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Highlander question

ive been reading alot tonight/today (havent slept) and apparently a fair amount of people say that they can stay a bit on the drier side with no adverse affects. is this necesarily true? ive just stuck to the moist side just to be safe, but ive been experiencing a dry spell of sorts where the pots are only lasting 2 days tops before i must water again.

This is how i water my neps. i top water in a tupperware container, let the pot sit in water for about 5 minutes, to make sure that all the sphagnum is sufficiently wet. i then let it drain for 3 minutes and put it back in the terrarium. input PLEASE?
 
Are you refering to the media staying on the drier side or the plant itself? I found the media can dry out more than recommended (obviously) and the plant will be fine. I mostly grow lowlanders and hybrids though, so I'm no higlander expert. The older pitchers and the pitchers in general will die faster I noticed. There was a few months where I was so busy they became a bit neglected with drier media, but other than the pitchers (and growth rate slowed) they were fine. It would really depend on what you mean by "on the drier side" though. Are you trying to see how long they can go in between waterings and still be happy? My terrarium neps get watered only once a week, but they have dried lf sphag in their media and are in at least 80% humidity too.
 
My neps (ventrata, soper and sang) survived not being watered for 2 weeks.
The ventrata was so dry, when i squeezed the spag it was potted in it turned to dust :p
During that time the grew very slow and didn't pitcher, but as soon as i started watering them properly again they went full trottle like nothing ever happened.
 
lol, ventrata is a tough one, I think mine had gone about 2 weeks without water too one time and bounced right back fine. Come to think of it I have a sibayunesis outside of a terrarium that only got watered once a week too for a little while- fine but no new pitchers (I heard they are more sensitive than most though.)
 
ive been reading alot tonight/today (havent slept) and apparently a fair amount of people say that they can stay a bit on the drier side with no adverse affects. is this necesarily true? ive just stuck to the moist side just to be safe, but ive been experiencing a dry spell of sorts where the pots are only lasting 2 days tops before i must water again.

This is how i water my neps. i top water in a tupperware container, let the pot sit in water for about 5 minutes, to make sure that all the sphagnum is sufficiently wet. i then let it drain for 3 minutes and put it back in the terrarium. input PLEASE?

I would not let the media get too dry, especially since most mixes are very open and can quickly become dessicated; but your watering technique is, otherwise, very similar to mine . . .
 
@taargus: im referring only to the media. i go out of town for about 4-5 days at a time popping in around the 3rd day to water and leaving again till the 5th day. but recently the media hasnt been staying moist for as long as it usually does. i turned one of the fans off thinking maybe its been speeding up on me (just to rule it out or it may very well be the cause of the dry spell).

@taliesen: i havent let the media get that dry yet lol.

@BB: ive been watering like usual but like i said above, theres a variable thats unaccounted for thats drying out the pots (hopefully its just the fan). I hope with turning the fan off i can go back to my normal watering regimen.
 
The overuse of fans is a likely culprit and can dry moss in a very short span of time . . .
 
Rootbound neps absorb water in a really short amount of time. They're actually fairly thirsty plants!
 
Just wanted to say that, that ventrata quadrupled in size in 9 months, but it was in the same pot.
Until then i watered it the same as when i just got it.
When i finally paid attention to it i found out it drains all the water in 1 day.
 
  • #10
Chris thats the truth! Being rootbound will definetly cause them to use more water. If its just the top thats dry the fan is probably your problem. Maybe point it away from them to circulate the air without that direct wind. If its getting drier throughout the media, I would look into needing a repot. Is it all the plants in the area or just a few?
 
  • #11
I don't let my hlers get dry. I water them once a week. The top of the media is bone dry by then but the media under is still moist. Anytime I let them get too dry unintentionally I noticed they were all to happy to abort pitchers both mature and still forming. The plants themselves came through fine.
 
  • #12
Im thinking of getting egg crate, doing a false bottom with a ultrasonic fogger running underneath. and getting small trays (really tiny ceramic ones just the size of the bottom of a 4 inch round pot) so that it has a sort of resevoir to make sure the roots dont dry out in case im held up and cant get home on the day i usually water. would this work? planning on having the fogger running 6-7 times a day for 10 minutes at a time. and having a small cpu fan (the one i disconnected but will be putting it further away) running at night to get the night time drops needed.
 
  • #13
You might not need the fogger. I have an eggcrate bottom sitting on top of a few pieces of pvc pool grates for some height and a few inches of water at the bottom. I don't know how your terrarium is set up but between the water at the bottom, the lights, and a fan I get consistently at the very least 80% humidity without anything else in an 150 gal. It may not be enough to drop the temperature though, even with a fogger (I tried) unless you can cool the water somehow or have it in a colder room.

Let me know if it works for you, I've been experimentling with cooling a different tank a few ways and so far not good enough.
 
  • #14
well i have the a/c ceiling vents facing straight into the tank and the drop with that is about 8-9 degrees, im hoping that adding the fogger the added wetness will lower temps at least another 5-6 degrees. that way i can get 15 degree drop everynight if not more.
 
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