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nepenthes gracilis

Nepenthes Specialist
My parents as well as I am are mystified on how well this N. bicalcarata 'red form' has done in the small (now lol) space it occupies in the corner of the house near the radiator. It was purchased on 7/28/02 from Mike Catalani on my visit to him. I am sure it will be much larger this summer and next year! So far the pitchers are 7.5 inches tall (18cm) and 4.5 inches wide (12cm) It is turning out to be the largest plant in my collection. At just about 3 feet across (90cm) I was measuring it in the chamber and I was off 6 or 8 inches from previous measurements. It and the N. truncata will be the two biggest plants for this year so far. It is in a 12 inch pot and is in pure NZ spahgnum moss. It has been feeding from insects of course but also with the osmocote fertilizer. It's watered on the tray method and can become very very wet but it does not bother the plant at all.

Good growing!

Yours truly and the cuddly bical.
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WOW!! Wonderful plant, absolutely stunning!!
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Nice! You must have a warm house.
 
Thanks everyone!
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PFFFFFFT Tony naw it's just an ickle baby right now. It's not THAT big.
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how big was it when you got it?
and how fast does it grow?
 
Excellent Dustin! Might I make a suggestion, carefully repot it now into what you deem shall be it's "permanent" container. I repotted my big one from a 10-12 inch pot to a 7 gallon flower pot when it was at 5 feet across  (what an ordeal). It must've been too much of a strain on the poor bugger because it put out two more leaves after repotting and then suddenly it melted down!  
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Drosera dude, N. bicalcarata it is a fast grower in warm and very humid, lowland conditions and plenty of light and food. My new bicalcaratas are stepping up to fill that void where the big fella was. The small ones went from 5 cm diameter (April/May 2003)  to 40 cm (January 04).  The big one (which died when repotted) I had bought at 30 cm diameter in June 2002 and it died it was at 180 cm in August/September 2003. But my small ones should be nice and big again in a year or so. So if you have the right warm conditions year round you can grow a huge N. bical from average sale size seedling to behemoth in roughly 2 years.

In another six months to a year we won't be able to see Dustin behind that pot!  
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  • #10
Cool , i can't wait to get that plant , i just wonder where i'm gonna put it with leaves that huge .
 
  • #11
Ddude, I got it from Mike when it was still a big plant. He was in the process of the first stage of moving and basically "gave" that plant to me. I bought it for $20 even. And it was not much smaller than it is not. Maybe about 2 feet across. It didn't have any pitchers and was growing in a big clump of moss on the ground. This was the plant that was lost at Ohio's airport after we transitioned planes. Lucky they found it before it was going to Another state!
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Josh, thanks for the suggestion. I'm not going to do any repotting until it gets warmer out. It's -20F right now presently. And prolly going to only get up to -10 if we're lcuky for a high. I don't really have any huge huge containers, but I have very deep ones. Roots are just at the holes at the moment. So it's not too rootbound yet. Another 3 or 4 months and I think i'm going to have to go to Potlocker and look for a size 15 pot!
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So yours "melted" huh? What did you do after repotting it?? Looking forward to your next reply!

Goldtrap, well that's another reason I posted this. It gives people a proportional view of how large this plant gets. Plan ahead if you plan on getting one. I bought a little N. bical orangey colored one, not deep red liek mine from Tony and it was only about 6 inches across, now it's about 12 or 14 inches across from 8/3/02 up till now. It's in a 1 gallon nusury grade pot in a mix of sand and peat and I think some perlite also. But it just goes to show you both plants get very larger regardless of the soil mix. The big one is in a totally different soil mix and o is the littler one but yet both grow just fine.
 
  • #12
Here are some more:

N. burbidgeae
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N. diatas meadow form
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N. hamata black
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  • #13
Dustin, When I repotted I basically just cut the plastic pot off the tightly potbound roots amd placed into a new pot. I did it on a warm rainy day in August and put it out on the shaded patio to flood & drain the enormous pot with 10 gallons of water and spray it down totally. Since it was raining and warm (and shady) I figured it would be Ok for a bit and ran to the store while the pot sat and dripped for an hour or so. I came home and stuck it back in it's showerstall. It lived about another month or so making a couple leaves and then it started to darken and wilt. None of the other neps did this in the showerstall before or since.  It may have been sitting outside for a bit to drip dry but since conditions were good I wouldn't think so. Having to cut the pot off may have something to do with it. Also, just working with a swaying 5 foot plant with cups full of bug juice whacking you in the face and half digested crickets flying everywhere makes for an unpleaseant experience when trying to repot it by yourself!
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  • #14
Huh that's odd. Wierd too. Maybe you just subjected it to way to much root shock with cutting the pot off? I never cut the pots of my plants regardless how big they are, just empty the pitchers and turn upside down and pop it out. Too bad it had to die.
 
  • #15
Umm!! thats a nice N.bicalcarata Nepenthes grailis bicalcarata isnt a nepenthes i really like but thats a really eye chatching plant keep up the good work! Electric Carnivores!
 
  • #16
It may have been the cutting off of the pot. I did attempt to extract the plant by tipping it upside down but the roots had grown through the holes into a mat beneath the pot in it's water tray (one of the few Neps I do set in a tray of water) and I guessed at the time there was no other option. Perhaps I should have simply potted the whole pot and all into a new pot and just leaving it grow out the holes and bust out of the pot into the new pot by itself? ...or I could have just repotted earlier!
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  • #17
Thanks EC it sure is a burly beast! lol

Josh, yah pot within a pot system!  
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  • #18
Very nice Plant!! And thanks for answering my questions.
 
  • #20
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Wow! I came upon this thread a bit late but that's a really spectacular plant Dustin. I've never managed to get that many pitchers on a N. bicalcarata at one time. As Tony said, sleep with at least one eye open! LOL!
 
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