TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
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I am seeking advice on how to grow N. Lowii and N. Ovata. I've heard that N. Lowii may be a difficult species to grow. Anybody's insight on how to grow these two species will be appreciated. Thanks
Ovata isn't too bad under normal highland conditions and can be done in a small tank with the ice cooling method. Lowii is a little more difficult and I don't recommend it untill your setup is fairly advanced such as swamp cooling or A/C.
If you buy a Lowii use plenty of ice to keep it cool at night and don't let the daytime temps get above....80ish or 85ish. When you put it to bed at night give it a good wetting down on all leaves.
Just my two cents, others will jump in here with plenty more good advice.
Lowii does require cool nights, cool days don't seem to hurt either. N. lowii is very slow growing. I've almost had one almost a year and thus far it has made maybe 6-8 leaves and 3 pitchers (small thumbnail sized pitchers). The second lowii I received in December and it seems to be growing a bit faster than the first one and has been producing pitchers ever since receiving it, whereas the first took over 6 months to settle in and make a pitcher.
The more rapid growing second one may be due to the overall cooler temps from winter. It will be interesting to see how the Lowiis grow this summer. My summer temps never get above 80-85*F/days and 50-60*F/nights. In the winter the temps are 70-75*F/days and 45-55*F/nights and the humidity is 80-95% at all times with airmovement supplied to the terrarium by a 4" fan pulling air from a window opened a few inches.
N. ovata seems to handle warmer temperatures without difficulty for me. When they are small they tend to poke along slowly but once they gain some size they can get very large pretty quickly. N. lowii without a doubt needs cool nights to do well.
I also have both potted in a very well drained mix with a large proportion of sphagnum moss.
Tony
Thanks Gentleman, your advice is welcome. Now that i have some suggestions, I will get them. Oh I forgot to ask any of you, how long a nepenthes pitcher should last?, considering it is not shocked by wrong growing conditions, fungus, or excess fertilizers?. Your reply will be appreciated. thanks again.
Hi Agustin, in the very broad time a nepenthes pitcher lasts is around a month or so...but it could be as long as 1 year! N. lowii and N. truncata are known to hold half living pitchers for 1 year or more. So far N. truncata has the most durable pitchers in my opinion.
As Nep G poited out pitcher duration (I'm counting from opening til browning begins-which in itself can last many months) is very variable. High humidity and proper temps allows the pitchers to last as long as possible. For me the longest lasting pitchers are on my N. bicalcarata and Judith Finn hybrid (N. spathulata x N. veitchii).
I could add that over feeding of a pitcher can cause it to rot quickly. Sometimes within a couple days if you feed something very rich like frozen bloodworms to a pitcher. I do not recomend these frozen worms! Reptile shop feeder crickets do fine and come in many sizes for different pitcher. Whatever you feed make sure that it can be entirely submerged in the naturally produced pitcher fluid (without you having to add water to the pitcher to submerge the prey item) otherwise it is too large. Don't let anything sit on the side walls inside the pitcher as it will invite fungus and shorten pitcher lifespan.
Hello all
I am also considering a N. lowii for my highland tank. I have a N. rajah in there that opened up a pitcher within a week of me getting it. Daytime high is 74*F, nightime low is somewhere in mid-high fifties, maximum 62*F. Is this good? Thanks!
N. lowii is quite a tolerant plant temperature wise. Quite a few people claim it can be grown well in the high 60's at night with no problem which is not suprizing but for a healthy,large,better growing plant aim for true highland/ultrahighlander conditions.
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