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Nepenthes can grow in water?

Jefforever

A yellow M&M
I found an interesting picture of a N. Gracilis growing in water on a website:

http://www.bestcarnivorousplants.org/fotogalerie/sr151-3560.html

I'm not sure of the rules that apply about posting this, so if I've done something wrong, take it down. Thanks!

I didn't think nepenthes could grow that way. The water it is growing in looks like its not going to dry up since there's some U. Gibba around the base. Any comments on the photo are welcome. :)
 
i see this pic from time to time...but im stunned to see it every time. i dont really understand how this works. im stumped!

Alex
 
:0o:
gonna say mabye it had jsut rained but I then saw you mention the U. gibba and was like "OH"
hey maybe someons should gradually flood there gracilis and try and grow it sitting in water like that
 
maybe that location was temporally flooded in a storm
 
Here's how it went down:
It was a swampy area....seed germinated...grew to a certain height. Water came in and flooded the place....gracilis, being a swampy plant anyways (roots sometimes in the water table) just went about its biz and kept growing. Is that a mat of sphag in the pic?
Anyway, notice how its a plant or two or three and not a community? If you've seen wild gracilis pics, you know how it grows, which supports the "it was normal then there was a flood and it killed most plants" theory.
 
does your theory explain the U. gibba there???
 
I don't know anything about utrics, so I can't comment. A nep seed wouldn't germinate in nothing but water though...plus I think they float, so that water wasn't always there. Like I said, it was probably just a swampy area w/ gibba nearby. Once the water level rose or the area flooded, gibba just came in from surrounding areas.
 
sounds ncie but now its not likey that you can grow a gracilis like that.
would be cool to though.
so if it has some of its roots in the water table then can you use the tray method with it in cultivation???
 
The water is probably highly oxygenated. Remember, water never kills a plant, lack of oxygen does. ;)
 
  • #10
The water is probably highly oxygenated. Remember, water never kills a plant, lack of oxygen does. ;)

maybe I could try to grow like a nepenthes ventricosa on the tray method and use a air pump and a bubble stone to oxygenate the water.
and idea maybe I coudl try growing it without soil.
 
  • #11
Any know if it's possible to grow nepenthes via hydroponics?
 
  • #12
Any know if it's possible to grow nepenthes via hydroponics?

I don't see why not... Since you can use rockwool (or clay pellets) to grow CP's, and using hydroponics doesn't mean the media is saturated at all times, it is not much different from growing them traditionally.

I wonder if you can grow them via aeroponics though.... that would be something.
 
  • #13
I don't know anything about utrics, so I can't comment. A nep seed wouldn't germinate in nothing but water though...plus I think they float, so that water wasn't always there. Like I said, it was probably just a swampy area w/ gibba nearby. Once the water level rose or the area flooded, gibba just came in from surrounding areas.

I think gibba can survive low water levels. People at cpuk flower their gibba in really low water levels, like 1-2 cm deep. I still have yet to try that.
 
  • #14
i had a strand growing in straight peat, lasted almost 6 months cause i forgot about it. and believe it or not it went brown when i finally remembered it and placed it back into where the mother plant was.. very weird.

Alex
 
  • #15
As far as I know, hydroponics is used to supply nutrients to the roots of a plant with out the use of soil. And I don't think Nepenthes tend to grow in nutrient rich soils. Since soil isn't technically required except for stability/water absorption for carnivorous plants, I don't see why Nepenthes couldn't grow in water, as long as their roots were provided with oxygen, as nepenthes gracilis said.

-Ben
 
  • #16
It think you coudl but you'd be using very very weak organic nutrients in lavrock using the drip methode.
I am too chicken to try though..
 
  • #17
I have N. albomarginata basal shoot cutting that pitchered in a cup of tap water. All I did was to top up the water. No additional nutrients. The pitcher is normal and do not seem to be much smaller than those found on my potted plants. :0o:

Had wanted to pot it up but now I am waiting for it to produce a second leaf and see if it will still pitcher. Perhaps the debris from the stem decomposed and became essential nutrients.
 
  • #18
My guessing was that the main plant was growing by the edge of the drain or stream. The offshoots from the main vine tried to grow upwards and in the process they intertwine into a mass. The water leavel increase and decrease in dry and rainy weather. The phenomena could be explained if photographer had shown more of the plant on the lower part of the pix.

There are numerous examples in the wild regardless of highlanders or lowlanders that thrive on drian edge. Here is one ampullaria example.

DSC_7136.jpg
 
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