N. ampullaria

[Clint]

I'm planning on starting a vivarium and i would like to put a n. ampullaria in it. Why do some plants have HUGE (long) leaves, and others have small leaves? i dont mind the vining nature of the plant, but i would rather have one with small leaves since i've seen vines with small leaves and vines with long leaves. does anyone know where i can get one of there small-leaved varieties?


thanks,
clint

 

[swords]

I don't know of any "small leaved" varieties of N. ampullaria. They are graded/sold depending upon pitcher coloration.

The short leaves with very large pitchers like this:

Are actually basal shoots that come up around the large mother vine, which develops leaves about 25-35 cm in length not including tendrils and pitchers. To keep these basal shoots short with small leaves you need to let the main vine grow uncut. I do not know how far or even if you can cut the main vine back without it activating the basal shoots to begin growing into vines.

 

[Clint]

really? how come this one has such short leaves?

 

[PlantAKiss]

Geez Josh...is that your ampullaria?? Whether it is or not...what a beauty! Ampullaria is one of my favorites.

 

[swords]

JLAPill, this is a "bonsai" style plant of N. ampullaria that Rob made by experimentation. It is cool! But if you notice there is a very large, old brown stem which these rosettes are growing from (N. ampullaria occasionally creates rosettes along it's vine).
From what I know of the bonsai technique the way to keep plants small is to keep them somewhat rootbound and occasionally prune the roots back enough to keep it in a tiny pot and rigorously prune any foliage growth over a certain size. Eventually this will "dwarf" many plants.
Perhaps Rob will pop in and explain his procedure for doing this to Nepenthes, but this is not the natural size of N. ampullaria leaves on the vine.

Plantakiss, yup that clump is one of my ampullarias. I divided up the other big one into vine and basal shoot cuttings. I'll have about 20-30 N. amps (green form) soon!

 

[Clint]

http://www.borneoexotics.com/photos/temp/amp_pot2.jpg

that's strange. it shows up normally on my monitor.

and yes, it IS a nice nep, swords. i hope mine grows that well!

 

[swords]

It showed up now and I edited my answer!

 

[Clint]

really? thats pretty cool! can you tell me the length of a mature leaf? the viv. is a 75 gal, so its only 18 inches wide. So far the only small neps i have found are: belli, amp, gracilis, and canpanulata, so i'm very limited.

 

[swords]

According to C. Clarke's Nepenthes of Borneo, N. ampullaria's leaves get to  25 cm (or 10 inches) so your full ampullarias diameter will be 50 cm (or 20 inches) but some leaves on mine are 35 cm (14 inches) making a diameter of 70 cm (28 inches). Aside from the leaf length there are the tendrils at the ends of the leaves that the pitchers hang from which can be up to 15 cm according to C. Clarke but the tendrils on mine are actually shorter, only about 5-10 cm in length (maybe because of the bright lighting) . Leaves don't grow straight out, they bend with the weight of the pitchers so you can fit plants up to 75 cm (30 inches) in a 75 gallon tank.

Anyway, an N. ampullaria will do fine in a 75 gallon, that's where mine grows!  

 

[Joachim Danz]

Hi,

judging from the picture of Rob's plant I guess that it is a cutting of a big plant with basal rosettes on it. The main (propably much bigger) growth point seems to be cut off. The leafes of the rosettes are already responding to this situation and are increasing in size.

Cheers Joachim

 

[Clint]

that's awesome swords! and if a leaf gets too big i can just cut it off and put it in a vase. i have one more question, this time on highlanders. Alot of highlanders grow really slowly, so i was wondering if i could put some slow-growing highlanders in seperate pots in my terrarium, then take out the pot nightly and put it in a 20 gal aquarium or cooler or something under the tank, and put bottles of ice in it to keep it cool overnight. would that work? because i think n. hamata and rajah ect ect (esp helios, even though they aren't neps) are totally awesome, and it would be great to put them "on display" in the day time and put them in their own cool tank at night.


thanks!
clint

 

[swords]

Hi Clint,

Lowlanders like N. ampullaria must have temps between 80-90*F during the day and 70-75*F and humidity 80% or higher to grow and pitcher well.

Highlanders such as N. hamata and N. rajah must have temps between 70-80*F during the day and down to 50*F at night to maintain steady growth and pitchering. Highland species are also more particular about airflow (they need it-lowlanders don't require it). Humidity must also be higher for highlanders (90%+) than required for lowlanders.

Before jumping into expensive highland Neps why not try the somewhat cheaper and easier lowlanders to kinda "cut your teeth" on experience. The highland plants will still be available in a year or two and will possibly be cheaper than they are now. Once you've grown lowlanders try some of the more forgiving highlanders like N. sanguinea, N. burbidgeae, etc. These guys will tolerate less than ideal nightime cooling. If you are determined to go for higlanders it is best to design an automatic system to provide nighttime cooling. My website will soon have an article on how I built my highland chambers cooling aparatus.

I want to state that I do not believe in the ice chest or frozen water bottle method of night time cooling. This is a very temporary solution to a problem that will plague you for the life of your plant. The ice chest or frozen water bottle method will only work while they are very small and in a very small enclosure. The condensation formed on the water bottles at night may actually pull the humidity out of the air at night. Highland Neps don't like cool dry air any more than they like warm humid air. Also the less your plants are shuttled from one place to another and left in stable conditions the faster they will grow.

I should mention that contrary to popular belief, these two highland species do not really grow slowly when grown in proper conditions. My N. hamata has gone from a 4" diameter seedling to an 18" diameter, 2 ft tall climbing plant in under 18 months. My N. rajah has also gone from 2" diameter to 18" diameter in 18 months as well it has produced 7 offshoots 4 last December-Feb and 3 so far this fall (I have not divided these from the mother plant yet this year).

I hate to keep promoting it but since you're new to neps please take a look at my sites cultivation info and FAQs: Nepenthes Cultivation Tips It's not gospel but it's detailed info on how I cultivate my highland and lowland plants.

I hope that helps some!  

 

[Clint]

yes, that does help alot!

forget the highlands. everything i have read says they (atleast the ones i want) grow ungodly slowly, and i dont want something that grows fast. Thanks very much! I'm really glad you told me they grow faster than people say.

 

[swords]

It depends upon your growing conditions, if the plants are rarely moved, well fed, in good light, humidity and appropriate temperatures they appear to grow faster than most literature states. The reason plants grow slowly (like a 5 year old N rajah that's still only 15 cm (6") in diameter) is because something is obviously stressing the plant and not allowing it to grow easily. I have one N. lowii which is doing fantastic at least in comparison to another which for some reason refuses to settle in and start growing for 1 1/2 years now. For some reason it never makes a decent root system I've gven it 9 months between root checks and it is nearly time for another attempted repotting and root check. Perhaps it is affected by some pathogen.

I try to give my plants the easiest possible conditions to grow in instead of trying to force the plant to perform in adverse conditions. Some peple say this takes the "skill" out of growing plants but I prefer to relax and enjoy observing my plants instead of working to keep them alive. This is part of why I switched from aquatic plants and killifish to Nepenthes-less manual labor!

However, due to their pampered lifestyle in these controlled conditions, life outside their little habitats is a (near) death sentance for my plants. If I were to do a soil flushing session and forget to put a plant back overnight it would surely be dead by morning. Whereas a plant forced to deal with temp swings, occasional humidity drops, etc. may live, probably be stressed a good deal but live. Just 2 hours outside my chambers killed my enormous N. bicalcarata when I repotted it this last august.  

 

[Guest]

I would like to mention too, that my long gone N. khasiana had a growth habit very similar to N. ampullaria. It grew with one long stem ( almost 3 feet) which remained uncut, and almost ten basal shoots that didn't seem to want to climb. Yeah, I just remembered how similar the two species are... I really wish it hadn't died

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