I Was Killing My ventrata. Now What?

[Adam]

Yeah, take it out of the death cube now. Otherwise, looks good compared to mines red leaves

 

[Tony Paroubek]

There are lots of alternative ingredients. No need to go crazy with buying alot of new stuff. You may find a simple mix of LFS and perlite about 1:1 works fine. I have never had very good results with peat mixes so I would skip that and the sand. Some people like peat based mixes though. The sand isn't necessary... it's heavy and nonporous and in a free draining Nep. mix will settle on the bottom of the pot.

 

[xvart]

Or packing peanuts.

xvart.

 

[DavyJones]

I got to this topic a bit late, but, I have a rather large DeRoose Ventrata that I have out in the full, direct sunlight for at least 6 hours each day. The leaves that were on the plant when I received it burned and turned a nasty red, wrinkled color. Now that it has acclimated, it is putting out huge leaves at an astronomic rate, growing much faster then my indoor nepenthes. The vine is absolutely going crazy. I'm just hoping for a flower soon, I hear the DeRoose clone of this plant is a female. I'm just going to be sad about bringing it inside for the brutal Cleveland winter. I really don't know where I'll have room to fit such a monster.

 

[TENroaches]

The most recent leaf it has has the tip eaten away, from the sun perhaps. And for maybe about the past week, it's been living inside a south-facing glass block window. I did put it back out on the deck just now, though. Didn't repot yet.

 

[TENroaches]

Is this what I want?

(I included both in case the huge one doesn't show up for some people.)

 

[Tony Paroubek]

The 'orchid' bark/fir bark is good. Soak a handful in a container overnight to get it wet. Then you should be all set to mix with the other ingredients.

 

[jimscott]

And Maehem swears by pine needles.

 

[TENroaches]

And Maehem swears by pine needles.

I have a hillside full of those.

 

[glider14]

i dont think anyone brought this up. heat stress? did you keep the lid on the cube when you had it outside?

death cubes are what they are. DEATH cubes(more rectangular prisms though..) take the plant out of it, repot it in to a more light potting mix. and it should do just fine.

Alex

 

[TENroaches]

i dont think anyone brought this up. heat stress? did you keep the lid on the cube when you had it outside?

death cubes are what they are. DEATH cubes(more rectangular prisms though..) take the plant out of it, repot it in to a more light potting mix. and it should do just fine.

Alex

Nope, never had the lid on it when outside. I'll have to see what size pot I should repot it in. I have some 4" or 5"ish round plastic pots with drainage holes I could use. But maybe I should go bigger so I won't have to repot as soon. Heading to Lowe's shortly to look for some orchid bark.

 

[TENroaches]

The 'orchid' bark/fir bark is good. Soak a handful in a container overnight to get it wet. Then you should be all set to mix with the other ingredients.

I just went outside for some rain water to soak my orchid bark in overnight, and then decided to check to make sure I wasn't supposed to have it mixed with other ingredients (so I knew how much to soak), and now I realize I'm supposed to have this be part of a mix. I couldn't find any info at all on amounts of orchid bark to put in a mix for nepenthes. Someone please guide me. :-( What should I mix this with, and about in what proportions?

I have:

• orchid bark
• perlite
• silica sand
• LFS
• sphagnum peat moss
• probably pine needles if I check the hillside under the pine trees

Thanks

 

[watnazn]

I would use equal parts of orchid bark, perlite, and LFS or sphagnum peat moss, maybe both, but thats what I would do, sometimes I change my nepenthes mixes to find the right consistency for the area I'm growing in and what not.
Today I just re-potted some plants and made up a mix on the spot of 2 parts sphagnum peat, 2 parts perlite, 1 part pumice, and 1 part vermiculite. It's really all up to you and how you want to grow, but I would probably wait for someone elses response.

Good luck with your plant.

 

[SirKristoff]

Its up to you, idk about the pine needles, but a mix of all of the other things is fine...most of my neps are potted in a equal portions of lfs/peat/sand/perlite/osmunda fiber/orchid bark.
Some are just in peat/perlite/lfs/orchid bark, some in peat/perlite/lfs or lfs/perlite....it doesn't really matter how you do it, its ventricosa...its hardy hahaha.

 

[TENroaches]

I'm scared.

I didn't do the "hold underwater and gently move it until the soil released from the roots" way. I removed the previous soil with my hands, like I did successfully with VFTs and pitcher plants before. Are there practically no roots with this Nep? I hope so. Because it looked like mine practically came down to nothing. I hope I didn't tear off roots thinking it was LFS.

 

[SirKristoff]

A lot of these deathcube neps don't have many roots because they are pretty fresh out of TC.
Just pot it up in typical mix and treat it like a cutting, it will grow roots.

 

[justjack]

Since I just have one nep, maybe I'll try my luck with not using anything other than LFS, peat, silica sand, and perlite. I'd have tons of coconut husk chips leftover otherwise.

Know you won't have the the chips forever, you're speeding towards plant addiction at lightning speed and soon will need to re-pot more and more!

 

[SirKristoff]

oh god are neps addicting....
i went to Lowes yesterday here in Jacksonville, FL. and saw a ton of deathcube flytraps and a couple sarras
as much as id like to rescue those other plants, i have to turn the other way....
but i did rescue an N. ventricosa which was in pretty good condition which is now sitting out on the front porch, shaded....acclimating LOL
And here in a day, i will pack it up and ship it off to Washington where i will receive it there and place it in my greenhouse with my other neps....
hahahahah..........addictions
atleast its not drugs....
though, sometimes those might be a little kinder to the wallet, rofl.
not that im advising to do drugs or anything, if anything im against em LOL

 

[TENroaches]

Now that it's fall, what temperature should be my red flag to bring it in at night? It's been living outside all summer, but now it's getting chillier in the nights. I wonder if I should have it inside as I'm typing this.... :-(

 

[TENroaches]

Updated Pics

Seems like the plant is doing fine, but it seems like the newer leaves aren't as big as the older ones. It lives in a south-facing glass block window now. It also seems like the soil is being compacted in a circle around the plant, I guess where all the water sits. Maybe I should do something about that?