# columnea carnival growth habits



## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

how does columnea carnival grow? i.e. does it hug a nicely textured GS background or does it just grow over all the holes and ledges etc.


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

I'm interested too... why 'Carnival' in particular? 

Jake


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

Cuz carnival is the kind I have


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I think it depends on how you grow it. Ideally you'd want to mount it somewhere that it will just hang from, like a branch. It's a very pendulous grower which is why it is so gorgeous in hanging baskets. It is a true epiphyte rather than a hemi-epiphyte like most vines we like to grow. The key difference is that the hemi-epipyhtes are going to ramble and climb in a tank (which means I start them at the bottom and let them climb a surface) while an epiphyte would be mounted on a background from the beginning. Epiphytes sit on a surface that gives them access to light, while hemi-epiphtes are travellers that are always climbing, covering good spots, and trying to find new spots of light (which is also why you need to keep an eye on them so they don't escaped! Epiphytes are so much more polite). This type of Columnea takes advantage of the light it is getting by draping down where other plants aren't growing because there isn't a surface there to grow on - not to mention it gets its flowering hanging down into pollinator fly zones and away from other plant competition!

If you are trying to use it as a cover for a background it may get a little confused. Being a gesneriad, it's rather awesome at taking advantage of ways to make more of itself, and if it hits a surface where nodes can root, it will (and then branch from there). I could see in that case it may end up pretty messy looking, and not the nice even coverage something like Ficus pumilia would give you.


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## JimO (May 14, 2010)

I didn't know it was an epiphyte and so I started mine in the substrate at the base of the background. It has sort of meandered all over, but the blossoms are stunning. Here are a couple of photos.


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## BethInAK (Jul 12, 2011)

JimO said:


> I didn't know it was an epiphyte and so I started mine in the substrate at the base of the background. It has sort of meandered all over, but the blossoms are stunning. Here are a couple of photos.
> 
> View attachment 28047
> View attachment 28048


I WANT




(apparently I WANT is too short a message so blah blah blah blah blah)


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Haha, most people want this plant when they see the blooms - even in the gesneriad world there aren't too many blooms like it. It's just not a whole lot to look at when out of bloom LOL.

Unless it gets a nice spot higher up, you're going to get a lot of meandering and miss out on the natural growth (and "up" is not totally natural for it, so it may never even think to go there). If you can get a little pot of it higher up in the tank it will have a really cool waterfall affect and grow the way it likes.

For those reading this thread interesting in Columea in general... all are epiphytes, but the level of pendulousness varies. Some a highly pendulous (Carnival included) some are more upright bushes, and many are in between. Some of my terrarium favorites are actually small bushes that develop into arching stems - primarily because the highly pendulous may only be seriously impressive in a very large viv with plenty of room to dangle, but a small arching type stays upright enough to be impressive without needing nearly as tall a tank. In terrariums I will always prefer Columnea over their relatives in the genus Aeschynanthus because even though they both grow similar (pendulous vines for the most part), Aeschynanthus only blooms on the new growth near the tips, while Columnea blooms all over the plants. If you have a tank that isn't the size of a walk in closet, you may end up having to trim the tips so often that you may never really get a show from your Aeschynanthus unless working with a particularly tiny species, or one with a more upright habit.


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

I happen to like them for their foliage... The flowers are an added bonus.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I love seeing the draping foliage, it's a really nice shape and can add a lot of interest to a tank without making it too busy... but its still amazing how many people will go after Columnea hirta 'Light Prince' over even a beauty like this!


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

Its surprising that either Columnea or Aeschynanthus aren't more popular.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I'm surprised gesneriads in general aren't more popular! Kinda eerie how few I see around... probably because so few are grown commercially, and the primary commercial producers aren't where anyone on here (except hard core gesneriad people) tend to shop. Need to know what you're looking for.

I do know a lot of gessies get a bad rap for being tricky, but as long as you've got the right air flow (water from misting dry in 2-3 hours) and know where to put it in the terrarium, they are easy. They are on par with begonias and peperomias. I guess the hobby is in a bit of flux, and I hope more of these will start showing up - even if I have to propagate the living daylights out of my collection to do it!


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## shazzbott (Sep 17, 2010)

I planted mine also in the substrate, and it has grown to the top of the tank, and all over. It blooms great and is the best, highly suggest you buy it.


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

KeroKero said:


> I guess the hobby is in a bit of flux, and I hope more of these will start showing up - even if I have to propagate the living daylights out of my collection to do it!


Send some my way and I'll help you out Excellent information and thanks for sharing. Will definately be putting some in my next vivarium.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Haha, will work on it - I have a lot of seeds, leaves, and cuttings down already (but I don't work with many Columnea other than a few species - I'd need a full on greenhouse to grow out the pendulous ones well enough to propagate, especially getting into all the cultivars!). Most are destined for gesneriad interest groups at this point as there has been huge interest from them but so little from the tropical terrarium side. Kinda sad since I only grow species that either do best in or NEED terrarium culture.


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

Which species do you have? 

Jake


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Of Columnea? Right now just _C. hirta, C. colombiana_ and _C. scandens_ var. _fendleri_. It's not a group I've really been working with much so they just join the "oddball" species gesneriad section of my shelf. _C. colombiana_ is very pendulous, but the other two are more upright/lightly pendulous and seem like they would work better mounted in something like the exoterras. I've had a number of others in the past, but when I see them at shows I usually just pass over them since I don't have an ideal space to grow them.

With these I'm hoping to produce seed from self pollination first and foremost, so I'm not doing much propagating (aka chopping up) of them so they get to live the good life. If they are _very_ good, they may be taken to shows so they can show off. Setting seed is the primary goal for all my species gesneriads so not much is getting propagated from any of them this year. I have a few shelves of hybrids right now, but that's mostly due to a big show in May I need to help fill for my local club. While I have a large amount of seed sown recently, none were Columnea.


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

psh Columnea hirta 'Light Prince' doesn't look half as good as columnea carnival


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

It doesn't look nearly as good as plain old _C. hirta_ does either! The seafoam green with white edges does not mix well with the brilliant magenta hairs on the stems. Add in the red flowers and my artistic side feels like someone tried to strangle it with a color palette! I also could be rather grumpy because I also am growing out cuttings of this plant for a show later in spring and they are being their annoyingly usual selves in rooting. But I also just can't imagine them looking good in a tank (and that is what is make or break for me) - yet it is still one of the most requested gesneriads. 

C. 'Carnival' wins because of it's simplicity. The simple, clean plant with the bright yellow flowers with just a little bit of lipstick in cherry red is just awesome.


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## JimO (May 14, 2010)

I picked a cutting up from New England Herpetoculture for something like $5 a cutting. He has limited supplies.

Mine got a slow start and actually didn't do very well in the original viv where I started it. I took a cutting from the original and put it in another viv where it really took off and started blooming pretty regularly. It's become one of my favorite viv plants.


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## crested (May 15, 2011)

I came across this topic! 
That's an awesome bloom!








Glad

I picked up a columnea sulfurea at an expo a few weeks back and had a handful of similar flowers. 

I planted this into ABG, staying dry/moist, 70-95% humidity and 3 ft down from 4 bulbs T5HO fixture getting approx 600 lumens 8 hrs a day. 

It dropped a tonne of leaves and lost all its flowers, I almost lost it. However it's now showing some new growth. 

Based on what I'm hearing this plant may do better up higher with greater light? 

To achieve those flowers, what sort of light is yours getting? I'd love to get mine flowering again!

Cheers!


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Losing a ton of leaves and all it's flowers can be pretty normal when it's shocked pretty badly. When replanting you'd want to remove all the blooms anyways, and leaf shedding is scary, not ideal, but not uncommon (as my _C. hirta_ types will tell you - new cuttings shed almost everything every damn time!). Since it's showing new growth I'd leave it for now, and when it's larger take some cuttings and try and establish them elsewhere in the tank. If it's on the ground it may spread out and root along the ground which just makes taking cuttings all that much easier, you can just cut off a rooted section, scoop out the substrate it's rooted into, and move it that way. Less drama all around. You may end up losing the original plant in the substrate eventually, but since it's doing it's best to recover right now you want it to grow out as well as it can instead of doing a massive shock again (which this time could kill it for real). Take a cutting or two, get them established, THEN go back to the hopefully stocky regrown plant and move it if you think it's going to kick the bucket.

Honestly getting it up off the floor may do more for it than more light, and making sure water doesn't sit on it along with being in a nice well draining substrate like the ABG it's in. Humidity above 60% is fine but the key is making sure the plant has no standing water on it 2-3 hours after misting (it must be dry before the lights are off). This is a fuzzy plant/epiphyte rule, and if you follow it I'm not sure there's a tropical gesneriad that won't love you. It can handle some lower light for a while as long as you don't completely shade it out. If you do the cutting thing above you'll be able to tell better how the cuttings react to the light and end up getting a show hopefully. Carnival is a light stand plant, I'm just not as familiar with sulfurea to know if it's needier about light or not. I don't think it is, but cuttings at different levels of the tank will show you pretty clearly where it's happiest.


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## Sandwich_Protector (May 16, 2011)

I'd like to second columnea carnival being awesome, I've had mine for a month and it has a bloom already and more on the way!












Also, thanks for the info KeroKero. I'll be sure to mount a cutting or two at the top of my 29 vert when I finish.


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