When i started loving nepenthes!

[fc3srx713b]

Funny thing is that now, starting March 2005 up to date, I have well over 23 nepenthes. But my love for these wasnt in 2005, it was really when I was in elementry school. I saw books of these beautiful plants and read about them. All of this when i was about in 5th grade. The thing is that I wanted to get some so bad but I really didnt know where to get them from. So i really couldnt do any growing till I was about in 9th grade in high school. I got my first nepenthes at home depot. As soon as I got it, thats when my love for them expanded and I did all this research on them, such as cultivation, history, ect...
I had a simple terrarium set up and I ended up getting about 5 more. Each one a differnet hybrid(funny huh). At times there will be 6"+ nepenthes available, so I took advantage. A time came when I went off on vacation, next thing i know they all died!

I took a break for about 3-4 years then i got my first credit card at the age of 18, well actually 3-4 monthes into my 18th b-day. Then ebay came up. This is when i actually got into them again. As of now i spent well over $650.00 on just nepenthes. But when someone loves what they are doing, it really doenst matter.

 

[PiranhaPlant]

For me, at first I didn't like nep because they weren't cool and active like vfts. But after having neps, I now prefer them over vfts . I had my first nep...sorta in 10th grade, it died because I didn't know about peat moss. I knew cps needed distiled water, but I didn't know much about soil *knows head on wall* and I forget the species too, it was vining and the teacher only gave me a cutting ...well cause I asked

.

 

[lol]

My obsession started when I was in St. Louis some number of years ago

. I had a small collection, but it quickly expanded after I moved to Alaska. While in Alaska, I had rare plants such as a very large truncata, A mature N. rafflesiana sarawak giant, a huge N. thorelii x truncata, S. ruba alabamensis and a host of others I can't quite remember. Then I was forced out the home and had to move to CA, where I was born. My mother didn't like my hundreds of dollars worth of rare nepenthes, so instead of shipping them, she let them sit in the already packed boxes and let them rot. Good God I hated her for years after that.
I did move back up to AK for a time and built my collection a second time. I had rarities like N. macrophylla, N. hamata, N. stenophylla, N. bicalcarata, N. sumatrana, S. Titan, and the list goes on. Guess what boys and girls! I was forced out the home again, and had to move to CA, again. This time I managed to ship my plants, but AK is a cold cold mother ******. Most all of my plants froze and died, and the ones that kinda made it through shipping died during the adjustment period. Lost my sibuyanensis during that time, and my bongso, and my large ventricosa x mapuluensis, and a N. x dyeriana.

Goooooood I've lost a lot of good plants

. But now, everyhting is good, and my collection is being reborn. I had almost every species at one point, and I shall do so again!

 

[fc3srx713b]

WHY......WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!?! makes me

 

[Clint]

they are my favorite because they are the biggest!

 

[shokuchuu]

My first conscious Nepenthes encounter was in Xochimilco, a slightly more humid area of Mexico City which is famous for its rivers and the plant markets. The Nep I bought had no pitchers, had been growing in the dark, and the old lady of a vendor told me how she regularly fertilised it, as though it was a good thing! That plantling eventually succumbed to red spider mite, without me even finding out what species/hybrid it was.
Once I moved to the US I was lucky enough that the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park (Grand Rapids, Michigan), was less than 10 minutes up the road from where I lived. There, I was under Steve LaWarre's great supervision and trust to care for the CP collection. This is where I learned the most essential basics and techniques to successful CP cultivation, in particular Nepenthes, and it also served as an ecological observation post and experimental laboratory. I cannot say enough "thank you"s to Steve for everything he has done.
The amount of information I absorbed (and wanted, unlike some school subjects, but we all know how that is

) during the 2 years has me led me here - completely obsessed and addicted to the wonderful CP world that keeps me out of trouble (only spend money on CP and day-to-day essentials) and mentally stable (staring at CPs is therapeutic... I think)

! Not only that, it has helped me set a goal for my future, which was always a blur.

Cheers

 

[LLeopardGGecko]

I only recently got into Nepenthes. When I was very young (like around 4 or 5) I got my first sundew. Not long after that I got my first Venus Flytrap. From then on, I was a CP freak! I got my first Nep at Home Depot several months ago and I discovered that I really loved them. Just like one of the above posters said, I was never really into them because they didn't have any moving parts...how foolish I was!

 

[Hans Breuer]

Quote[/b] (lol @ Nov. 16 2005,7:38)]Goooooood I've lost a lot of good plants

.

Holy terror, lol - that's quite the multiple ordeal you've been through there!!! But I would guess it makes you value and love your plants even more nowadays.

Me, I didn't know Nepenthes from Nachos just a year and a half ago. Then a CP-crazy friend gave me a ventrata, which I killed by the book: hung it in a dark corner of my dry office, watered it with tap-crap, and when the first pitchers started to dry, I thought the plant was fixin' to kick the bucket and threw it away (no, I'm not making this up).

Alas, my CP-crazy friend relentlessly kept sending me pix and websites about CPs, and I did get mildly interested, but not enough to buy another plant for myself. Then, on August 1, 2004, I took a family trip to Eastern Taiwan and visited a CP nursery there, mainly because it was in the vicinity of the B&B we were staying at. That nursery is designed like a jungle cafe, very attractive for plant lovers and casual visitors alike, and what happened when I walked through the door can only be described as an epiphany of Blues Brothers magnitude ("The PLANTS, Elwood! THE PLANTS!!!"): Suddenly I was surrounded not only by this pretty jungle, but also by almost six thousand Nepenthes hanging from the low roof. And lemme tell y'all, that's a LOT of Nepenthes. It didn't matter to me that almost all of them were ventratas, I just stood there and gaped like an idiot. When I had recollected some of my senses again and picked my jaw out of the gravel, I got on the cell and called my CP-crazy friend in Munich. No matter that it was six a.m. over there, I just HAD to tell him about this shock&awe place. He said "6000 pots, huh? Cool! What species?" I said "uh....lemme see...ventrata...ventrata...more ventratas..", at which point he started to rail about me waking him at the buttcrack of dawn for A BUNCH OF VENTRATAS! "But don't you see, ol' buddy!", I cried, "I'M SURROUNDED BY SIX THOUSAND PITCHER PLANTS! JUST IMAGINE!". He just snorted derisively and told me to call him back after regaining some sense, but I'm afraid said sense has been eluding me since. I bought a large khasiana x ventricosa that day, took it home, two weeks later I had two large terrariums in my office, another six months later I built a 220 sqft greenhouse on my garage top, my nep count is approaching 130, and there's no end in sight...

Yes, it's a disease, and I hope that nobody will ever find a cure!

 

[fc3srx713b]

Quote[/b] (Hans Breuer @ Nov. 17 2005,6:55)]Yes, it's a disease...

finally! ur not alone...

 

[Capslock]

Yeah, I'm about 2 1/2 years from my first one, and now I have over 60 nepnethes, limited solely by space. And I feel like I'm still at the beginning. I haven't produced my first seed yet, as only a male ventricosa has flowered. So that's next on the agenda.

My first one was a red ventricosa from California Carnivores, which is about an hour from here. I'd already had a minibog outside with vfts and sarras. I knew immediately that neps were my plants.

Capslock

 

[*Barracuda_45*]

Awwwww you guys are awsome, i aint got no Nep's now but i have one on its way, my very first Nep. its a Ventricosa Red and im very exited and cant wait till it arives.. I know first time Nep mommy and im a fruitloop already.

I love the Nep's due to there stunning beauty. Maybe in a few yrs i can join you guys in the stories of how you became Nep lovers..

 

[Hans Breuer]

Quote[/b] (*Barracuda_45* @ Nov. 17 2005,1:12)]Maybe in a few yrs i can join you guys in the stories of how you became Nep lovers..

Won't be more than a few months, trust me

 

[rbjong]

Ohh men ! are neps growers special breed of people,do we share the same temperament and emotion? How i wish the neps we keep are able to communicate,at least, show some sign of the love we provide

 

[TyFone]

it was about a year ago I got my first nep. Of course a Ventrata. Well it died and I got another one. Well it died to. Then I started to look some info up about them and it seems that they shouldnt dry out between waterings

So about 7 months ago I purshased 9 lowland nepenthes as i figured they would be the easiest to keep.
And I am now addicted to them
I now have about 20 different species inc hybrids and everything grows and thrives (well almost everything )

Quote[/b] ]How i wish the neps we keep are able to communicate,at least, show some sign of the love we provide

Well they kind of do. They grow beutifull and matures just like small children and shows love to us when they thrive.
If they dont like us they will probably die

 

[lol]

Well, I kinda believe they are. You don't really need words to communicate. I believe all life is connected, and when you take care of a lot of plants, you tend to be more connected with that earth/life energy, and it creates a posotive energy. It's a good thing, that's all I know

.

 

[LLeopardGGecko]

Quote[/b] ]Well, I kinda believe they are. You don't really need words to communicate. I believe all life is connected, and when you take care of a lot of plants, you tend to be more connected with that earth/life energy, and it creates a posotive energy. It's a good thing, that's all I know

I agree! There's a very positive energy surrounding growing plants. I know I feel it whenever I sit and look at my thriving collection

 

[peanuts1gang]

i am goin on vacation in 2 days. i was thinking that i could fill the water pots pretty high and it will be fine. suggestions?
o and i cant give them to anybody