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about to get my first Nepenthes

upper

upper

Capensis Killer
i just ordered from ebay, my first nepenthes :-O

how's this for growing condition?
it comes potted but i dont know what the mix is.
(from a well known vendor which i will not name)
its a ventricosa.
i'm planning on putting it on top of my computer table
a 23watts CFL, the twirly one on a table lamp.
its not going to receive direct sunlight,it'll be the sun that gets in my room from 7am to like 5pm(if that's not enough, i'll put CFL from 5pm-9pm.
if humidity isnt enough i'll put live or LFS on top to increase humidity slightly at least.
what do you think?
 
Last edited:
upper said:
i just ordered from ebay, my first nepenthes :-O

how's this for growing condition?
it comes potted but i dont know what the mix is.
(from a well known vendor which i will not name)
its a ventricosa.
i'm planning on putting it on top of my computer table
a 23watts CFL, the twirly one on a table lamp.
its not going to receive direct sunlight,it'll be the sun that gets in my room from 7am to like 5pm(if that's not enough, i'll put CFL from 5pm-9pm.
if humidity isnt enough i'll put live or LFS on top to increase humidity slightly at least.
what do you think?
Click to expand...

sorry, i shoulda made it bold
 
A N. ventricosa should adjust to room humidity levels.. unless you have really dry air! It may take some time though.

You fail to mention how close the plant will be to the window and what direction the window faces. From the information you gave it doesn't sound like enough light during the day. Perhaps you could run the compact fluorescent during the day as well? Is there a reflector on the light that will direct the light down on the plant?
 
i'm not sure if its not enough, its facing east, i'll try to leave the CFL on from 7am to 9pm if i have to.
 
sorry i totally read over the word....i read too fast, but yeah, Ventricosa can grow in a windowsill lol. no need to worry about high humnidity for it either
 
ventricosa's are tough as boots. keep it as humid as possible for the first few days and then just water it and give it light and it should be fine. Dont fret if it doesnt pitcher for a month or two. And remember, the more you mess with it the worse it is. Just let it settle. Hope this helps!
 
my only main concern is light.
i dont know about leaving the light on even tho its noon and the room is already bright.
my dad is disgusted by these plant that i grow so no support from him.
he said that the electric bill is going to increase alot if i leave the light on
and my mom said if i leave the plant in my room it'll breath in the carbon dioxide gas when i sleep. and there'll be bugs in my room.
then there's the problem about the windowsill.... i dont have no windowsill...
 
Hello,

Yep, light is way more important than humidity if you want your ventricosa to pitcher!
Can you grow the Nep alongside your other CPs? Or is it too big?

Don't worry about trying to acclimate it, either. Just set it down where you want it and leave it, provided it has good lighting, and it usually won't skip a beat (I mean, a pitcher haha) if it's healthy, other than perhaps losing a few pitchers it comes with at first.

I moved my ventricosa from my very hot, very humid, very lighted terrarium onto a cooler, south-facing windowsill with humidity that never goes above 50% (usually 35%), and its doing great, making larger and thicker leaves (not etoliated though, in fact sunlight is better than flourescents), and it's even starting to vine now! It lost a couple pitchers naturally in the process, and it hasn't lost a single leaf since being moved.

Anyway, Congrats on your new Nep, and I hope that you lget to appreciate Neps a lot more from this ventricosa! You may get hooked before you know it! Lol
 
  • #10
Jimmy said:
Hello,

Yep, light is way more important than humidity if you want your ventricosa to pitcher!
Can you grow the Nep alongside your other CPs? Or is it too big?

Don't worry about trying to acclimate it, either. Just set it down where you want it and leave it, provided it has good lighting, and it usually won't skip a beat (I mean, a pitcher haha) if it's healthy, other than perhaps losing a few pitchers it comes with at first.

I moved my ventricosa from my very hot, very humid, very lighted terrarium onto a cooler, south-facing windowsill with humidity that never goes above 50% (usually 35%), and its doing great, making larger and thicker leaves (not etoliated though, in fact sunlight is better than flourescents), and it's even starting to vine now! It lost a couple pitchers naturally in the process, and it hasn't lost a single leaf since being moved.

Anyway, Congrats on your new Nep, and I hope that you lget to appreciate Neps a lot more from this ventricosa! You may get hooked before you know it! Lol
Click to expand...

my other CPs? lets see, its outside in full sun...
 
  • #11
hmm well how much would it cost to run a 24w cfl bulb for 1 year, 10 hours a day, 7 days a week? Do the math!

10 x 24w = 240 watts/day x 7 days = 1680 watts/week x 52 weeks = 87,360 watts/year or 87.36 Kw

I don't know how much electricity is for you but I will estimate 15 cents per Kw
87.36 Kw x .15 cents = $13.10 to run the bulb 10 hours a day every day for one year

You can adjust the numbers for different sized bulbs, different length of time running the bulb each day, different cost for electricity etc.

Do you need to run the bulb all day?? I don't know. my East window gets plenty of sun and a plant in the window gets enough light to grow reasonably well. But if your window is shaded from outside or the plant isn't close to the window then odds are you will need to use artificial light. Bright indirect light in a room isn't going to be enough I don't think.. not without at least some direct sun through the window.
 
  • #12
Do you have a sheltered spot outside? Like under a tree or something where the plant could get a little shade? Your area of the country you can probably grow it outside nearly all year. But you are correct.. full sun all day would be a bit much.
 
  • #13
yeah, where i try to grow my sphagnum, its under a table with little see throu hole. and my sarracenia and vft are on top of that table, so i try to grow it under there hopefully its not too hot for my sphagnum. but its partial shade partial sunlight. the coldest it ever got here that i know is like 45F.
 
  • #14
well not to steal a thread or anything but would it cost $13.10 a year or per day? also well you could put it under a not so bushy tree so it would get protection from the sun and have light, also wouldn't you have to worry about pest if you put it outside?the coldest it got over here is about 40-35F
 
  • #16
well i doesnt get that cold over here, but yeah, under tree, under table. same thing right?
i dont know how much my area's electricity cost.
http://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/cms/ladwp001710.jsp
if anybody know anything about these kW or electricity, please help me out.
 
  • #17
don't you use southern california edison? if you do you would have to check the site, also if you look at your elec. bill i think it would tell you how much you use in a month and what is the kw pricing for your area??? just a thought
 
  • #18
looks like your energy cost is .07288 but there are other service charges on top of that based on kw used. Which as best I can figure looking through rather quickly is about .04 cents. There are probably some other additional fees, taxes etc.. .15 may be a couple pennies high but reducing it to .13/kw doesn't make a huge difference and only brings the cost down to $11.36/year

Changing the time each day the bulb is on or the wattage of the bulb however can change the cost more noticeably.
 
  • #19
Hey Upper I live maybe an hour away from LA. I also grow Neps and a Ceph on my East-facing windowsill. My east window gets bright light from 6-9 am and partial light until around 7 pm. I think your Ventricosa should do fine without any additional lighting. But who knows, maybe should try growing it without additional lighting for a month and see how it does. If more light is needed then add the lighting
 
  • #20
yeah mine gets super bright until like 11AM then its just regularly bright until 7PM then it gets dark...
i'll try what elsantaclause say then, i'll try to tape it to my windowsill, so it doesnt fall down or something
and if i put it on my tiny little windowsill, should i leave the window open or closed?
 
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