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N. bicalcarata...

  • #21
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Trent @ May 19 2004,10:39)]Hi Jason,
We have germinated bicalcarata seed. Unfortunately, the entire crop perished in an unexpected cold snap. The seedlings are very vulnerable to sudden temperature drops, but the larger more established plants will tolerate temperatures down to 50 F at night every now and then as long as the day temp comes back up into the 80's F.  We have several bicalcarata clones, the largest is a female we call "Big Mama", who has a leaf span from tip to tip of five feet.  She grows, surrounded by her smaller minions, in our greenhouse here in Boca Raton, Florida. We pot our bicals in straight long fiber sphagnum moss, and provide them with bright light but never direct sun. they are under 70 percent shade cloth, and fall into the shade of a tree growing west of the greenhouse every afternoon. At this time all of our Neps get a bright, open shade and a nice cooling effect. Typically, however, the mid-day temperature about this time of year is about 88-90 degrees F, but humidity stays above 70 percent. Michelle will mist the Neps when she's home through the course of the day. They really like to get their leaves wet. We water with reverse osmosis or rain water and drench the pots until water pours out of the bottom. This helps prevent any toxins from building up or bad fungus or bacteria from establishing in the medium. Then we let them slowly dry out, but never bone dry. We believe too many Nepenthes are killed from overly wet feet. Bicalcarata is an easy lowland species to grow and as long as you keep humidity high and temperatures warm, it will do well for you. Good luck!

Trent
That's huge, I'm hoping to get my 'unborn' babies to grow that big in the far future (at least one or two!)
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Griffin, I use (or am going to use) LFS for my bicals. That IS ok, isn't it?
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So I absolutely HAVE to keep my bical's soil DRENCHED?? That's what I used to do, floodthe pot with water...actually I do that with all my cps - helps wash all the nasty insects and whatever funguses there are OUTTA MY POT!!!
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Anyone have any ideas on how to help my 'dead' bical? I won't explain cuz it would take toooo long, go to here if you are curious (and want to heeelllpppp me!) (its a long story...)
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  • #22
BWT, thanks for the info Trent and all the others...

Maybe I should blast in with light and keep it moist, that was the conditions (I think) which made my 'dead' nep shoot again (do they do that as a survival tactic/feature?)
 
  • #23
Do you have to keep the soil drenched? No, not if the humidity is really high. If your humidity is lower, then it's probably a good idea. My bical pot gets dry on the surface (it's a deep pot) before i water it, but it's in a terrarium with high humidity. I think Tony's right in that most of us keep our neps too wet and too humid, when they don't really need one and/or both.
 
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