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Great conditions at night for highlanders!
- Thread starter fc3srx713b
- Start date
Man, I live right across the freeway from you. We are only 5 miles from the coast here already. When the santa ana winds aren't blowing there is always an ocean breeze here. Right now the humidity is 75 percent. My highlanders grow here no problem. When the winds blow and the humidity gets low I mist them and make sure the pots don't dry out.[b said:
fc3srx713b, how do you deal with temps when they get to high? Or rather, what (if anything) do you use to protect your neps on very sunny days? I'm just a few minutes from the coast, so growing lots of things works out pretty swell, but my biggest problem with neps outside is leaf burn.
I haven't been growing neps outsit for too long so I'm still tweaking things, seeing how much I can get some to acclimate, so how much beating and absolute abuse some will withstand (ok, so that makes it sound a little harsh...) I suppose in spring that I'll probably try to acclimate some of them to grow outside- THEN I'd be set. >:- )
I haven't been growing neps outsit for too long so I'm still tweaking things, seeing how much I can get some to acclimate, so how much beating and absolute abuse some will withstand (ok, so that makes it sound a little harsh...) I suppose in spring that I'll probably try to acclimate some of them to grow outside- THEN I'd be set. >:- )
well est,
i can tell you that i have them all under shade cloth. what you should do is notice the path of the sun and try to place you nepenthes where its open so that they get full morinig sun and full afternoon sun. the shade cloth will do the filtering. the condo where i live at is facing west. so the table that i have on the balcony is on the southern most part. so the plants dont really get mornig sun, only noon and afternoon sun. so all my plants get that dreaded noon sun! so on thoes hot summer days that reach about 90-100 i mist, mist, mist. also try putting out trays filled up with water.
i can tell you that i have them all under shade cloth. what you should do is notice the path of the sun and try to place you nepenthes where its open so that they get full morinig sun and full afternoon sun. the shade cloth will do the filtering. the condo where i live at is facing west. so the table that i have on the balcony is on the southern most part. so the plants dont really get mornig sun, only noon and afternoon sun. so all my plants get that dreaded noon sun! so on thoes hot summer days that reach about 90-100 i mist, mist, mist. also try putting out trays filled up with water.
Santos,
Good topic about outdoor growing conditions. Especially growing next to cacti!! I grow my neps next to cacti but my conditions aren't like Texas! I've found that the Santa Ana winds that drop humidity almost to single digits doesn't seem to effect my Neps as long as the soil / moss is kept moist. In fact, I ran out of R/O water and had to use hose water to keep up with the watering from all of the Santa Ana's last week. My Neps in winter haven't had frost levels but they have gotten into the upper 30's and easily low 40's without too many problems. Just some leaf deformities and leaf curl for the intermediates I grow outdoors. So your plants ought to do well for you during winter Santos. They will slow down greatly. You can check out my site for what species / highlanders stress the most during winters.
Good growin'
Joel
Nepenthes Around the House
Good topic about outdoor growing conditions. Especially growing next to cacti!! I grow my neps next to cacti but my conditions aren't like Texas! I've found that the Santa Ana winds that drop humidity almost to single digits doesn't seem to effect my Neps as long as the soil / moss is kept moist. In fact, I ran out of R/O water and had to use hose water to keep up with the watering from all of the Santa Ana's last week. My Neps in winter haven't had frost levels but they have gotten into the upper 30's and easily low 40's without too many problems. Just some leaf deformities and leaf curl for the intermediates I grow outdoors. So your plants ought to do well for you during winter Santos. They will slow down greatly. You can check out my site for what species / highlanders stress the most during winters.
Good growin'
Joel
Nepenthes Around the House
nepenthes gracilis
Nepenthes Specialist
You must also take into consideration you folks get a whole lot of sunlight there as well. Nepenthes don't mind if it gets quite cold at night just as long as they havea nice warm and SUNNY day. That gets their metabolism going and evens out the changes that occue from night and day time.[b said:
Dustin made a really important point. Warm and sunny. Our bicalcaratas, sumatranas, raffs, amps, hookeriana, Vikings all take nights down into the low fifties F (like last week), the days are bright, up to 92 F and humidity at 80 percent +. Eyeglasses fog over when you step through the door. So far, have not used a heater at night this season.
Rod Kruger has noted the same thing. He lives in the hills above Cairns, so whilst it's the tropics, it is cooler than sea-level Cairns. Whist nights can get very cold in mid-winter, days are always warm, and certainly greenhouse temps during the day in the middle of winter are always above 25C. He believes that true lowlanders such as bicalcarata can tolerate cold nights provided the days are very warm.
I've tried growing a few lowlanders like bicalcarata during winter with no success. Temps got into the low 40's regularly with lower winter humidity. The days had sun but temps remained in the upper 60's. So bicalcarata couldn't handle it. My intermediates can but they do stress. And when the warmer day temps return in spring, they put out new growth. Right now the nights are chilly but day temps have been in the low 70's so my intermediates aren't stressing. But some species like albomarginata, longifolia, hirsuta to name a few should stress in another few weeks or so when the temps go lower and the day time temps stay in the 60's. Also the time of sunlight is reduced as well. It gets sunny by maybe 7 am but it doesn't heat up until noonish. It starts cooling down by 3 pm and then it's dark by 5 pm. So shortened days may play a role too.
Joel
Nepenthes Around the House
Joel
Nepenthes Around the House
