What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Outdoor Neps finally comming around

vft guy in SJ

VFT and Drosera lover
This is actually an update on some plants I picked up last October. See thread here: Home Depot Neps.  I have kept these plants outdoors since I got them and as you can clearly see by all the mangled growth, they did not appreciate me for that at all. With spring/summer in full swing here now, they are finally comming back to some resemblance of what a Nep should look like. If growth continues at this rate I hope to see pitchers developing within the next few weeks (I hope I hope I hope....)

Enjoy
Steve

on6.JPG


on2.JPG


on3.JPG


on1.JPG


on7.JPG


on8.JPG


on9.JPG
 
I'm glad to see that your Neps are coming around! I have a few Neps that have experienced similar mangled growth because I placed them under more light and heat than they were used to. Hopefully mine start growing soon, just like yours!

Please post more pictures once they begin to pitcher
smile.gif
 
Steve, Is that webbing on the leaves?? It's esspacialy noticeable in the last picture at the base of the new leaves and in the 4th and 5th pictures. You might give it a thorough going over if it is. It resembles webbing left by spidermites. They would also cause distorted leaves and stunted growth.
 
I feel your pain on the mangled growth! I put some of my tollerant neps outside a few weeks ago, and I guess I put them somewhere with TOO much sun. oops.

I had New York Fried Neps (kinda like KFC) when I returned from vaca a week later.

Not to mention, we then had a cold spell - several nights into the 30's.

At least they didn't croak! Might be a while before they're display-worthy again, though!
 
Well dang..  looks like my main hosting site is down..  the dead photo links will work as soon as it comes back up.

Anyway, here is an update on my outdoor grown Neps. With the warmer weather they are taking off and pitchering like gangbusters.

Enjoy
Steve

Edit: Steve, yes that is webbing you see on those leaves, but its just a common garden spider and not mites. I seem to have an abundance of spiders in my yard this year. As you can see in the following pictures, the plant is making nice healthy looking leaves now that the weather is nicer.




First up is N. macfarlanei x ventricosa. Every leaf this plant has made has pitchered for me since I moved it outside.
macxvent1.sized.jpg


And a closer view of the pitchers.
macxventpitcher.sized.jpg

macxventpitcher2.sized.jpg


Here is one of the unknown Home Depot plants from the original thread. It has been suggested that it is N. ventrata.
outnep1.sized.jpg


Here is a closer view of one of the pitchers. This plant has been shooting off new growth from between the leaves and making new pitchers non-stop since about the middle of April.
outnep1pitcher.sized.jpg


The next few shots are also from the Home Depot plants above. I am told that they are some kind of N. miranda hybrids. The first pitchers are forming now on both plants so I hope soon to get a positive ID (and cool pitchers to look at).
uk1.sized.jpg

uk1pitcher.sized.jpg

uk4.sized.jpg

uk4pitcher.sized.jpg
 
Finally, here is my N. ventricosa 'Red'. This plant has an interesting habit of hiding its pitchers in the shade of its leaves. Maybe they are just shy.
ventred.sized.jpg

ventredpitcher.sized.jpg


Cheers
Steve
 
just wondering...about how long did it take for your neps to adjust to the outside? how much light do you have them in?
Alex
 
Glider,

They all adjusted differently, if you judge by time to make new pitchers then the miranda hybrids have been the slowest and the macfarlanei x ventricosa was the fastest. Keep in mind that most of them spent the majority of the winter outdoors.

They get a few hours of direct sun in the early morning. By 11 am they are all in bright shade. Temps range anywhere from the 70's to the 100's daytime and generally low 60's or 50's nighttime. Humidity can be as low as the teens on hot days, but usually picks up at night, average is about 30-40% in summer daytime.

Winter temps are chilly for Neps. Generally 50's and 60's for daytime highs and overnight lows average in the 30's - 40's. Peaks can go as low as the teens in a cold spell and 80s in a warm spell.. California weather can be quite strange from time to time.

This year I plan to have a portable greenhouse to overwinter my Neps in. Hopefully that will keep them from reacting so poorly to the cold.

Cheers
Steve
 
  • #10
Good work Steve! We need more people pushing the boundaries on growing these plants. You could probably give them even more direct sun. Mine get sun until noonish. I got tired of trying to acclimate Miranda outdoors and just stuck it in my mini-greenhouse. Maybe I'll take it back out now that it is summer. I shudder to think how your Neps will react in winter. Most of mine slow down or even stop growing and I'm in southern California with average temps at least 10 degrees higher and no nights below freezing. Good growing and keep us posted.
 
  • #11
[b said:
Quote[/b] (srduggins @ July 12 2006,9:33)]Good work Steve! We need more people pushing the boundaries on growing these plants. You could probably give them even more direct sun. Mine get sun until noonish. I got tired of trying to acclimate Miranda outdoors and just stuck it in my mini-greenhouse. Maybe I'll take it back out now that it is summer. I shudder to think how your Neps will react in winter. Most of mine slow down or even stop growing and I'm in southern California with average temps at least 10 degrees higher and no nights below freezing. Good growing and keep us posted.
Yayyy..  my hosting site is finally up and running again so now you can see all the earlier photos.

Steve, as you can see now, my plants did not like wintertime here at all. All existing pitchers dried up almost immediately and the whole plant basicly shut down for several months. On the plus side, the 2 that I experimented with by leaving them out in the yard survived just fine and in fact those 2 were the faster to bounce back when spring finally decided to arrive this year.

This fall I plan to buy one of those small greenhouse shelf deals with the plastic cover to put my Neps into when the cold weather returns. Hopefully that will do the trick to keep them at least growing, if not pitchering.

Cheers
Steve
 
Back
Top