other cultivation conditions, e.g. light, fertiliser regime etc?

I've also found a good blog including some ant plants here: http://tulear.blogspot.com/search/label/Ant%20Plants and perhaps the author can help you out with some hints or tips.

Hope that helps a bit! I know how frustrating it is to watch your plants go downhill and you have no idea why!!

J

Jeremy,
Thanks for the reply and links.
The leaves just turn yellow and fall off -- no shriveling or whithering. The fallen leaves are still fleshy and firm.
I'll read up more (thanks again for the links) and see if there is anything I can do to save the collection.
Scott

No worries Scott!

I found another good link by Nick Plummer here: http://florawww.eeb.uconn.edu/plummer.html

Sounds like they might be a bit too wet, but that would depend too on the mix they're in. We grow ours here in long-fibre sphagnum, and they get misted every day and watered fully twice a week. Having now read Nick's article above I'm also going to start foliar feeding them more often.

You might also like to try contacting the great folks on the AERGC Forum mailing list here: http://www.life.uiuc.edu/aergc/ and follow the forum link.

Best of luck,

J