Thought on Nepenthes villosa...

[Capensis]

Soooo, I want to try N. villosa, but I don't quite have the conditions, save the humidity. Low 70s - high 60s at day and at night 62-50, I believe. I spray down the tank to make it that chilly (plus ice bottles), but seeing that N. villosa likes temps into the 40s, I don't know what else I could do....

Soooo, I thought of an idea that may work, but not so sure. At day, I'll leave the plant chilling next to the ice bottles where the good, chilly temps are. But, I'll leave a medium size baggie under the plant. When night comes, I pull up the baggie, and place another ice bottle next to it, inside the baggie with the villosa (not closing the baggie) to conceal the cold of the ice bottle to drop the temperature lower. Thoughts? I can do diagrams if confused.

 

[Halt]

You live in Antartica the plants should be happy enough there? :] j.k uhh if you alrdy said this dont flame me: do thigs as usual in the morning but when it comes to night pull the bag up and put the ice cubes inside? i dunno :]

 

[Capensis]

Yes, that's basically the plan, when it's time to change to the night bottles (an Aquafina bottle and huge Dasani bottle) I will slip another bottle I have into the baggie at night and pull it up to keep the cold inside. When I wake up, I'll take it out and but the baggie down and let it go as any plant in my tank next to the ice bottles.

 

[seedjar]

That might work for a while, but what do you do after it starts to get big? Or if you have to take a trip away from home? N. villosa is an awesome plant but I think you should stick to growing things that you have the conditions for. If you build a collection with healthy, easy growing plants then you'll be able to get those super-desirable species for cheaper by trading or making friends in the collectors' community.
~Joe

 

[Capensis]

That might work for a while, but what do you do after it starts to get big? Or if you have to take a trip away from home?

Yep, that's the only problem. Villosa is a very slow grower from what I've heard, but it will have to get big...the only thing I could do is use a bigger bag, after that, I'm screwed.

Trips/vacation, I'm screwed. The only thing I could think of is putting it at the windowsill, but that's only possible for winter. During summer, I have no idea, so yeah. That's why I'm still deciding if I should go for it or not. Most likely not, but who knows? Maybe it'll be able to handle a week or two with warmer conditions (Not likely LOL)?

 

[DavyJones]

Even though it might work, I would try and wait on getting it. It would be a shame if such a nice plant died because you couldn't take it with you on vacation ;-)

 

[Capensis]

If only xD

So, I'll try to experiment tonight, see how it is.

 

[Halt]

why not keep ice packs under the bags? just keep switching em like 2-3x a day

 

[theyellowdart]

It's not really a matter of whether it would work or not, it's whether you would really want to do this every night for the rest of your life. I know I would probably get sick of doing it after the first couple of weeks.
I think you should come up with something a little more bulletproof first.

 

[Capensis]

why not keep ice packs under the bags? just keep switching em like 2-3x a day

Well, first of all, they're ice bottles x3. Second of all, I already have ice bottles in the tank to cool it, and there are always two. I only have a two plant limit of being next to the bottles. The conditions next to them are low 70s-high 60s at day (should've mentioned that was the temps next to the bottles) and at night 62-50. The day temps are good, but the night temps and be colder, which is why I'll have the plant and an extra bottle in the baggie (put up and not closed) to conceal most of the cold air to make it even colder than usual. Does this clear things up?

 

[Capensis]

It's not really a matter of whether it would work or not, it's whether you would really want to do this every night for the rest of your life. I know I would probably get sick of doing it after the first couple of weeks.
I think you should come up with something a little more bulletproof first.

I already switch the bottles three times a day and it doesn't bother me one bit And I've already racked my brain to come up with something...a lot less technical, besides putting it in the fridge...but, I have a feeling I'll forget to put it back into the tank.

Edit: And that just may be an answer about it getting bigger. Putting it in the fridge at night

 

[JMurphy97]

Do you live in a house or apartment? Because would a basement set-up work? That's what I use here in WI. In the winter it's perfect. I'm not sure where you live but if you could try it. Another thing is try the whole freezer into a grow chamber.

 

[Capensis]

House. No baesment. I lives in Florida, so a basement wouldn't do much good, plus, it's extremely hard to have a basement here . And I REALLY doubt I can get a freezer chamber. When living with parents, you're really limited on things

 

[BigBella]

Soooo, I want to try N. villosa, but I don't quite have the conditions, save the humidity. Low 70s - high 60s at day and at night 62-50, I believe. I spray down the tank to make it that chilly (plus ice bottles), but seeing that N. villosa likes temps into the 40s, I don't know what else I could do....

Soooo, I thought of an idea that may work, but not so sure. At day, I'll leave the plant chilling next to the ice bottles where the good, chilly temps are. But, I'll leave a medium size baggie under the plant. When night comes, I pull up the baggie, and place another ice bottle next to it, inside the baggie with the villosa (not closing the baggie) to conceal the cold of the ice bottle to drop the temperature lower. Thoughts? I can do diagrams if confused.

Nights in the fifties should be just fine, and I wouldn't worry too much about using frozen water bottles. The main idea is to give a definite nighttime drop in Tb plus high humidity. Just the evaporative cooling from occasional misting will serve to benefit the plant, even if the Tb is a bit higher than desired.

Designing some Rube Goldberg machanism for caring for one tiny plant on a daily basis will drive you insane, spectacular Nepenthes or not. We don't want to be reading about you, a rifle, and a clock tower anytime soon. Keep it as simple as possible and allow the N. villosa to acclimatize to your local area and you should be fine. They are not remotely as touchy as many suggest; otherwise, mine would have been composted a long time ago.

Growers once thought the same difficult cultivation was true for Nepenthes hamata for years; and now some growers have them simply as windowsill plants. Also, N. villosa is so slow-growing that you'll have plenty of time to plan and provide larger growing chambers down the line . . .

 

[Capensis]

Nights in the fifties should be just fine, and I wouldn't worry too much about using frozen water bottles. The main idea is to give a definite nighttime drop in Tb plus high humidity. Just the evaporative cooling from occasional misting will serve to benefit the plant, even if the Tb is a bit higher than desired.

Ooh, ok. So I'm actually good after all? Quick question, what exactly does Tb mean?

Growers once thought the same difficult cultivation was true for Nepenthes hamata for years; and now some growers have them simply as windowsill plants.

You mean elgecko? xD

 

[Crissytal]

I completely agree with BigBella (and I appreciate you being so encouraging!).

With the way my temperatures are in the spring and summer (winter is not looking to be much different) I was extremely hesitant to try anything even remotely highlanderish. Sure I added a N. ventricosa to my collection without much thought, but when it came to the plants that are considered more touchy I was hesistant. I finally broke the ice and purchased a N. spectabilis North Sumatra and N. truncata Pasian highland at the same time. They are both actively growing and pitchering in strictly lowland conditions. I have since moved on to other 'touchy' highlanders such as N. burbidgeae and N. hamata. They are both actively growing and pitchering in the same conditions, on the same rack, on the same shelf with my N. ampullaria "Green" and N. ampullaria "Red Speckled" which are also actively growing and pitchering. To spice things up, I also received a H. heterodoxa x minor. It is actively growing and producing pitchers (though I need more light, it's not satisfied with my cool whites like my other plants are). My point is, you won't know until you try. I don't fool with fridges or frozen water bottles. The only thing that I did remotely special was acclimate my N. hamata to my lower humidity. I had it bagged for about a month and a half. The bag is now off, and I currently have one pitcher opened and another forming. The theory on needing high humidity for small hamatas is also a myth.

My current conditions:
Day time: 80-84F
Night time: 78 (it's dropped about three times to 70 since it's become winter)
Humidity day: 45-70%
Humidity night: 80%+

Give it a try. If I wasn't willing to try, I wouldn't have half the collection that I currently have.

My two cents,
Crystal

 

[BigBella]

Ooh, ok. So I'm actually good after all? Quick question, what exactly does Tb mean?

Tb = temperature and ∆ Tb = change in temperature . . .

 

[Capensis]

Thanks, Crystal And thanks to everyone else for the advice and thoughts.

Edit: I'ma hold off my plan for the villosa.

 

[theyellowdart]

Wow Crystal and BigBella, you guys are really encouraging.
With the info you have given me, I now believe I can grow a lot more species than I ever thought I could. (Especially after reading Crystal's conditions)
I think I'll give hamata a try.

 

[BigBella]

Wow Crystal and BigBella, you guys are really encouraging.
With the info you have given me, I now believe I can grow a lot more species than I ever thought I could. (Especially after reading Crystal's conditions)
I think I'll give hamata a try.

Growing highland Nepenthes and others aren't that mysterious or difficult. Just give them their native climates in broad strokes. Consider for a moment that the bulk of ornamental plants available from nurseries most everywhere, are tropicals or subtropicals that somehow manage to survive in the states. I have personally made more mistakes than I can count growing Nepenthes and others over the years -- and yet they survive. My "attrition" rate stands at about 0.01 -- not including the very occasional ravages by my dog, Bella . . .