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N. ampullaria help

I've had my speckled amp for a couple weeks now and its still looking sad. I've looked all over but for some reason I haven't found much solid cultivation info. I have several questions that I need answers on and since most people on here are excellent growers and I can get many opinions I figured I'd ask even though they're probably newbie questions.

  1. does it like shade or sun cause I've heard both? I'm thinking shade is probably right
  2. are the leaves supposed to be dark green and reddish or is this a sign of sunburn? It came this way and the new leaf opened this way too but I don't have very strong light so I'm not sure its sunburn
  3. are the pitchers supposed to display the characteristic reduced lid when they're young or can they look like other neps lids?
  4. is there a light red speckled form of amp because my pitchers have a fair amount of red along with the speckling? could this be from sunburn too?

I'm growing my amp in the same conditions as my bellii which is doing great but it's just not doing well. It must be something that I'm doing but I can't tell what. The humidity is high, the temps are warm and the light isn't really strong or weak. Maybe its just cause I repotted it and it's trying to get over it. If you could answer my questions or add any advice I would be very thankful

also are the leaves of bellii supposed to be red and are small neps just redder than larger neps? The redness hasn't seemed to affect the bellii's growth but it's even redder than the amp.
 
I have a N. Ampullaria (green form) and I have a Bellii too.

As far as I can say my get arround 50% sun and 50% shade, it shows some red pigmentation because of the sun but is growing like crazy and I have not notice any health problem on the leaves and pitchers.

All of the lids are reduced (even on the baby pitchers from the basal) and the pitchers have a nice round shape, Im not sure how old was the "mother" vine, so I will really can not be sure of the exact age of my plant.

My bellii Its geting better after almost die, the main vine is gone and only a small basal make it... I will say the only anormal thing on is the super red pigmentation on all the leaves, I hope it keep growing and get stronger on this summer.
 
1. Whatever. In situ, it grows mostly in shaded habitats, but ones in brighter spots tend to develop larger pitchers. I give all my neps the brightest light I can (all artificial though). You could grow it in full sun if you wanted to, but you'd need to spend some weeks acclimating it.
2. "Burn" will be brown or black. The red is more like a sunscreen type of pigmentation (like our melanin). Personally, I think its attractive. It sure isn't going to harm anything. I have a couple neps that have extremely red leaves when they first unfurl, which then gradually fade to green. I have no clue why that is, but it's not bad.
3. When they're under an inch or two, all neps pretty much look the same. Any bigger than that, and you should be able to tell if it's amp or not. The lids should be thin and strap-like instead of orbicular like most lids.
4. Think of a color combo...in ampullaria, it exists. I've seen plain green, white, very dark, tricolor, all different kinds of speckles on all different colored backgrounds, hotlips versions of all the above, etc, etc, etc.


I can't see anything wrong with your plant really. Posting a pic would help infinitely.
And hey, if it starts dieing, you can always send it to me ;)

Can you post a pic of the bellii? Mine is in very strong light and doesn't even have a slight tinge of red.
 
phission- the bellii from the cuttings from me? Mine get very red too...

so is my N. amp... but the amp has no pitchers on it, I imagine because of the cold from the ending winter....

Andrew
 
Yeah it's from you. I had 3 and they all died but this one when that girl let my collection dry out. It's pretty small, but I have it more or less right next to a bulb (almost touching) and it hasn't really gotten red AFAIK.
 
This is how my poor bellii looks now...

Its really small, but each leave is geting a pitcher so at less I'm sure its doing no toooooo baaadddd...

You can see how red is now, when it was small (nickel size) use to be green 100%, but maybe after the fifth leave it start turning red. I guess on that point the plant reach the size where it get exposed to the sun more and more and start getting "tan".

<a href="http://www.freeimagehost.eu/image/7d83402890275" target="_blank"><img src="http://thumbnails.freeimagehost.eu/290/7d83402890275.gif" alt="free image host"></a>
 
I don't really have any good pictures of them and I can't take more anytime soon cause my brothers borrowing the camera. I do have this one pic (on the left) but the plants look a little different now cause this ones from right after I got them. The amp (on the left) is about the same except the leaf has opened all the way without growing much bigger, I repotted it in a bigger pot, the dying pitcher was cut off, and the other pitcher which you can't see well has gotten redder. The pitcher lid definitly isn't reduced like a typical amp (pic on left) and the leafs not quite the same either. I don't know if it's just that the plants stressed or if its not a pure amp? The bellii's doing fine. Its opened the pitcher in the pic is about to open another pitcher and has as of the last two days opened the leaf forming in the pic. It's gotten redder too or at least the pic makes the plant look greener. After seeing mr fus's pic I think its fine that color.
 
The one on the right is just one I put on there to show a example of a typical amp
 
  • #10
Ya doesn't seem burned I burned my Trucata X Sanguinea and it took time but it's happy.
 
  • #11
I'm not sure but it looks similar of how my original Bellii start looking before the end :-(

After go over and over on what happend with the plant, I have come to the point when I think the humidity level and photoperiod was the main factors on the decay of health on my plant... any other nepenthes that I own, has come to a more stable conditions and no one has show any shock.

Wich are the current conditions on your thank?

oohhh, almost foget!

This is how the pitchers look on my Ampullaria:
<a href="http://www.freeimagehost.eu/image/bda4302890851" target="_blank"><img src="http://thumbnails.freeimagehost.eu/290/bda4302890851.gif" alt="free image host"></a>
 
  • #12
I'd like to mention that I think bellii needs to be grossly overpotted. It has a pretty extensive root system IMO in regards to its size, and other neps.
 
  • #13
Your plants look fine in my opinion they definetly arent burned i can tell you that (i had a bad experince with that) :-)).
 
  • #14
Here is my N. bellii as it sits right now... Maybe I should try the over potting thing :p Also a picture of my recently aquired N. amp spotted.... I guess it is still trying to fit into the greenhouse. :)
Andrew
 
  • #15
Why do the leaves on some amps are green with spots or patches of red?
 
  • #16
Not sure but I think is due the Carotenoids on the nepenthes, this natural organic pigments are located in chromoplast and help to filter the blue spectrum of light and increase the efficiency of chlorophyll.

The molecular estructure of this pigments (a covalent bond of carbon-carbon) act absorbing the espectrum of light, if more frequencies of light are absorbed from the short end of the visible spectrum which is the violet (380-450 nm on the wavelength), the compounds acquire a more saturated red appearance.
 
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