I typed out a HUGE reply, then something happened and it disappeared. This will be a lot more concise just in case.
More than "1 or 2" people grow hamata under something different than optimal conditions. In fact, I think RC has quite a few...If you think 2 people are all, perhaps it is time to do some sleuthing work.
Hawaiian climate is not the typical lowland condition Ron
You're kidding right? ...you DO know where Hawai'i is...right? What do you mean "it's more humid"? More humid than what...Indonesia!?!? They're both islands (well one is technically an archipelago, but whatever) that have relatively little land mass, and lest you forget the main property of an island....they tend to be surrounded by water. Ergo - its humid! Go dig up some average monthly temps for, for example, Honolulu and Pontianak. Pontianak is actually a few degrees warmer for about 3 months of the year; otherwise, temps are so similar in both places that it hurts. Of course, in both places it'll be less humid further inland than on the coast, but let me put it to you this way. Houston is about an hour from the Gulf of Mexico. Dallas is about 4.5 hours north of Houston. The average relative humidity in Dallas never falls below 52%. See where I'm going with this? I don't know if theres even a part of IDN where you could drive for 5.5 hours, and not eventually start getting closer to the ocean. If you drove down the center of the main island longways, it'd take more time than that, but you'd be equidistant from the ocean on both sides, and still not 5.5 hours away from it. Again, beside the point.
I've heard you say 6 months wasn't long enough to be growing plants in “adverse” conditions. I've also heard you say that you'd have to grow it for at least a year. Now you're saying even 2 years isn't enough. Do you really, honestly think, that a plant would grow well under “adverse” conditions for 2 years, then without showing any signs of being unhappy, would randomly keel over and die? In the words of Arnold, “LET'S GET SERIOUS!”.
Results: the plant is still alive but without pitchers. So is that what you call it good growing? then yes Ron you are right.
So we're putting words in my mouth now? Look at RC's plants that have been in lowland conditions for years...they look amazing. Same with Leilani's HL stuff he grows LL. As you know, humidity can help a plant to be happy even if temps are far from optimal. Thus, my collection isn't the best example, since I grow everything inside at around 30% or lower humidity, in about a constant 85 degrees. My fusca Sarawak is pitchering, and low and behold, it's range is 1200-2500m (sibuyanensis range is only 1500-1800m. My tobaica has pitchers on every leaf its made since I've had it, but thats because its “really” an intermediate, right
? (it inhabits a wide range, overlapping sib's range). My eymae x stenophylla x lowii does VERY well, though its parents are all highland, one ultrahighland even. But OF COURSE that's because its a hybrid, right
? I could go on like this, but, next point...
Looking at the site I posted above, you can see that sibuyanensis has this “***” next to it. I'm just going to go out on a limb here and assume you don't speak German, so I'll be so kind as to translate the meaning of that given at the bottom of the page: “can be cultured under
both lowland and highland conditions”. (emphasis added)
With the species you listed at the bottom, they suffer from what I like to call “hamata syndrome”. They're expensive (with the exception of 2), they're hard to find (with the exception of two), and they are known from a single digit number of clones! Surely, if there was some hamata seed floating around, not only would the species be more available, but it would grow under a wider range of conditions. This, you can't argue with...though I'm sure you'll somehow find a way
. As you may or may not know, hamata is found all the way down to 1400m, and jaq down to at least 1580m (or maybe it was 1850? Dyslexics untie!). If you're going to tell me that specimens grown from seed from ranges that low would absolutely need ultrahighland conditions at all times, that's downright ridiculous.
I know that reply is huge, but you tend to have a random, fleeting, awkward style of argument (no offense). I try to cover as much stuff as possible because if I don't, you tend to switch from the point of disagreement to a different point, which just forces me to cover more and more stuff each time. Also, I'm tired, tired, tired, of hearing people say that you absolutely can not grow highlanders in lowland conditions and vice versa. Of course there are exceptions, but thats the point...its the exception rather than the rule that a plant needs extremely specific conditions to grow and pitcher. Its high time to enter into the age of Nepenthes Enlightenment. It's also not good to believe what everyone tells you (as in...these plants can't be grown in diff conditions). I've heard advice from a very well respected person that made them seem as if he was "off his rocker" (a hint for you to remember the thread). I also recall a prominent person writing a book that says windowsill growing is, and I quote, "best left to the experts".