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The question was asked how I am getting it to grow.  I am amazed to learn this is a difficult species, for me, this grows better than most of my other Nepenthes!  When I received the plant, it was the size of a half dollar, and no pitchers.  Less than a year later it is 3 inches high and has about 6 pitchers, although they are small.  I have the plant in pure live moss, with a layer of pearlite on the bottom.  It is a 6 inch by 6 inch square pot, which allows for the tendrils to nestle into the moss.  The sphagnum is a dense short red variety that does not overwhelm the plant.  The pitchers and some of the leaves are lightly covered by the growing moss, which I occasionally tamp down if things get out of hand.  The plant sits in tray watering, always.  Occasionally I spray the leaves. perhaps once a day when temps. are highest.  Day temps are in the high 70's - mid-80's, dropping to the high 50's at night in the cooler months.  In summer, it just remains at ambient room temperature, with perhaps a 5
degree drop.  Unlike the highlanders, this does not affect its pitchering.  It is in a tank with  (8)  40 watt assorted spectrum lights about 7 inches from the plant, and 100% humidity.  I notice if the sphagnum grows, so does the plant.  I do not feed the plant.  Possibly the trap production is a result of being hungry?  It is important that the tendrils be allowed to sink a bit into the moss I think, and not overhang the pot.  Well, there you have it.  I am very pleased to learn that my cultivation is good, as I hope to impress my source to part with a N. hamata come spring.  I have a cool cellar that never gets above 65F, even in the hottest days of summer, so I hope that I can soon try my hand at some real highlanders.  Thanks all for the kind welcome in my previous post: I have been up to my ears with Pygmy Drosera gemmae sending, with little time to respond!  At least my Nepenthes are fairly low maintenence!


Of course, I will now have to have a greenhouse of some sort.  I realize this after seeing Nep G's wonderful home for his plants!  I was just given some very nice plants from a forum member who is no longer able to grow them, and my terrarium space is getting smaller with every day they grow.  Right now all the plants are small, but after reading Swords comments I realize that I had better come up with a plan, and soon!  The highlanders love new York winters, and it seems to me the rapid temperature drop at night is a big part of their happieness.  I am learning much from you all, this is a great forum!!

Nepenthes%20argentii%202.jpg


Nepenthes%20argentii%203.jpg


Nepenthes%20argentii%204.jpg
 
Tamlin, there is a web page that someone does grow all the nep. in his basement.
could we get lucky enought to see a picture of your argentii?
 
Tamilin......

I MUST congradulate you!!!

Those are the biggest d@mn pitchers that I have EVER seen... They must be the size of a football!!!!
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hehe


Seriously though, congrats on the plant.
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In due time you'll forget all about you dews... and a slave to thy neps thou shalt be!
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Jœl
 
holly cow i thought something was about ready to jump out of the computer and bite me when i opened the page lol.
Tamlin, yes indeed congrats on the N.argentii. you are by far have started off w/ a plant in your grow list that not to many people have or even think of affording. thanks for posting a picture of it.
 
Nice picture;>

umm maybe it's because of growing under lights but that doesn't look like N. argentii seedling to me. I only have a picture of a young pitcher so I can't show a young plant right now. But the leaf shape isn't right and there is no fuzz anywhere that I can see
Tony
 
Heres a photo of a fully grown lower pitcher of N. argentii showing the general fuzziness of tendril and pitcher:

N._argentii_lower&coin_H.jpg


And here's another photo of a female plant, showing the typical bleak and harsh habitat:

N._argentii_seed_head_H.jpg
 
I will post the pitcher pic.. keep in mind this is about a 1cm pitcher on a 5cm wide plant..I will try and get a close up of the plant tomorrow.


NargentiiCR.jpg
 
Well I sure feel foolish. I guess even the masters can slip up on occasion. Thank you for the correction, and I will update my growlist as soon as I stop crying. Mistakes happen, but why this one? I wrote to Phill, who knows maybe someday....
 
Sorry William ;< Nothing to feel foolish over.. mistakes happen and very young Nepenthes are often difficult to tell apart, expecially when you only have a plant or to for comparisions. I would be interested to hear what Phill has to say.

Tony
 
  • #10
Hi,

Tamlin, this is the plant Phill provides as N. argentii - mine is absolutely identical. From what I've learned from Rob the N. argentii clone Phill sells does originate from him. So I was quite sure the plant is labeled correct... If you do contact Phill, Tamlin, I would be very interested in his comments concerning the origin of this clone.

I always thought this clone doesn't match the description of Jebb & Cheek well due to its young age. Like it is for example with N. villosa, which does show very few of the typical hairs in young age and pitchers are also quite different from adult ones.

The pitcher of Tony's plant also doesn't look like N. argentii to me, the shape is very different from what I do expect. Of course it still is quite young and this may very well be the cause for the different shape. A picture of the quite unusual peristome junction under the lid, figured very well in the description of N. argentii, may tell more.

Joachim
 
  • #11
Hmm.... The mystery deepens. I've just written to Phill about this. It's true that I did supply Phill with this species in sterile culture some years ago, but at that time it was so young as to make a positive ID when in the flask impossible. I did say at the time that I wasn't 100% sure of the ID. However, Phill is very field experienced and was subsequently happy it was OK. Of course, he may have also obtained cultures from elsewhere in the interim.

Nepenthes' apprearance vary a great deal depending upon the growing conditions they are under. It's hard to say from the posted photo exactly how large the plant is, but leaf texture, pitcher form and tendril length can vary. For example, N. ampullaria looks very similar to N. x hookeriana to start off with. However in this case, the leaf attachment seems wrong to me. From what I can see on the photo it is decurrent on the plant shown while that of N. argentii is somewhat petiolate, even when young.

Maybe we are all wrong and it is N. argentii. Whatever it is, I know that Phill would have shipped it in good faith, but mistakes can be made with small plants!
 
  • #12
Ok, here two pics of my plant, which might help identifying it.

N_argentii_1202_A.jpg


N_argentii_1202_B.jpg


The size of the lid is quite unusal even for a juvenile pitcher. It will be interesting to see what it really is.

Joachim
 
  • #13
Thanks for the pics Joachim!
Looks just like a young N. sibuyanensis to me.  I will try and take some pics later.  

There are too many things not right with it compared to every N. argentii seedling I have seen.  
Shape of the leaves.
Petiole and attachment to the plant.
Shape of the pitcher.
Lack of fuzz/hairs.
Tony

(after looking at some plants in the ghouse I am thinking N. sibuyanensis. The large lid would be typical also. Many young Nepenthes have a lid which is very oversized for the pitcher however.)
 
  • #14
Well Goofy Gosh!
Add me tot he list of bewildered as I have the same plant from Phill. Mine has become less robust lately due to some late watering, but it was a good four inches in diameter and imbedding the pitchers into the moss(I have it in LF NZ sphagnum).

Regards,

Joe
 
  • #15
Ok I took some pics.. They are not the best quality as I was in a rush and getting a good macro shot takes alot of set up for real close up.

Picture of plant that sorta shows a number of things:
The fuzz all over the plant particularly on the tendril and edges of the leaves.  The way the base of the leaf does not wrap around the stem and the narrower V shape of the petiole
Argplant.jpg


Picture of pitcher and tendril.  Pitcher approximately 1.5 cm tall.  This one is a little more bulbous than the other pitcher but if you look carefully it is a little constricted in the middle and then again around the top below the peristome.
Argpitch.jpg


Close up of the peristome.  A little hard to see but even at this young age it has some of the characteristic 'wings' flipping back under the lid. (oops sorry forgot to turn the picture 90deg before saving it)
argclose.jpg


Tony
 
  • #16
with looking at the picture from what everyone posted and also looking at the one that is on Phills web page. tony your plant does look like a N. argentii. when i first saw the picture of tamlins plant it did look odd to me but it was still small and baby pitchers do look alot diff when they are mature. i also would like to know what is said.
 
  • #17
Many thanks for the pics and your comments Tony!

Jan, whom I ordered my "N. argentii" together with, told me the upper half of the newest pitcher of his "N. argentii" is reddish and the lower hald is green. So Tony is propably right with this plant being N. sibuyanensis.

The lid of this plant is quite big compared to other seedlings from my experience. The only seedlings I do grow with a similar oversized lid is a N. maxima from New Guinea and of course N. sibuyanensis...

After seing your pics, Tony, it is obvious that you've got the real N. argentii. I would have easily spotted the error on the label of my plant after seing them, but sadly pictures like these are not to be found anywhere on the net or in books available to me. Well this is the reason I do check your site and especially the pitcures regularly even though not being able to order from the US
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Joachim

P.S.: If someone gets infos concerning the "N. argentii" from Phill please do forward them to me.
 
  • #18
After scanning through my literature I do recommend reading through Phill's article on how he found N. argentii and N. sibuyanensis in CPN Vol. 27, No. 1 from March 1998. Both species being from the same island growing in similar altitude I do have an idea what had happened...

Joachim
 
  • #19
Well Tony, I'm in no doubt at all that the photos you posted are of N. argentii.  Also, I now feel certain that Tamlin's photos are of something else.  I'd bet my shirt that it's N. sibuyanensis, or a hybrid between N. sibuyanensis and N. argentii, or a hybrid between N. sibuyanensis and an undescribed species that we know grows nearby.  I am talking with Phill to see if we can work out what's happened and how.  I'll post here when we come to a conclusion.
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In the meantime, I'd just like to add that I've known Phill for nearly 20 years and know that he'd never send out any plant that he didn't feel sure was true to description.
 
  • #20
Although I will never be the Cper that Phill Mann is, I will say that his lifelong dedication to both the plants and the people who grow them have been a source of inspiration to me, and has fostered my own sharing ethic. I remember when he stayed with me back in the early 80's after finishing up a world tour of visiting the growers of these plants: the legends who wrote the books! At the time, I had one 30 gallon substrate terrarium, lol. Although it was a very nice one and one I was proud of , I know that he had seen the greatest collections in the world. Still, he made me feel like one of the Masters, and he made big about it. So, do you think that after seeing my humble collection, and that I had nothing to offer to him personally that he promptly forgot me? He did not! We exchanged many handwritten letters in the days before the internet, and if I ever needed help with *anything* he was always there for me, and made me feel special as well. The argentii was simply another attempt to make another Cper happy yet one more time: and I know that I am only one of probably thousands who has been touched by his care and generosity. A more gracious man would be hard to find on earth, and I san say with assurance that he will make right on this. I could not imagine otherwise. I don't mind that the plant is not some rare and expensive thing, it will always be a treasured plant in my collection from having come from a friend whom is has been my honor and priveledge to know.
 
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