When your Utricularia longifolia are blooming, invite over your orchid friends and convert them to savage people.

Utricularia alpina is another Utricularia with spectacular flowers.

Tropical epiphytic Utricularia are found growing in moss, bark, or decaying leaves on cliffs, hillsides, trees, and fog forests in the Caribbean, Central and South America. Many have underground tubers and may have a period of dormancy each year. Epiphytic Utricularia make excellent additions to any terrarium or bright window sill. They are generally grown for their spectacular flowers that can put orchids to shame.

Epiphytic Utricularia are usually grown in a very light, well drained soil mix. A typical mix would be one part each long fibered sphagnum, perlite, and pumice. Another common mix is one part each long fibered sphagnum, fine orchid bark, peat, and perlite. Pots with Epiphytic Utricularia may be grown in trays with a cm or less of water but they prefer frequent overhead watering. Like other carnivorous plants, they do require pure water and can be killed by fertilizer in the soil.

The growing mixes for epiphytic Utricularia are too coarse for direct seeding. It is best to put a 1 cm layer of finely chopped long fibered sphagnum and fine perlite over the your preferred planting mix. An alternative is to start the seeds in the sphagnum and fine perlite mix and later transplant the small plants.

Sow seeds of Utricularia on the surface and place the the pot in a plastic bag in a warm location until the seeds germinate. After the seeds germinate, remove the pot from the plastic bag and put the pot to a bright location such as a terrarium. The surface of the planting medium must be kept wet. Mist it with pure water regularly. More seeds may continue to germinate and you may notice they do so soon after you spray them. If you find the soil surface is drying out too quickly, you may leave the pot in the plastic bag. Please see Sowing Seeds Step-by-Step for more details on starting seeds.

Utricularia can easily be propagated from stem cuttings. They will recover quickly if you include a small tuber.