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Carnivorous Plants that do not need a terrarium?

N

Newman

Hi,
Are there any pitcher plants or carnivorous plants that do not need a terrarium to grow?
I would like to be able to grow something medium-large in size on a West-facing window sill. It is a large windowsill.
or do they all need very high humidity that can only be given in a greenhouse or terrarium?
 
I haven't grown any of these yet, but I do know (from sites as well as people that have told me) that most pings and some sundews (adelae and capensis) are fine with household humidity..

Some easier Nepenthes (vents, and other hardware store varieties) can be acclimated to lower humidity, although some may be stubborn with pitchering.
 
thanks for the info! its awesome to see Nepenthes species grow on windows!
 
I grew all my Nepenthes on my window where humidity was as low as 30%. You can check out my windowsill link in my signature to see what they looked like.

Honestly lots of plants will be fine without a terrarium. I have a heliamphora growing on my desk at work with no problem!

I guess I should add that it depends where you live and what sort of conditions the plants will be getting.
 
Cephalotus actually growers better with lower humidity. It'll like the seasonal changes in light, too.
 
I can try a cephalotus too? though i think Nepenthes would be bigger and nicer on the big windowsill. can Nepenthes tolerate low temps? the windowsill can get cooler in winter.

and how can i supply it with humidity? just keep the soil always moist, add sphagnum moss, or do i have to set it in a dish of water with pebbles?
 
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I grow and have grown a number of plants on my east and west facing window sills. Because of the building next door the east facing window gets less direct sunlight than the west one. The other building is white so I get quite a bit of reflected light in the afternoon. The drawback with the west facing window is the heat can get brutal in afternoon and I have cooked a few plants. Now I keep the pots shaded so the pots are not exposed to direct sunlight or move the more root temperature plants outdoors for the summer.

I have grown Cephalotus follicularis, Drosera hamiltonii, D. slackii, D. glabripes and D. regia for a number of years on the east facing window sill. I now grow them year round outdoors as the winter temperatures indoors were not low enough to encourage flowering. I regret moving my Cephalotus outdoors as it had gotten infested with mealybugs and is a mere shadow of what it used to be. The D. regia are much happier outdoors and were beginning to show signs of stress after 3 years indoors. Now they are thriving. I suspect cooler winter temperatures are needed for their long term growth. The same applies to D. glabripes.

I also grow many South African Drosera on either windowsill as well as outdoors. Among them D. capensis, D. venusta, D. aliciae, D. admirabilis, D. madagascarensis and D. trinervia. There is little difference in how D. capensis, D. venusta, D. admirabilis and D. madagascarensis grow on the windowsill versus outdoors as long as you kept them fed. My outdoors area is a west facing covered balcony so the number of direct sunlight hours is about the same as the west windowsill. D. trinervia and D. aliciae will get much more color and smaller rosettes outdoors compared to east facing window.

I also grow several different pygmy Drosera on my west facing windowsill. These absolutely thrive and for the most part do better than when grown outdoors. During hot spells in the summer these may begin to go dormant but I found that moving them from the windowsill to a table a few feet away will get them to switch back to active growth even though some species that like higher light levels might get a touch etiolated. Pygmy dormancy is still touch and go with me although I've gotten the attrition rate to below 30%. 10% would be my target goal.

I live about a mile away from the ocean. Relative humidity is usually 50-70%. The geniuses that built this place put the heating elements in the ceiling so I don't have to worry about dry updrafts in the winter. There is no one below me. I rarely turn the heat on in the winter.
 
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sounds cool. what is a good species that is hardy and grows medium-large? my window sill has the dimensions of 46" wide x 36" tall x 23" deep. is there a good window sill species out there for me that could fill in that windowsill?
 
  • #10
So I ended up going with Nepenthes maxima...
I hope it does well!
 
  • #11
Newman: a better question might be "Which carnivorous plants NEED high humidity?" The fact is, MOST carnivorous plants can be adapted to low humidity. It is an old viewpoint that CP's need high humidity in a terrarium or greenhouse environment, but that is simply not the case. I have grown most of my Cp's in low household humidity for several years with good results. Plants may need a some time to adjust to low humidity if they have been grown in a high humidity environment, but they will adjust.

Some plants that may do best with higher humidity are many of the lowland Nepenthes species (though not all of them) , and Heliamphora. Though, as mentioned by others, these may be adapted to low humidity as well.

I have an N. bicalcarata, a species commonly cited as needing high humidity, that adjusted to about 40% humidity and eventually pitchered well in these conditions. I have since increased the humidity for this plant and my other lowland nepenthes to promote more vigorous growth and bigger pitchers, but it just goes to show humidity is not always that important.

There is variation between species of course, but almost everything else can do fine in household humidity. When growing most Cp's, think less about humidity and more about light, water, and temperature requirements.
 
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  • #12
Newman said:
So I ended up going with Nepenthes maxima...
I hope it does well!
Click to expand...

Good choice. Grows fairly quickly, has large and attractive pitchers, and is tolerant of a wide variety of conditions. Nice!
 
  • #13
It's a small cutting i got from a member on here and it is starting to produce a pitcher bud. i hope it makes a full pitcher at some point! :)
I tried doing everything i can to help up the humidity for it. i have it sitting on pebbles in a container with a small amount of water and i mist it once a day or so with distilled water.
 
  • #14
Newman said:
It's a small cutting i got from a member on here and it is starting to produce a pitcher bud. i hope it makes a full pitcher at some point! :)
I tried doing everything i can to help up the humidity for it. i have it sitting on pebbles in a container with a small amount of water and i mist it once a day or so with distilled water.
Click to expand...

I guess you didn't read my comment about humidity... Oh well, trouble with it if you wish ;) Old habits die hard.
Best of luck with the N. maxima!
 
  • #15
Ooo, Nepenthes maxima is a good choice. A gorgeous plant. :)

Personally, my first carnivorous plant was a Cape Sundew and a mystery Nepenthes from Walgreens -- likely Nepenthes Ventricosa. I grew them on a windowsill for a long while, and migrated to a simple wire shelf with lights on top after a time.

Don't forget to take photos! :)
 
  • #17
richjam1986 said:
I guess you didn't read my comment about humidity... Oh well, trouble with it if you wish ;) Old habits die hard.
Best of luck with the N. maxima!
Click to expand...

I did read you post before i posted mine :)
that's why i am doing everything i can to let it adapt from higher humidty of the previous owner. i hope that it can adapt to my lower humidty on that windowsill. whatever it may be.
I also made sure that temps are cool enough and lighting is sufficient. that window gets the most light out of any widow i have in the house. it may get hot in summer though...thats the only time i think it may have trouble.
 
  • #19
picture of it as it was 1 week ago:
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  • #20
Newman said:
I did read you post before i posted mine :)
that's why i am doing everything i can to let it adapt from higher humidty of the previous owner. i hope that it can adapt to my lower humidty on that windowsill. whatever it may be.
I also made sure that temps are cool enough and lighting is sufficient. that window gets the most light out of any widow i have in the house. it may get hot in summer though...thats the only time i think it may have trouble.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are right. You do need to slowly lower the humidity over a period of time in order to not shock the plant (if it has been grown in high humidity), so you are doing the right thing :) Sorry for not giving you more credit.

I think you will be happy to know that N. maxima is fairly tolerant of hotter temperatures (at least compared to other strictly highland or ultra-highland species). Generally, I think N. maxima is best considered an intermediate grower, and can often even tolerate lowland conditions, so I have high hopes it should do well for you. If it really does start to get too hot in the summer though, you can use the blinds or a piece of shade cloth to partially shade the plant from the scorching sun.

Again, best of luck :) I think N. maxima was a good choice.
 
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