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Post by fishingman on Apr 20, 2007 17:19:46 GMT 8
Hi guys,
Been a while since I've recovered from being bitten by the nepenthes bug. I only have 1 plant left and the rest are all history. But I'm thinking of getting a couple of plants just for the fun of it.
I'm staying in a shophouse but with a balcony. So I plant everything I have there, I've got grape, pandan, curry leaves, a few orchids and habaneros plant, 2 flowering plants from cameron highlands and one 1.2m tall nepenthes. It's doing pretty well considering the circumstances and it's got about 20 pitchers on it right now.
Any species of nepenthes to recomment that i should consider for my balcony? I get afternoon sun all the way to the evening on my balcony.
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Post by zakhren on Apr 20, 2007 18:15:19 GMT 8
Miranda seems pretty tough. I bought it almost all sunburnt, repotted it and just hung it outside in bright shade, no direct sunlight, watering it only when the top moss gets dry. And it's growing really fast~
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Post by David on Apr 21, 2007 9:04:46 GMT 8
Try also the following besides N. miranda. I'll recommend those that are more easily available at the moment. They are basically lowlanders and they love the sun. There are a few forms of these species which you can also collect:
- N. gracilis
- N. mirabilis
- N. rafflesiana
- N. xhookeriana
- N. xcoccenia
- N. xtrichocarpa
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Post by artificialive on Apr 21, 2007 20:31:55 GMT 8
Yeah, i would recommend N. Rafflesiana too.. Beautiful pitcher yet easy to care..
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Post by fishingman on Apr 24, 2007 12:19:54 GMT 8
Thanks for the recommendations, maybe I'll join you guys this coming Sunday to Fauzi's place and pick a plant or two.
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Post by fishingman on Apr 24, 2007 12:21:06 GMT 8
This is the plant on my balcony now.  |
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Post by artificialive on Apr 24, 2007 12:38:17 GMT 8
Wahh, a nice ventrata living happily with a grape plant  |
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Post by David on Apr 24, 2007 13:29:30 GMT 8
Waaaaaaaaa....  It really is not easy to grow a eventrata with that much pitcher. Asleast for me. drooollll..... |
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Post by fishingman on Apr 24, 2007 15:13:02 GMT 8
thank you thank you, put a lot of effort to remember to water it every morning actually  . I also remove it from the balcony when I go outstation. Lotsa ants are visiting the plant and so far it's also keeping the ant population in check for me. hehehe Here's a pic of the ants near the peristome.  |
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Post by David on Apr 24, 2007 18:00:22 GMT 8
When this happens, it means your plant and its picthers are healthy. Healthy pitchers produce nectar that attracts the ants. Can share your growing conditions please. Amount of water, sun, humidity, etc.
Eh, I noticed the pitcher on the upper vine are greener. Is it because it does not recieve that much sun as those at the lowwer stem?
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Post by fishingman on Apr 25, 2007 9:55:38 GMT 8
David,
No real idea why the upper ones are more green than red. They do get the same amount of sun if not slightly more. As long as they're big and healthy I'm ok with it. Hehehe
I don't think I have any secrets in planting the fella, not into those technical stuff like humidity and all. I place the plant hanging on the balcony and it gets the sun from 1pm-6.30pm. I have other plants on the balcony and I water everything really wet everyday so I'll assume that raises the humidity level. I water it every morning till it runs out at the bottom to another pot of lime at the bottom.
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Post by David on Apr 26, 2007 12:56:10 GMT 8
You're right you know fishingman. Actually the more we fuss about our neps on humidity, water, light, etc... they don grow nicely. The best is just to put them in one place and leave them alone. They are actually quite hardy plants that will acclimatise in a variety of environment. They just can't take drastic change.
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Post by fishingman on Apr 26, 2007 15:59:49 GMT 8
That's why I'm so afraid of repotting the fella, nanti all the pitchers dry up and die how? |
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Post by David on Apr 27, 2007 8:54:08 GMT 8
I think ok laa. Just make sure the stem is not bent in anyway and when you remove it from the current pot make sure you don disturb the roots so much.
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Post by fishingman on May 21, 2007 12:10:41 GMT 8
I've finally repotted my ventrata last Saturday into a pot about 3 times bigger than the last pot. I noticed the medium it was planted in does not look like sphagnum. It's got some perlite in it but generally looked black. Is this peat soil? I bought it from Cameron Highlands.
I underestimated the plant earlier actually, it's about 1.5m tall and pitchering from almost every leave.
Why do people cut a plant anyway? Is it ok if I just let it continue to grow longer as it seems like it's gonna be climbing together with my grape plant now. It's no longer growing straight up now since I let it rest on the top of the grape plant 'canopy' now. Any detrimental effect of not cutting the main plant down?
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Post by David on May 21, 2007 12:39:43 GMT 8
There's actually no particular reason why some people allow their nepenthes to vine and some people trim them so that they are more compact. Just how you want your plant to look. No ill effects what-so-ever if you let it vine.
I like my plants to be more compact in my apartment as I have space problem but those I grow in my parents garden in Taiping are allowed to vine. Also to me, even in my apartment, I will allow it to vine if I like the uppoer pitchers.
I had an xcoccenia that grew to 7 feet in my apartment and had 4 growing vines. However, one day I decided to repot it into a bigger pot. Was not careful and the vine fell sideways. The main stem broke. That was the the most heart breaking sound that I've heard when it snapped.
The vine was supported by plastice stands placed into the pot. So one point to note is, if you have them vine and supported by something, you gotto be careful that the support is sturdy and strong. Either that, hang the pot up and allow the vines to hang dowwards. Nepenthes are happy to do that too.
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Post by zakhren on May 21, 2007 14:40:38 GMT 8
Yeah you dont have to cut the vines. It's just less space consuming and with the cuttings you can propagate it. Oh you can let the vines hang down? Good so I can let my hanging ones hang their vines down ;D
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Post by fishingman on May 21, 2007 15:15:44 GMT 8
I can't wait for my coccenia to grow to 7 feet as well. I can imagine the amount of pitchers on it. Wow!
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Post by David on May 21, 2007 16:33:06 GMT 8
yaaa, the vine that broke on my xcoccenia had the most pitchers. Argghhh.... strangle myself..... eekk... argghh.....orggg...hhh...
aaaaaaa.... don want to think about it!
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It really is not easy to grow a eventrata with that much pitcher. Asleast for me. drooollll.....
. I also remove it from the balcony when I go outstation. Lotsa ants are visiting the plant and so far it's also keeping the ant population in check for me. hehehe