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I have been growing nepenthes for just under three years and many plants have grown well for me.  Living in Hawaii with warm year around climates and good lighting, humidity and water, I have been successful in growing a wide range of species and hybrids.  I base this success on fertilizing.

Here is an example of a cutting recently received in the mail of N.  veitchii x albomarginata.  The plant received lacked any pitchers or even evidence of a pitcher upon arrival.  At about five months after receiving the cutting, it has produced a pitcher.  Please see photo.  
nep7010.jpg


Other examples include this: thorelii (d) x Trusmadiensis seedling with many pitchers.
nep7014.jpg


I have also noticed that many plants have also flowered quickly, and while this may not always be the desired goal, for breeding them allows for quick sex recognition and notation.
N. diatas
nep7018.jpg


N. spectabilis x veitchii
nep7068.jpg


and Red Leopard
nep6043.jpg


And now, seedlings start to show their color potential at an earlier age.  This is N. ventricosa x (dubia x singalana)  EP cross.  Small seedlings.

nep6003.jpg


More later,

Michael
 
Beautiful plants, Michael.

Can't wait to see (and learn) more.

Kpg
 
Hi Michael
Great plants as ever
smile.gif
,I love your climate,its lashing down here"UK,southampton,a mile from the coast,in the new forest"
I can see your going to have some great crosses in time.
More pictures please.
Bye for now julian
 
Michael, how do you fertilize them?
what do you use and how often?

Yossi.
 
Are there any species that dislike fertilizing, like northiana?
 
What control methods have you employed to make comparisons of fertilized vs. non-fertilized? Do you fertilze as a foliar, root zone, or pitcher feed?
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]What control methods have you employed to make comparisons of fertilized vs. non-fertilized? Do you fertilze as a foliar, root zone, or pitcher feed?

Excellent question. It would also be interesting to compare artifically fertillized plants to ones fed strictly insects. Of course, the experiment would have to be carried out for several months because insects release nutrients much slower.

I've also heard that artifically fertilized plants produce larger leaves, and smaller pitchers. Judging by the size of your pitchers, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Brian
 
Ok RainForestGuy,
Im am also beginning to fertilizing a small Reiwardtiana that has never given good results after more than one year.
Now it is already too early to tell you about the results,but I will inform you all.
I am using a fertilizer called "osmocote".
I will give you more news in some time!
Bye!

Mr_Aga
Milan - ITALY
 
  • #10
I have gathered from various posts that Arie uses Osmocote, Tony Paroubek uses Osmocote, and Michael uses Peters. I know also that Rob Sacilioto uses Peters on seedlings. Both of these brands come in several different flavors with differing compostitions. Which flavors should we use and which should we avoid? What is the rule of thumb regarding NPK and trace elements?
 
  • #11
Here’s a link with more information about fertilizing Nepenthes.  Note that the information targets growers who live in tropical climates, most of whom have their plants growing outdoors in a lot of light.  The information may not be too relevant to those who grow their plants indoors or in terrariums, although perhaps the fertilizing practices described could be modified for these conditions.

http://pitcherplants.proboards34.com/index.c....8314301
 
  • #12
I foliar feed all my neps one or twice monthly with half-recommended strength Schultz orchid fertilizer. I do the same with my helis, VFTs, cobras, cephalotus, terrestrial utrics and Sarrs. I've never done a controlled experiment but I'm happy with their vigor.
 
  • #13
Chloroplast, are your plants growing indoors or outdoors?
 
  • #14
They're all growing indoors completely under cool white fluorescent lights, with just a couple receiving supplemental sunlight from a window.
 
  • #15
Chloroplast, Have you tried orchid fertilizer at full strength? The usual rule for using regular fertilizer on orchids is to use it at half strength. So orchid fertilizer is probably already "weak" and may not need to be further diluted for CPs. I fertilize my Neps with full strength orchid fertilizer. But I grow my plants outdoors, it may not be applicable to your indoor plants. By the way, I'm intrigued that you fertilize your helis. I have one that's slowly dying, so I sprayed it with fertilizer, hoping that it will grow.
 
  • #16
Tropics, if your heli is slowly dying I don't think fertilizing will do any good, it might even make things worse...
Try chaging the soil/lighting/water/humidity/whatever to get it the conditions it needs...
 
  • #17
there have been discussions on here about fertilizing neps in the past. i have tried osmocote on neps, and have been happy with the results. in my opinion, root feeding neps works well, as long as you top water them frequentally to flush out the soil to keep excess minerals from building up. as things have changed in my life, i am no longer to top water my neps frequentally, so i now feed my plants frozen crickets, dried bloodworms, bloodmeal, etc. with good results.

tech...
 
  • #18
[b said:
Quote[/b] (technoracer @ Nov. 06 2005,10:55)]i am no longer to top water my neps frequentally, so i now feed my plants frozen crickets, dried bloodworms, bloodmeal, etc. with good results.

tech...
How do you water them? I keep my Neps in hanging baskets and I have to top water them.
 
  • #19
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Chloroplast, Have you tried orchid fertilizer at full strength? The usual rule for using regular fertilizer on orchids is to use it at half strength. So orchid fertilizer is probably already "weak" and may not need to be further diluted for CPs. I fertilize my Neps with full strength orchid fertilizer. But I grow my plants outdoors, it may not be applicable to your indoor plants. By the way, I'm intrigued that you fertilize your helis.

No, I haven't. Though now that you mention it, I may experiment on one of my plants. I was concerned that full strength may burn the leaves of some of the more sensitive species.

And, yes, I foliar feed my heliamphora and they seem to appreciate it. I don't think I'd ever use full-strength on these as they seem to be more finicky when it comes to everything else: not very scientific but it's just my gut feeling.

As far as your comment on the appropriateness of a particular fertilizer strength for indoor versus outdoor plants, you have a point. Typically, the amount of fertilizer a plant utilizes is proportional to how actively it's growing, and the unused fertilizer usually remains in the soil where it can burn the roots if not leeched away. Since plants grown outdoors under good sun usually grow much faster than indoor plants grown under artificial lighting, the quantity of applied fertilizer should probably differ between the two.
 
  • #20
[b said:
Quote[/b] (jimscott @ Nov. 06 2005,11:29)]How do you water them?
all of my terrarrium plants are in trays. i'm home every 2 weeks usually. i simply fill the trays before i leave, feed them some bugs, and then they're on their own for the next 2 weeks. my bical kinda freaked out, and i think i almost lost it in the beginning (while i was still experimenting with the watering schedule), but it is still alive. fwiw, my terra. plants have been on this 2 week water tray cycle for about 6 months now, and, other than the bical, none of them had any negative reactions.

if you can top water frequentally, and didn't want to deal with hand feeding your plants, you could try some osmocote (just a few "pellets") on top of the soil. you could try it

on a more common plant first to see if it's worth it to you. be warned that, in the past, i did have one plant that had a green slime form on the lfs after using osmocote.

tech...
 
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