What 2 Weeks Without Nighttime Cooling Does to Highlanders

[SerMuncherIV]

Or, what I like to respond when people ask, "How was your vacation?"

These plants were kept in my highland terrarium for 2 weeks while I was away. Everything is automated except for watering - which I took care of before leaving - and nighttime cooling, which I do using ice packs. The night temperature in the terrarium likely never fell below ~73-75F during this time. Most of the plants will take weeks or longer to recover their growth, but the advent of winter should greatly help at least.

N. glabrata - yikes!

N. jacquelineae - perfectly good pitcher forming when I left is now this:

N. burkei x hamata - half its former size

N. muluensis x lowii - not like it was a fast grower in the first place...

D. latifolia - horrors

D. solaris - goodbye a few month's worth of growth!

I should note that not all the plants were severely afflicted - surprisingly, most of the Heliamphora are looking decent and plants like N. attenboroughii, D. regia, and Cephalotus didn't seem to be fazed much. However, I suspect that continued periods of warm nights would stress these plants just as much as the ones above. One might argue that differences in tolerance levels of certain clones might vary, which is likely very true, but the dissatisfaction with warm nights is consistent among the plants that most literature lists as "obligate highlanders".

These plants all make do with night temps of around 63-65F during the summer (although they're certainly happier with nights in the 50's in winter). There's no need to cool most of these plants to ridiculous levels, but do not keep them constantly above 70F or they will hate you for it!

 

[nimbulan]

I'm surprised that you're seeing noticeable changes in only 2 weeks. I've had a lot of similarly warm nights lately myself and haven't noticed any problems with my plants, though I certainly don't have any particularly picky ones.

 

[Swagalotus]

I just came back from picking up my highland plants after being gone. My plants have been tolerating this weather ( if not hotter): New York Month Weather - AccuWeather Forecast for NY 10280 for two months now, and they have just started to show signs of stress, but I highly doubt that they'll survive unless I change things. It is worth noting that my plants are growing at room humidity and lower light levels than they would like ( I had my plants at my neighbor's house). I think that if the other growing conditions were ideal ( higher humidity and higher light) they would be able to tolerate high temperatures for more time.

 

[Benurmanii]

The solaris!!! NOOO!

But I will say your misfortunes have proven to be useful. My terrarium doesn't drop the full 10 degrees that I would like it to during the summer, but fortunately I have not seen any of these effects on my Neps. One actually doesn't seem to like the warmer night temps in particular, at least compared to the others: N. macfarlanei. This is odd, since I always thought it was a true intermediate. Even my little NE rajah is growing faster than it. During the winter, my macfarlanei was the fastest Nep I had, with a leaf every 3 weeks. Or perhaps it is just slowing with age.

I am actually a bit surprised that the latifolia took a hit, but then again I have never kept it in constant temps. Could the humidity have dropped while you were gone? D. latifolia seems to need high humidity.

 

[SerMuncherIV]

I am actually a bit surprised that the latifolia took a hit, but then again I have never kept it in constant temps. Could the humidity have dropped while you were gone? D. latifolia seems to need high humidity.

I was pretty surprised too, I was always under the impression that D. solaris would be the first to croak if temps got too high. I did crack the lid of the tank open for air circulation, but I had a fogger on a timer and put the D. latifolia in an open plastic bag as well. Most of my Sphagnum didn't have burnt tips so I presume at least the humidity in the tank was ok.

 

[SerMuncherIV]

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