TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
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Dad ordered me a nepenthes talangensis as a gift(i have no idea why) but i know its an ultra highlander.I don't have the money or permission to build a highland chamber so does anyone have any advice on growing it or am i pretty much screwed?
what are your conditions? I found that it loved days at low 70s and nights of low 60s. For one plant...its easily achievable. Get a 2.5 gallon tank or something. Grow the plant in there under 2x 2' T8 lighting or whatever you want. (T5 is ideal...but also gets hot). Have some air circulation in there. Line the bottom with some live sphagnum moss or something to keep the humidity up. At night...just put some ice packs (might need like 3 or 4) and lid the tank and that should bring temps down well enough. This is a very laborious process..but cheap on the wallet.
@vraev: mr. smith lives near me. We are both in San Diego, CA, so during the winter, we have 60 - 70F during the day and about 45 - 55F at night. During the summer, we have 90F+ during the day, and 70F+ at night.
Grow them outside. This guy does: (thoroughly read the link before attempting!!!) http://www.nepenthesaroundthehouse.com/
He's also in the southern California area, although maybe not as far south as SD. You might have a little difficulty with N. talangensis as a starter plant, as they can be demanding about cool temps. (Or so I hear; I'm spoiled on that kind of thing up here in Washington.) I don't think it's a total loss, at least. It's my understanding that most highlanders can be pleased if there's a drop of 10F or more each night. It doesn't matter so much what the specific day and night temperatures are, so long as the plant can feel a difference. I think it was explained to me as a metabolic thing.
You might also find some helpful ideas if you search for the posts by swords on his highland Nepenthes tanks; basically the idea is to use outside air to cool your enclosures at night. Best luck!
~Joe
Although I have never grown N. Talagensis, I have several other highlanders on my grow list. What many people often forget is that it naturally gets cooler at night time anyways. Unless you're growing an Ultrahighlander like N. Rajah, N. Villosa, or now even N. Edwardsiana!!! (Wow!) I have found that the natural temperature drop that is experienced indoors is enough. Beyond that, if you are growing plants under grow lamps, simply turning them off at night will produce a several degree temperature drop, depending on the lights and distance they are from the plants. Although there are several plants that are incredibly picky, I think you will find over time that they are hardier then many people think they may be. No terrariums needed! Thats for sure!
Ive never really had any issues with mine, they do seem to love to have their roots fed on occasion
Might be coincidence but always seemed like I would get a flush of pitchers after following a monthly root feeding routine for a while.
Mine definitely didn't like high photonic energy levels though...I kept having to move mine further and further from the light as I bumped up the intensity levels for my heliamphoras
Based on my experience, they grow pretty fast. This same plant was easily over 12" when i cut it back last year
vraev might be up to something. high temperatures may have something to do with pitcher formation. when i first got my talangensis, i placed it in an environment similar to what he described and i got 2 pitchers out of it. however, ever since i upgraded to my 20 gallon, it hasnt done a thing for me--i believe it is because of the heat generated from the lights. so--i have moved the plant into the farthest corner of the tank, given it lower lighting, and a fan to push all the warm air out. i'll await to see what happens next.
@av8tor1: maybe i should do the root fert approach. what did you use?
Now, back to talangensis, the damn plant is finicky point blank, i know a few people who can grow it incredibly well, but even Robert Cantley has problems....
This plant A, requires highland conditions, and B, requires pretty high humidity for the pitchers to even begin to develop on the first place, pitchers seem to abort rather easily, especially if you get the humidity TOO high to the point where the plant is damp, its tendrils from what i can tell, HATE with a passion, water getting on them...every time i would spray the tendril or anything, the pitcher in development would abort, however if i didnt, it would grow fine...i just chopped back my vine on mine back to the basal since the main vine wasnt doing too well anyway. it was one of my first plants
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