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New neps...well new for me :P

I am planning to buy some neps and they are highlands, so I don't know if they are easy or not. The neps are:
Nepenthes gymnamphora
Nepenthes muluensis x lowii
Nepenthes spectabilis
Nepenthes lowii - maybe

Are these hard to grow and if not, what other neps can you recommend. I have some experience growing neps, so I wouldn't call myself a beginner...an advanced beginner?. Well anyways, thanks for the future replies :)
 
muluensis x lowii gives some people (including myself) problems no matter what
 
i grow muluensis x lowii. grows pretty fast...even though it has 2 slowgrowing parents. its so far pretty tolerant of my conditions and is currently making 2 new pitchers. its a great little plant that i have gotten no trouble from so far.

Alex
 
Giving people an idea of growing conditions may help answer your question a bit better.

I grow Nepenthes gymnamphora, Nepenthes muluensis x lowii & Nepenthes lowii. They arnt the fastest plants to bulk up but keep growing at a steady pace.

Joel
 
I'm growing one for someone else until they figure out what they are going to do. It's taking the summertime temps (70 night, 80 day on the dots) ok for now and is making it's first pitcher after acclimating to my humidity and light. I'm sure it'll do better when fall and winter arrives and things cool down considerably.
 
I don't really have any growing conditions, I just leave my neps outside and just water them and let nature grow them for me. I don't have any terraiums or greenhouses or fancy equipment. I live in Miami, if that helps?
 
By growing conditions they mean temperature ranges, humidity, light source and amount, etc. Basically the conditions it grows in, which does not mean what sort of greenhouse or terrarium.

xvart.
 
Yeah Miami? You might wanna not buy any of those.
 
BUT on the bright side you enjoy a tropical climate and can grow lowlanders outside year round without the aid of terraria and indoor lighting.
 
  • #10
Is there any highlanders I can grow...and N.ventricosa doesn't count lol
 
  • #11
I could rattle of a list of potentials, but its probably better that you ask mfh, or go on the other forum and ask sunbelle.
 
  • #13
mfh is a member here who lives in Florida who grows almost, if not all, of his plants outdoors. He's also on the other forum (mannyherrera)
"the other forum" is http://pitcherplants.proboards34.com
sunbelle is a member there (also in Florida) that has some stuff outside (I think) and some in (a) greenhouse(s)
they're both (well all 3 actually) amazing growers
 
  • #14
PiranaPlant,

I am from Miami, Florida myself and am a recent transplant to Atlanta. A highlander that I could recommend would be N. sanguinea. I have taken to growing it outside under an overhang here in Atlanta this summer, and it generally gets hotter in the day here than there. The only difference may be that here the nights cool down a bit more but I don't know how much of a factor that is.

Don't discount low landers though. Bical is really a beautiful plant which you should be able to grow no problem. I couldn't do much with it in Atl (it grew but never really pitchered). I shipped it home and I hear it is doing much better.

Another thought may be some of the "dragon" series of plants which can be found by various suppliers. They are all (well most) hybrids of truncata which has lowland ancestry (at least the more common variety) with a highlander. You get teh best of both worlds and it would probably do ok for you back there.

I miss breezes...
 
  • #15
Hi Piranha Plant,
Your list of plants will perish by the end of the summer, which in Miami is October. The only Florida grower we know who succeeds with N. lowii runs an air conditioner at night to achieve night temps down into the upper 50's low 60's. Obviously, he grows them in a greenhouse using controlled misters and fans as well. You don't want to know his electric bill!
The highlanders that we find will grow in Florida summer heat are species like ventricosa, maxima, some highland veitchii, some alata, a few others. However, once the highland species are combined into a hybrid, they become more heat tolerant. Key word here is 'tolerant'. Tolerant is not the same as 'thriving'. Keep that in mind. We baby our highlanders thru summer, providing a bit more shade, and maintaining a very humid yet bouyant atmosphere around them. We also grow them in clay pots. The porosity of clay allows for cooling evaporation. By late summer/early fall they are exhausted, and with the arrival of a shorter photoperiod and cooler nights they perk up.
The suggestion to grow lowlanders is a good one. We Florida growers live in a region where lowlanders can be grown to perfection if you take proper care. Growers in other regions of the US simply don't have the space to provide the warmth and humidity required to raise a bicalcarata up to full size. One of the greatest achievements in Nep cultivation is to have an ampullaria produce a carpet of basals, or to grow a rafflesiana that stands six feet tall with pitchers approaching a foot in length.
By now you get my point, and it is only a suggestion. Start with what will work in your conditions and learn how to grow it well. There have been some excellent suggestions here.

T. & M.
'Sunbelle'
 
  • #16
muluensis x lowii gives some people (including myself) problems no matter what

Hey Phis, I grow this plant, and it's been very good for me.

Had a little trouble when I moved it into the GH and it had to adapt to real sun instead of fluorescents, but it's making a comeback without much babying. Curious - what conditions are you trying to grow yours in?
 
  • #17
I had mine in sort of intermediate conditions, and it did "well" for a while, then started to go into a decline. I then moved it to HL conditions, where it stabilized and did nothing for a while. Then it died.

I just reordered it though, so we'll so how this new one goes. My theory is that it was just a bad plant/clone
 
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