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When nepenthes get crossed

  • Thread starter t9gear
  • Start date
When a highland gets crossed with a lowland does it become a
leaning towards lowland temp hybrid or
will it become a highland plant?
Does the mother plant dictate it or the male?


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Plants will tend to lean toward the maternal parent, but this depends entirely on localities used, the individual plants that result and what preferences they just happen to end up with, and just how "highland" or "lowland" or adaptive the parent species are.
 
It seems to be kind of a crap-shoot in a way. Some species are very dominant within hybrids while others seem recessive.

For instance N. ampullaria crosses tend to be lowlanders and still require mostly lowland conditions. They also tend to look very much like ampullaria. I have been growing a clipeata cross for a couple of months now in highland conditions and it is unphased.

There doesn't seem to be any definitive rhyme or reason as to how a hybrid will behave in terms of preferences and traits displayed.

I would be wary of any rules or guidelines that can be followed when Nepenthes crosses are concerned.

When N. hamata hybrids first started hitting the market I remember a lot of people were disgruntled and dismissing the fact that they had hamata genes in them because the teeth weren't as pronounced as people would have liked. That's just the nature of the genus though, it is relatively diverse and we don't know how all the different combinations of genes and traits will express themselves when they are crossed together.

If you have experience with a certain cross, it helps to share it with other growers so we can have an idea of how that plant performs.
 
hamata crosses are amazing as long as you dont go into it expecting true hamata teeth. the peristomes rarely disappoint :adoration:

it would seem that hybrids are more forgiving than the species even if something like an amp hybrid leans lowland. it can deal with highland conditions and not be too upset with me.
 
Thanks for the responses. It seems to be trial and error then with new crosses.
What temps they like
Speaking of Hamata. I wonder why the highlanders are the only cool, mean, toothy nepenthes are.
Rarely a boring looking highlander


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Part of it is that highland habitats become highly isolated from each other due to the geography. Plenty of species are restricted to just a few mountains or even a single peak. With so much isolation populations have been able to diverge with little genetic material being passed back to each other.
 
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