Spring time's a coming!

[cpbobby]

for my nepenthes....

I think by the end of this week I am going to start putting my chamber into transition mode for spring. During winter time I grow under florescents but once it warms up I use sunlight. My lowlanders hate winter time.......grow slow as hell, crappy pitchers too. between the inferior lighting and drier conditions due to the forced air heating.

I have 4 t8's on em but at the end of this week ima bump it up to 6 4ft t8's in preparation for sunlight transition in a couple months so by the time they get done getting used to the t8's ima give em some real juice.

to the untrained eye these neps may look 'happy' but these jungle plants are definitely NOT 'happy'. lol. But they do look healthy.

here is an outside shot of my growing chamber........heavy on the insulation. lol. Necessary expense which definitely payed dividends and saved my plants earlier this winter after a heat failure!

for my sarracenia.....

i am starting to see a flower or 2 so might have to migrate em out of the gh for a couple weeks.....too soon to break dormancy i say but i do wanna force break in march to get a head start on the growing season this year.......Oh the MANY advantages of a gh. Love it!

here are the sarracenia enjoying the best dormancy of their lives strangely enough with no assisted heating or light i have a tomato vine and bell pepper r/c that has stayed alive all winter despite the lack of light and heat....will give me a nice jumpstart on this year.

more sarracenia and even some sleeping dews

 

[FloridaCP]

That's some dedication! Kudos for all the work you put in.

I've been seeing quite a few of my plants coming out of dormancy here in Central Florida. I feel like sometimes I'm drowning trying to keep my tropicals warm in winter and then I hear from members like you and realize I've got it pretty easy.

Happy growing!

 

[Maiden]

YEAH !!!

I cannot wait more for spring !

I have so many plants to ship and so many plants to receive !!

My helis setup just wait to be 'springtered' LOL. And my vfts and sars in my fridg just want to get out of there !!

The 2014 season will be a great one :+)


Francois

 

[cpbobby]

Same here.......i haven't really gotten many new nepenthes but the ones i am getting are nicer ones for the most part i am working on improving the quality of my grow chamber this year....going to add a swamp cooler for the summer, maybe some LED lighting for next winter as well as making the chamber bigger. Most of the neps I do have are gonna make some good growth this year so after bumping my grow chamber up to 6 feet high in a month or so i expect to see some 6 foot vines later this year .

For the most part my nepenthes wish list isn't that big so pretty soon I will reach end of line there. Only ventures i may make are some toothy ll hybrids if they are attainable and of course some northiana or tiveyi mixes.

My sarracenia however is where i hope to shine. They are going through a total restructuring and i intend to build a set of bleachers to display them with built in trays and water distribution system. Also all those planters will be empty soon enough.....all of my sarracenia save for a couple seedlings are ready for their own 3 gallon pots. I will keep the planters to culture temperate drosera and for smaller sarracenia bc I have decided that making my own sarracenia hybrids is something i want to do next year BUT it will be on a severely reduced capacity next year bc basically all i can do is mix hybrids together BUT with any luck I will start to acquire some genetic material soon so hopefully I can get serious about it in the future.