Milk, it does the nep good?

[D muscipula]

I've been feeding my neps a few drops of milk in each pitcher for a couple weeks now by way of experiment.  I have done no controls, but the new pitcher the N. campanulata put out is encouraging:

The digestive juices in the campanulata pitcher are very viscous!  It's almost like karo syrup or something.

I have noticed that the milk will accelerate pitcher death, but that may be true of any feeding in the species i've noticed it with.  Be careful not to get milk on the pitcher itself, or it will cause problems.

 

[swords]

That's a fine looking N. campanulata! I wish mine was that large!
Rich forms of feeding with fatty things like milk and bloodworms (I don't know about the wax worms) will indeed accelerate pitcher death.

I only use feeder crickets from the reptile shop and the pitchers do not immediately decline as with other forms of food I've tried.

I feed the pitchers every 2 weeks  and some of my pitchers are 6-8 months old and looking fine.

 

[agustinfranco]

Hi d. muscipula. I see you've been getting in touch with our german counterparts!!. They were the first ones to feed milk to Nepenthes and who knows how many other types of cp's. Please ask Joachim or Jan W. They'll can update you on this technique.

I particularly find this milk pitcher feeding very convenient. Unlike some, I don't add too much milk just 5 drops for pitchers that are 3 cm or smaller, 10 drops for pitchers between 6-10 cm and 20 drops for pitchers bigger longer than 20 cm. For some reason, my pitchers have not died yet. Furthermore, I use skim milk. I read somewhere that the fat in the milk accelerates pitcher rotting.

gus

 

[Guest]

My kind of topic

. I've been using milk on and off now for a couple of months now. I have found that it deffinately improves growth, even in my vfts. I have noticed too, that in the pitcher plants, the death of the pitcher is hastened. But, using 2% milk helps, and perhaps diluting it with a bit of water as well. Sundews love this stuff too by the way. I need to get a better droper then a straw though

. But, many cp growers from canada that I've spoken to think it's a really disgusting idea, and I just dont know why

.

 

[Nflytrap]

i'll have to try this, though Im going to use 1 percent milk and use only one drop to see what happens. The plant is opening a new pitcher now, so I'll try on that one, as I learned the hard way that the plant dislikes pygmy grasshoppers(pitcher grew a black spot, but otherwise looks ok..though Im not going to be surprised if it dies early)

 

[Zongyi_Yang]

i do agree that milk does accelerate growth, but i don't like to use it. i just believe they should get the same things as they get in the wild. Nathaniel, i believe you only talked to one canadian cper who doesn't like the idea of feeding milk, the other guy is from europe. and i never said its sick, i just said i wouldn't do it. Zongyi

 

[trashcan]

How long have you been growing this plant?

It looks great.

 

[D muscipula]

Quote[/b] (trashcan @ Nov. 10 2003,10:36)]How long have you been growing this plant?

It looks great.

Thanks.... i've only had it for a bit more than a month, long enough for it to put out most of the pitchers that it has.

The oldest pitcher is rotting, and the milk in it is clearly the culprit.  I think that the pitcher juices are just too viscous for the milk to mix in and be fully absorbed.  I'm still going to keep feeding it milk, though, unless/until it becomes obvious that the milk isn't contributing to the growth. The fluid in the ampullaria pitchers is still clear, so they are doing a better job of absorbing it.

 

[schloaty]

Hey D mus,
A little off the topic, but I have found that my new pitcher has gained some rather interesting coloration since I moved the plant a little close to the lights....I'll try to remember to take a pic tonight (it's feeding day! gotta buy some crickets).

 

[D muscipula]

Which pitcher?  You have a campanulata?

You missed out on the NECPS meeting, Schloaty, but thanks for leaving the Byblis to me.

 

[schloaty]

D mus,
Yeah! It was at the show, for heaven's sake!

It's not too big, yet, maybe 5 inches across or so....but come on man, how could you?

I better e-mail you a photo as proof....

 

[D muscipula]

I'm just obsessed with your N. tobaica that i'm waiting for a cutting of. Sorry to forget.

 

[agustinfranco]

Dear all:

I respect everybody's point of view regarding milk feeding for neps. One must understand though that in this type of hobby, one encounters plants that are difficult to get and they are very tiny. Thus, anything that can speed up growth should be welcome. At least, that's how i think.

Perhaps some of find very disgusting and revolting to feed milk to pitchers besides being very unnatural for neps, but some of us grow our neps in unnatural ways using tanks and strong lights. So for unnatural ways of growing neps, there are unnatural ways to feed them. It looks like they go hand by hand.

Gus

 

[Guest]

Well, in the last week, my S. leocyphila (no dormancy this year) just produced a huge pitcher, twice as big as the last 3!!!!. I had been feeding it milk for months, and the first of this new crop of pitchers has proven that milk is very benificial. It also just produced 2 new growth points. I took a pic with a throw away camera, and haveto develop them soon. Almost there

.

 

[agustinfranco]

Dear D. muscipula:

I wanted to ask you what are the growing conditions for your campanulata?. I would like to know specificallly the temperatures you are growing yours and how much humidity they need to live so happily!!

Thanks

Gus

 

[Zongyi_Yang]

Quote[/b] ]Dear all:

I respect everybody's point of view regarding milk feeding for neps. One must understand though that in this type of hobby, one encounters plants that are difficult to get and they are very tiny. Thus, anything that can speed up growth should be welcome. At least, that's how i think.

Perhaps some of find very disgusting and revolting to feed milk to pitchers besides being very unnatural for neps, but some of us grow our neps in unnatural ways using tanks and strong lights. So for unnatural ways of growing neps, there are unnatural ways to feed them. It looks like they go hand by hand.

Gus

i see that im the only person that objected to feeding milk, so i think this was ment for me. well, i never said it was disgusting!

. i just said i don't like to feed it milk due to a number of reasons:
1) i don't like curdling milk
2) i don't like a stinky terranium
3) i don't like rotting pitchers no matter what the result is
4) i don't buy the kind of milk thats sutable to neps
5) milk feeding is too hard as i have to get the drops right and reach into my terranium
6) i cant feed the pitcher bugs while im milk feeding
7) i'd rather see the bug struggling for help

than whatching milk curdle

well, thats just me. i know you people like feeding it milks, but ive got crickets and im not afraid to use them

. Zongyi

 

[The Griffin]

"To use milk or to not use milk, that is the question..."
Or is it?
Zongyi,
If you got crickets and like using them, do it. It is a very natural response to growing cp and you can't go wrong.
I noticed the comment D mus said about a rotting pitcher, and if you are not afraid to use live insects, surely they stir the pitcher contents up as they struggle. Are dead insects(freeze dried or otherwise) just as bad as dilute milk in that aspect? Just a thought.

Regards,

Joe

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

The Canned crickets aren't good for Nepenthes pitchers....they are very rich and destroy the pitcher within a week or less. It's like feeding them drops of Superthrive almost. I revert to meal worms/beetles in the winter from my own farm of them for the neps. 'll go around to eaach plant individually each month and toss in 2-3 worm larvae and maybe 1 adult beetle per new pitcher or newest pitcher.

 

[D muscipula]

Since this thread hasn't died, and i spent some time saturday feeding and watering the lowland plants, i thought i'd post an update pic.  The newest pitcher is substantially larger than the previous, and the rot hasn't been as much of a problem. I think that the pitcher that rotted was just at the end of its time.  I used 1% milk for the last couple weeks, and that probably helped (less fat).

There is no stink coming from the lowland today after rather excessive feeding of milk Saturday. If you overdid it, i could see the stench (and rot of your pitchers) becoming a big problem, but just go easy.

Schloaty: There's some nice coloration in one of these pitchers, too, but just one.

 

[The Griffin]

It does look like a happy plant, as well as the ones in the background.
Dustin, do they add stuff to those canned crickets, or do you think the lack of struggle/churning pitcher contents contributes to nasty pitchers? I have looked at the freeze-dried ones in plastic bottles and they look lile..well dead crickets, lol. I have thought of raising mealworms myself, for the beetles more than the meal worms for that reason.

Regards,

Joe