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Special requirements for growing N. aristolochioides?

I've tried growing this once before, and to my horror, the plant rotted off at its base! I'm assuming that N. aristolochioides needs better drainage than other neps? I just ordered another one, and I want to give it a fighting chance...can anyone offer me any suggestions?

Also, regarding N. bicalcarata, I've heard that it is difficult to propagate by stem cuttings, is this true?
Thanks,
Nile
 
N. aristolochioides is a very fussy plant, high drainage is a must as you have inferred. Use a very chunky, but able to retain some water, mix. Try for many parts more of coconut chunk and very coarse sphagnum moss chopped up, with some perlite and a touch of peat to conglomerate it together.

In regards to the bical question, I have heard this but unable to confirm it by myself or anyone else's experience that I know.
 
Also, regarding N. bicalcarata, I've heard that it is difficult to propagate by stem cuttings, is this true?[/QUOTE

fwiw- i got my bical from phil a few years ago as an unpotted, rooted cutting. as long as i keep it watered it grows fine. what he did to get it to root, though, is beyond me, as i didn't think to ask and he didn't offer that information.

peace,
tech...
 
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Charles Clarke, and we discussed
the conditions under which N. aristolochioides grows in the wild. Charles informed me that
it grows in pure living sphagnum moss, so I am not convinced that truly sharp drainage
is the key requirement.

Rather, in the 9 or 10 years I've been growing this species, my experience has been that
the key requirements are very cool nights and reasonably bright light. In short, if you
cannot cool this plant down to below 10 C at night, I would not advise trying to cultivate
it.

Regarding N. bicalcarata, it is very easy from cuttings, and strikes quickly.
 
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Charles Clarke, and we discussed
the conditions under which N. aristolochioides grows in the wild. Charles informed me that
it grows in pure living sphagnum moss, so I am not convinced that truly sharp drainage
is the key requirement.

Rather, in the 9 or 10 years I've been growing this species, my experience has been that
the key requirements are very cool nights and reasonably bright light. In short, if you
cannot cool this plant down to below 10 C at night, I would not advise trying to cultivate
it.

Regarding N. bicalcarata, it is very easy from cuttings, and strikes quickly.

I also tried to grow this species and failed, but reading about your experience with this plant has led me to the conclusion that I just don't didn't have cool enough nights for it to survive and thrive.
 
elgecko needs to chime in. he defies all meaning of the words picky, hard, difficult, and non beginners plant :D he grows his on a window sill with no cooling at all.
Alex
 
Why don't lots of people buy those portable hose-air conditioners?

Do they make portable hose-air conditioners that go down to 50 degrees? I've wondered that for awhile. Why couldn't you get plumb a humidifier into it to re humidify the air before it gets to the tank?
 
Yes you can, it just requires some ingenuity, remember Josh Cook? (swords) he used his A/C unit plumbed into his tank with a fogg injection line. He grew his rajah and others huge in a very short time.
 
Whenever I've got my own place and enough extra cash I'm going to do that for sure! I had no idea that portable AC units went down to 50 degrees.

Hey the thermostat on the wall says it goes down to 50 degrees. Well there ya go. I'm so un-observant sometimes lmao.
 
  • #10
I do not find this plant picky at all.
I use equal parts perlite, peat moss, and dry LFS for my soil.
Water twice a week.
Growing in a south facing windowsill for over a year now.

elgecko needs to chime in. he defies all meaning of the words picky, hard, difficult, and non beginners plant :D he grows his on a window sill with no cooling at all.
Alex

Alex,
That is not true about the cooling. During the day with the sun shinning in, it heat the room up to the high 70's. Then at night it drops to the mid 70's. :-O
 
  • #11
Your night temperature is only in the mid 70's? I don't understand how you grow them this way. It makes me tempted to try to do what you do since my nights are in the mid 60's and days in the low-mid 70's, but then I'm sure mine would croak.

You must have a magic window for real real!
 
  • #12
I have mine growing in min temp of 15C and highest temp of 35C. Humidity is 55% - 100%
 
  • #13
I don't understand how you grow them this way.

It's easy. The plants can not read, so they do not realize that they actually want a bigger temp drop and night and more humidity.
:-))
 
  • #14
It's easy. The plants can not read, so they do not realize that they actually want a bigger temp drop and night and more humidity.

Actually, it's probably because your plant is still quite small. It is fairly well known that when
small, highland Nepenthes are much more tolerant of warm night temperatures. However,
when mature, they are much less tolerant. So, I must ask: How large is your plant?
Still pretty small? If so, I would not assert that this species is tolerant of warm nights.
 
  • #15
Actually, it's probably because your plant is still quite small. It is fairly well known that when
small, highland Nepenthes are much more tolerant of warm night temperatures. However,
when mature, they are much less tolerant. So, I must ask: How large is your plant?
Still pretty small? If so, I would not assert that this species is tolerant of warm nights.

Check his N. hamata pics, first. Talk about a species that is supposedly very fickle.

xvart.
 
  • #16
I do not find this plant picky at all.
I use equal parts perlite, peat moss, and dry LFS for my soil.
Water twice a week.
Growing in a south facing windowsill for over a year now.



Alex,
That is not true about the cooling. During the day with the sun shinning in, it heat the room up to the high 70's. Then at night it drops to the mid 70's. :-O

seriously! something is wierd about your plants... they are just tooo adaptable. :) u got to TC the for us :banana2:
 
  • #17
neps, elgecko has a strange rift in space/time where he grows his nepenthes. It's not a temporary thing. It's legit. It's best not to ask questions.

But for the rest of us, listen to neps!

Capslock
 
  • #18
I like how Elgecko's magic window has become this untouchable, indescribable...thing. Haha!

Elgecko's magic window is tantamount to Oprah. And her bookclub. No one understands it. No one questions it.

It just...IS.
 
  • #19
lol! its just insane how all kinds of neps...lowland, highland....especially the finicky...the dreaded hard neps all grow in a similar media with simple houseplant conditions. Either that...or he has a magic portion that makes them more adpatable ;)
 
  • #20
Not that I am knocking El Gecko but his aristolochioides is still very small (look at the pics) and so what Neps says is still very probable. Once Gecko's plant gets larger he might find it getting pissy and declineing. We shall have to wait and see before we make a full on call. As Neps points out, how many of us can claim to have been growing this species for 10 years like he has?
 
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