What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Succumbing to French Roast Pressure . . .

  • #101
Indeed, do you have pics and/or comments to update us, Dave? Please?!

Whoa, this was certainly an old thread to resurrect . . .

I still recommend the use of full-strength coffee (prepared with distilled or RO water) on Nepenthes; and my plants have responded very well to its use over the last few years (and far more effectively than any commercial fertilizer than I have ever used). I now use it biweekly or monthly without any issues to the live sphagnum moss; though I thoroughly rinse the posts a day or so after each application.

I have now started using it as of 2012 in a more controlled setting on a new group of seedling highlanders, including N. edwardsiana, N. hamata, N. macrophylla, N. rajah, and N. villosa; and I will post their progress in the months to come . . .
 
  • #102
Where do you get all of these rare neps? I can't find any anywhere... :censor:

Congrats on the coffee stuff... I had the same results with Maxsea foliarly. I tried coffee a week or two ago and haven't had time to see results... Well actually, nothing happened on the smallest nep that got the most coffee because it's a stupid plant. The others haven't put out new leaves yet... But when I flushed the pots with coffee... OH MY GOSH. That sphagnum sprouted new stuff everywhere!

I haven't read all of these pages so I may have missed this, but how often do your neps get coffeed? I'm eager to make my neps grow big quickly. Just don't want to overdo the coffee. EDIT: Wow... Just read your last post. Stupid me. I get it now. Thanks! Do you think it will be bad if I did it bi-weekly, one week coffee, next week foliar Maxsea, next week coffee, ect..?
 
  • #103
Thanks, David. Since you now use coffee once or twice per month, have you altered your use of commercial fertilizers in any way, as in do you fertilize bi-monthly and use coffee?
 
  • #104
Thanks, David. Since you now use coffee once or twice per month, have you altered your use of commercial fertilizers in any way, as in do you fertilize bi-monthly and use coffee?

During the active growing season -- say, early Spring through Late Fall -- I generally fertilize biweekly (drenching the plant and compost) with a 1:4 strength 30:10:10 orchid fertilizer and use the coffee about once a month. On a few occasions, I have replaced one of the orchid fertilizer days (out of sheer laziness) with a second dose of coffee without any ill effects. I have also found that maintaining a compost pH (measured indirectly by the leachate in the trays) of a maximum of five or so seemed far more important, in the long run, than the application of any fertilizer -- whether that goal was achieved through coffee; or, in the past, through the once-popular use of a peat "tea" . . .
 
  • #105
Thanks, David, that helps a lot. I may change my fertilizer regime for a few months to see if my results change. I assume the warmer summer months will be a good time to try it out, and could even help the plants deal with the heat a bit more. Glad to hear someone reaffirm my suspicions about the necessity of maintaining the pH in the media, too.
 
  • #107
Very nice David! Very insightful tips and observations. You really have some beauties going, its nice to see them in good hands!
 
  • #108
Would instant coffee yield the same results as long as RO water was used? My coffee maker is bound to be full of deposits. We drink about 5 pots a day around here. :0o:
 
  • #109
Just get a cheap french press.
 
  • #110
Duh.....:crazy: Should have though of that. BUT would the instant have the same results or is there something missing or not present in the instant? Now it is just curiousity. I have at least one or two presses around and will try that today. Thanks
 
  • #111
Would instant coffee yield the same results as long as RO water was used? My coffee maker is bound to be full of deposits. We drink about 5 pots a day around here. :0o:

I honestly couldn't tell you, since I am unaware of what "survives" in instant coffee after its extreme processing; and cannot imagine that, say, its hundreds of volatile compounds would still be present. Also, it's still unclear what seems to be the greatest benefit to Nepenthes, beyond its clear acidifying properties.

Numbers vary greatly -- but several hundred, if not thousands, of chemical compounds exist in whole coffee beans; these range from alkaloids, carbohydrates, and amino acids; vitamins B1,B2, B12, C; nicotinic, folic, and pantothenic acids; to calcium, sodium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, zinc; selenium and manganese.

Whether everything finds its way into a cup of the old Nescafe -- who knows? Splurging on a 2.00 plastic coffee funnel and making a batch of drip coffee couldn't hurt . . .
 
  • #112
Good to see someone else experimenting with this! I gave this to my N. spathulata and it is now putting out 9" leaves from only 2 inch leaves several weeks ago. Now the lil nook is putting out a one-bud flower out of an activated bud after another bud succumbed to a failure of pollination on another stalk.
 
  • #113
Very interesting point you make about whole bean vs. instant coffee. A while back I did used instant coffee on the stronger side, I did notice some increase in size and rate of my nepenthes, especially N. macrophylla. I wonder how those results will compare now that I used french press coffee for my latest application.
 
  • #114
Here is an update, about four weeks out, after the first application of coffee to a pot of Nepenthes villosa seedlings, that had been previously posted on another thread. I had thought it important at the time to wait until they were a bit more established before fertilizing -- or any other nasty experimentation that occurred to me. The cold coffee, brewed with RO water, and only slightly diluted (since I experience coffee as a near solid) was flooded through the pot; and the plants were rinsed with clear water the following morning -- so as not to encourage any algal growth or other unspeakable nastiness.

It should also be mentioned that the Nepenthes in question were quite healthy to begin with; were provided with the most accurate cultivation that I could manage; that is to say, relatively warm days, not exceeding 25˚C and cool nights of about 10˚ or even cooler. I would not encourage either fertilizing or treating with coffee any plants that were of marginal health; those recently shipped; recently re-potted; or any very young seedlings.

It is fairly clear to see in the two photos that the lamina -- the flattened portion of the leaf -- on all four plants have increased in size, almost doubling in some cases, since the beginning of May; so too the production of pitchers . . .

Nepenthes villosa: 1 May 2012
villosa-6.jpg


31 May
VILLOSA-5-31-12.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • #115
Impressive results, David. That leap in size is comparable to what some people are seeing in half a year or more with villosas of that size. Adding coffee to one's fertilization routine is starting to seem like more of a necessity than a mere "perk"..
 
  • #116
i see what you did there :lol:

perk he says
 
  • #117
Very impressive results for a month David! I definitely agree that to achieve this, you need a conbination of healthy plants, good conditions and then you add the coffee. Thanks for the update.
 
  • #118
Probably has been said, but...

Exactly what brand/roast/type of coffee do you use? I haven't gotten any results like this from coffee... Or at least I'm not seeing the results from it yet.
 
  • #119
Probably has been said, but...

Exactly what brand/roast/type of coffee do you use? I haven't gotten any results like this from coffee... Or at least I'm not seeing the results from it yet.

If I'm not mistaken, didn't you try coffee for the first time only two or three weeks ago?
 
  • #120
If I'm not mistaken, didn't you try coffee for the first time only two or three weeks ago?

Yeah... That's why I said it probably hasn't had time to kick in. But look at BigBella's villosa seedlings, in 30 days they had leaf jumps. I have had a few neps put out new leaves that began to develop right as I did coffee treatments, and they're not any bigger...

But still I'm curious of what kind of coffee you are using.
 
Back
Top