To let it flower or to not..

[jm82792]

Well I just(like 2 weeks ago) got some new neps from bucky,they are all pretty darn tall(thanks bucky78 )
Out of the 5 I could only cram 2 into my 55 gallon the rest are on the windowsill(not that good but in the summer it's great). One of the nepenthes,Spathulata X Maxima has a very small flower coming up,that's barely started. I just got them so should I let it flower ? Generally how big does the flower for that nepenthes hybrid get ? The nep at the moment is almost hitting my shoplight fixture but I can lower my grate down(I have water on the bottom that is heated slightly) But if the flower gets really big then I'll have to do something exotic to keep it under some humidity and light of my tank.

 

[seedjar]

I'm not a super-experienced Nep grower, but I don't think flowers are particularly fatal. Whether to cut it or not probably depends on how much you want to see it flower vs. how much you want/need vegetative growth. If the plant is stressed, you want cuttings from it, or you'd rather just see it get bigger then removing the flowers will help it grow. (Probably - does cutting flowers on Neps induce shock? I don't think so but I'm not certain.) If you're curious about getting flowers (like I would be) just leave it alone. I suppose there is a chance that the flowers won't bloom right because of shipping stress, but somebody else will have to chime in on that because I have no idea. I no longer really observe much fussiness with my Neps so I'm just waiting for them to reach adulthood...
I don't know about particular hybrids but it seems to me like the flowers can be almost half the stem length of a small adult, going by the pictures I've seen. That probably varies with the relative health, vigor and parentage of each plant, though. I saw some figure that said 2'-4' was the largest of most species; I know I've seen some photos of the exporter greenhouses and the 15' vines have spikes that easily have 2' of flowers on them, not even counting the part of the spike that's bare. Can you position the pot/stake the plant so that the flower spike grows horizontally and away from the lights, maybe? Keeping the lights close makes a big different in my experience.
Best luck - I'm really curious to see some pics.
~Joe

 

[jm82792]

I'll keep it since it is in perfect conditions and neps take awhile to get used to it anyways...
I'll take a pic when things start up. Your right about fussy I have a guy I've had for 7 months it is now is growing like crazy finally.

 

[jimscott]

Why Not? Take a picture for posterity and see if anyone has its counterpart flowering concurrently.

 

[jm82792]

Alright here it is :

And the pings I got from you jimscott

They qudrupled in size

 

[jimscott]

They qudrupled in size

LOL! I think they had to! How tiny were they....

Get another picture when the flowers are open, like this:

This may hard to achieve where you are and certainly not realistic in Hawaii:

 

[jm82792]

Well I have some really tall neps in the windowsill that will flower this summer maybe.
I'll take another shot alittle later when it gets more mature for sexing.
Man I wish we had snow last winter I've never seen more than 2 inches I want next year 1 foot or so. Then I can shoot snowballs out of my spud gun and roll snow balls down the hills at my place The pings I got from you were like half the size of pennies now they are quarter sized other just divide and divide

 

[phissionkorps]

Sweet jesus I have seen those pictures and the cutting in water pictures so many times on so many different forums, they're burned into my brain. I think everyone has every detail of them memorized by this point lol.

 

[jm82792]

Umm Huh ?

 

[phissionkorps]

The ones from jimscott, not yours haha. Seriously though, I have seen those pictures about 50 times a piece. I wonder if I could craft a virus to only destroy those pictures......