S_Oregon_CP
Bio is my life!

You should take some pictures of your new set up and additions to your collection. I'd love to see you share this.

My Neps are finally starting to settle in...they're actually starting to pitcher finally, and for once, they seem quite happy...I can't wait to see what they'll look like in a few months!...never judge a light by the wattage...it's the lumens that count...wish I'd figured that out earlier lol...my sarrs have the usual insect damage, and I can't fugure out quite what's causing it...All I know is that they always leave around late august, and then my sarrs looks nice for a couple months...

Good, been super busy with school (and I keep on getting sick and injuring myself) but just four weeks till the summer lol...My butterwort terrerium is finished, and some of the pings are starting to get a reddish tinge to them again...my nepenthes terrarium is almost finished... I've got the lid and two lights set up over it, and it's filled with all my neps...I've never been real good at growing neps, but I'm hoping this terrarium will work well for them (my neps always seem to grow smaller and smaller for some reason) probably lack of sufficient light...all my outdoor plants are potted up and divided, and I had no idea how many sarrs I had until now lol...I'm in the process of starting up a landscape maintenance business with my friend, and I'm hoping I can use that to help fund my nursery.

I'm not sure, try the highland tank? There's a chance that it won't pitcher as large as a pure truncata, the mix is for color.

The red dragon is thorelli (lowland) x truncata (prolly the lowland form as well). So to get the most results/larger pitchers think constant warmth.

Yes, you do have a lot of stuff from just growing one year.

I have a small greenhouse, about 10' x 6', where I grow mostly VFTs. It's kinda like a hothouse during the summer, because it really heats up. It's kinda like a cold house in the winter because it stays just above 40F during snow storms.

I just have a bunch of fish tanks filled with plants in the living room... it seems to work for neps especially.

The orchid show was a blast. I got a N. mikei, a filipino ground orchid, and 2 hoyas. I also visited a nursery called "Cistus" and picked up a grevillea, a bottlebrush, and 2 kinds of magnolias. All the plants from Cistus are cold hardy in OREGON IN PARTICULAR... even though many of them are from tropical climates!

The grevillea is spectacular... it's related to proteas, a genus I'm fascinated with. I chose one because it can grow outside in our yard, and it looks kinda like a pincushion protea. Here's a pic off the web:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...aB702_0237.jpg

It's a good thing that we're zone 8.

Great! Yeah, the lividia has really nice flowers so I am sure you'll enjoy it. The binata ssp. multifida doesn't need dormancy but will go dormant if you expose it to cooler temperatures. So... it's your choice! I haven't received the plants yet but I am sure I will tomorrow. I can't wait!

Phil

Nice Lowii in that pic.

Ok, so you want to know how to grow utrics? Very simple - They'll do excellently in a terrarium. I've got about 5 flower spikes coming of my longifolias, and they're in a terrarium.

I assume you have the typical florescent tubes you get from HD... two fixtures containing 2 tubes each are ideal.

Media... you're using 1/2 peat, 1/2 sand, correct? You can throw in some cedar mulch from a local store like Lowes or HD. Look for big bags of it. Don't buy it if it looks dirty.

They don't care too much about humidity, just try not to make any sudden changes, like from a 90% RH to 15% RH.

Keep them waterlogged, but it's fine if they dry out a bit. Just never let them go bone dry. Cycles of wet and dry help induce flowering. Same with temps. Warm (8oF+) to cool (5oF-6oF) cycles can cause flowering.

My U. nelumbifolia is sending out a spike for the first time. It's because of the water level cycles.

Btw, what kinds of utrics do you have? I'm going to be at the Portland Orchid Show tomorrow!

Good luck.

Haha. I didn't think to check here, but I was gonna say... I've found a link about U. uniflora... it can survive temps below zero: http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index...93&hl=uniflora

That could definately live out here. I had no clue there were hardy terrestrials like that.
I actually have some, but I don't believe it is the REAL deal. Other plants I got from the same grower were mislabled. But it could be...

A trade next week eh? Sounds great if you have nephrophylla spares. Thanks for the offer of Byblis seeds, but I think I'd rather stock up on utrics cause I suck at growing byblis, especially germinating them.

I would protect them more during the freezes. I just meant for the warmer months. I actually left all my sarrs and 1 vft outside and they are doing fine. I was worried that the sarr purprea traps were frozen solid but they were fine. I brought em in for the worst week of like 20 degree temps. other than that I think they would do fine in the humidity dome i had em in. Texas huh? Big change. I enjoy change though. anyways yeah I have some byblis seeds if you want anymore. Next week I should be ready to trade some stuff. I am waiting on a few trades to come in also. happy growing and have a good night.