N. coccinea

[Lauderdale]

Yeee Haaaw. I just scored a very, very nice N. Coccinea from a local garden store this morning…actually two in one attractive six inch hanging pot.  They have an…18” wingspan, 24” from top leaf to bottom of lowest pitcher, the two biggest pitchers are slightly over 6”…darned near as fat as a coke can and with very nice color.  When I looked at the price I couldn't get my money out fast enough.
Right now I have it hanging under my awning about three feet from the “sun line”.
My questions are:
Should it get direct sun?
Should I attempt to separate the two plants?
Will the constant 5 to 10 knot breeze we get here in S. FL harm it?
I doubt they will catch any food in a hanging configuration, so what can I feed it?
The instructions say to fill the pitcher about half full of water…is that correct?
Any other tips on keeping these guys healthy would be appreciated.
It is the prize of my collection along with my Bical...which by the way...should I treat the Bical the same way?

 

 

 

[lithopsman]

I'd love to help, but I'm sure everyone could help more if we could have all of the information about the conditions (ie: temperature, humidity, etc) that the plant(s) are in... But generally, water with distilled water, lowland conditions (like bical) and it should be happy, as it is a fairly easy grower... GOOD LUCK!!

 

[SnowyFalcon]

Mine have direct sun for about 5 hours a day.  Also, when I got my huge N. Coccinea, I did separate it, and both halves are doing better.  They were root bound and needed it desperately.  But be prepared for a long surgery of untangling muck covered roots! You might want to take some cuttings in case surgery fails!

  You don't need to fill the pitchers.  They will fill by themselves.  If the old ones don't have any fluid left, the new ones will.  Mine are on the porch, exposed to the wind as well.  I filled a two liter bottle of water and tied it to the pot as a weight to help keep it from falling (top heavy + long vines + constant gusts = disaster waiting to happen)  There is always a long line of ants heading into my pitchers, so no worries there!  If I catch wasps, I put them in too.
Hope I helped!
SF

 

[Lauderdale]

Falcon, I know you live in Boca and am amazed that the sun doesn't burn your plants up. Two layers of window screen cover mine from noon to 5. When they were in direct afternoon sun my red dragons expired in only a few days, the Dentes manged to survive but just barely, and I kept them in a watering tray. Oh well! Different stokes for different folks.

 

[SnowyFalcon]

They are in a porch, so it does have a light screen in front of the light, though the screen is not as heavy as the window screen you're talking about.  Still the sun is strong enough to qualify as direct sun (enough to give me a sunburn if I stay out there long enough&#33

.  It may be a little heavy but it grows great and the new pitchers are fully red with very little to no green spots near the base.

 

[hamata]

Hi Lauderdale,

Bicalcaratas like shady conditions with high humidity. As for coccinea, I also got mine quite large (about 6 or 7 growing points coming out of the soil). When I repotted it, I found that there was more root than soil. When you repot, try not to damage the orange/yellow roots, as for the black roots, I just gently pulled off what would come using a garden hose and my fingers ( It took me about half an our to get it sorted out and after, I rinsed it with filterd water). It survived very well showing little negative reaction. This surprised me considering how much root I got rid of.

Right now, mine gets a lot of indirect ligh from hanging under
a big green umbrella. I had it in more direct sun before, and the leaves burned. This, however, might have been a reaction to my constant misting (the sun hits the water droplets on the leaf and, like a magnufying glass, burns a little round spot- multiply this by a lot). When I moved it to the shade, it was much happier. Coccineas seem to br very strong plants, yours would probably be fine so long as you don't mist it when the sun is shining directly on it.

We live in Florida, the land of pesky flying bugs- don't worry about feeding it. Even ants will get caught when one wanders down the pot and infroms the rest of the nest.

Whenever I get a plant that has pitchers that are empty, I fill them up. Of the more than ten plants I've done this with, I have never seen a negative reaction.

Only once have strong winds damaged mine. Ripped a couple of pitchers right off, but that was all.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your new acqusition.

Regards, Jonathan

 

[goldtrap2690]

cool , the biggest neps i every found in local garden shops were in 3 inch pots and thats kinda the biggest size i've ever seen neps too . what company did your nep come from , i'm gonna ask my local garden shop to start ordering from them

, neps in 6 inch pots for sale at gardens stores are never seen here .

 

[Lauderdale]

Goldtrap, All I could get the garden shop owner to tell me is the grower is in Apopka, FL.  He is probably "wholesale only" but I am going track him down just so I can see the operation and maybe get a few growing tips.

 

[LenG444]

I grow my coccinea in the same conditions as hamata. I grow my pitchers plants under a patio umbrella and I mist them with water early in the morning and at dusk. It has been very humid this past week becuase of all the rain and I have noticed on the lip of the picthers is realy shiny and producing alot of necter. So much necter that it is driping down the pitcher.

My Coccineas are hanging 5 feet from the ground and they catch all there food naturaly. They usualy catch ants but they have also caught wasps, beetles, geckos and the regular Florida Lizzards.

The only time I had to fill the pitchers with water is when I first bought the 2 Coccineas. They were dry and it seemed that they were abused and needed some recovery time.

You probley have seen this pic many times but here it is again coccineasMy Coccineas

and here is the abused pictureAbused Picture

a pic of both of the plants under umbrellaunder umbrella pic

 

[Stefano1]

hey Lauderdale, the 5-10 knot winds will increase tto 10-20

theres a tropical wave coming off africa and it hit us today, the beach was goin off, mad wind, even here at home, it goes off and on

BTW, where did you buy the coccinea? ive been looking for it online and havnt been able to find any,... even here in so florida ive looked around for nurserys and they only sell fly treaps and sundews, no neps

as for the feeding, i duno about you but i am geting TONS of friggin ants!!!! i acidentaly fliped over one of my gracilis pitchers thats about 1-2" big and holly crap, so many dead ants came spilling out, i was like OMG

its crazy, i dont see a single one, but they are all in the pitchers!!! i keep most of my neps in my porch thats screened and they get direct morning sun light for about 4-5 hrs, when it rains i put them outside, just keep ur eye on the windcus theres a tropical storm suposed to come, its already very windy


BTW, when it starts to grow do you think i could trad with you if you decide to trim it, i would like a coccinea very much

 

[schloaty]

Len,
Lizzards? LIZZARDS? Are you serious? Holy moly!

 

[Phil traper2]

Dont grow this plant like a N. hamta, because a N. hamata is a ultra highland, and a N. x coccinea is a ultra lowland. Water with Distilled water, if some pitchers dont have liquid in them put distilled water into the pitcher so it would be filled half way( do this to all the pitchers with no liquid in them). You can have direct sunlight until the afternoon sun, then have it 50/50 shade. Water everyday if you are keeping it outside. Do not seprate the plants.

Feed the plant 2 or 3 times a month with crickets that you can get at a local petstore. Make sure it is Humid, since you live in FL there should be no problem to keep it warm also.
Cut any black leafs.

Have Fun growing this nep it is a fast grower just like a N. bical. Make sure not to keep it outside at night. It might get to cold or animals might attack it.

Humidity should be 84% and Temps 75-85*F.


PT2

 

[LenG444]

I like frogs but this frog was getting way to close to the pitchers

I didn't want the frog to fall in the pitcher, so I moved it. If it fell in, I would of had to add it to my list of ants,wasp, beetles,and lizzards.

 

[Keely]

If the plant was not in full sun at the garden store, work up to full sun gradually over a period of days or you're likely to burn the leaves.

 

[Trent]

Trent here in Boca Raton. If you are interested in large N. coccinea plants please e-mail me personally.
Yep. Better bring 'em in off the patio guys. The tropical wave is on the way. Great opportunity to collect rainwater and give the RO system a break.
We grow N. coccinea in bright, filtered light, but no direct sun. Remember, south Florida Nepenthephiles, our conditions are subtropical. Our summer sun is more intense than the rest of North America, and our humidity consistently higher. Great for lowland stuff!
Watch out for winter, though. Those cold fronts punch through with significant wind chill factors, effectively lowering the leaf temperature, and along with the cold air comes lower humidity that will dry out Nep pitchers in a heartbeat.

Trent in Boca Raton

 

[Andenes]

Congratulations on scoring with your very own X Coccinea Lauderdale!

I'm a huge fan of coccineas myself and I think i could lend you some tips. My coccinea is under a green shed on my backyard and here in Puerto Rico we get alot and I mean ALOT of sun and heat. Soooo what I do is that I spray it water three times a day to keep humidity, they love that. Also, rays of sun doesn't seem to affect them very much , not like other plants I have, and she's very very sensitive towards sudden changes in the climate so keep your's safe if it snows over there. For me is very simple cuz we never have drastic weather changes

But that's just me jejeje Good Luck!

Sincerey,
Erick

P.S. I would love to see yours! Can you post a pic of it? Thanx I'll try posting a pic of mine too.

 

[Lauderdale]

Wow! I was expecting just a couple of answers about my Coccinea but you guys really stepped up to the plate. I got enough good info that if I fail…it is my fault.
We had wind gusts to 35 kts here last night and I did bring in the Coccinea because I didn’t want to find it in my neighbor’s yard. Collected ten more gallons of rain water also.
Schloaty, yep, we have lizards down here, and frogs, and scorpions, and snakes. At least four different kinds of chameleons that I know of plus two Iguanas that like to sun themselves on my patio. One of them is every bit of five feet long…my patio stones are 20” inches square and he lays across three of them…is a beautiful green with a long red beard, fierce looking and very aggressive towards the cats that no longer take short cuts through my backyard. I think he is protecting the much smaller female. Hey, guys gotta’ do what guys gotta’ do. A lot of the lizards and frogs we have here can easily fit in the pitchers but I will let the Coccinea eat nature’s way, as I do all of my CPs, and not feed it.
I do not have a digital camera but they are quite similar to the pics that Len posted. Thanks again for all the info.

 

[Andenes]

Sorry it took me soo long to find my cam jejejeje But here's my baby!