DavyJones
Is ready to take this hobby to a whole new level
Over my past few years active on this board I have seen very little information on growing N. Northiana. While an incredibly beautiful, well-known species, it seems very few people, especially in the US cultivate this plant. If they do, I can't find them anywhere. Last week I finally felt confident enough to purchase this plant, and attempt to grow it in a relatively low humidity environment. (I would provide numbers, but apparently my hygrometer is broke. Trust me, its an open house environment that many people, specifically terrarium growers would scoff at.) In this entry I will outline my receipt procedures, some initial photographs, and will continue to update as deemed necessary. This is by no means a scientific study, rather, my observations as I try to grow this plant in very average conditions, in order to perhaps shed some light on this species for the casual grower.
Plant was received last Friday, July 23, 2010 via USPS. I am fairly positive the plant is essentially directly coming from BE, and is roughly 6 inches in diameter, with 4 or so pitchers, developing, dead, or otherwise. Plant was removed from bag, dead pitchers clipped, living pitchers filled with distilled water via eyedropper, per my usual receiving procedures. I did notice the roots of this plant to be much more wiry compared to the roots of my other plants. I would typically now mix up my standard nepenthes mix, but have opted otherwise for this plant specifically.
After doing some research here last year, I learned that Cindy has acheived greater success growing this plant using what she called "burnt earth," which turned out to be *dirt* cheap local baked clay. As we can all assume, the conditions of my bedroom do not even closely match her growing conditions overseas. I decided to purchase "Pond Care Aquatic Planting Media."
The package clearly states there is no fertilizer contained within, and the media has a very similar look to Cindy's burnt Earth, only lacking the awesome red color. A standard square 4" pot was prepared, and a mix of 3:1 Aquatic Media to Sphagnum peat moss was used. Plant was inserted, and baggie was replaced over top, with the two corners slightly snipped to allow slight air flow. I will/have been cutting a little larger portion from the corners of the bag every other day. I will water as I water my other plants, every 3-4 days as needed. It will be grown in a dimmer corner of my grow rack, per some article that was posted out of the ICPS in my inquiry post last year. I use 2 GE standard daylight tubes I bought at Wal-Mart. The pictures below will conclude this entry. Hopefully I can procure a better camera soon, so that I need not use my camera phone. Enjoy!
Upon Arrival
In with the rest
Plant was received last Friday, July 23, 2010 via USPS. I am fairly positive the plant is essentially directly coming from BE, and is roughly 6 inches in diameter, with 4 or so pitchers, developing, dead, or otherwise. Plant was removed from bag, dead pitchers clipped, living pitchers filled with distilled water via eyedropper, per my usual receiving procedures. I did notice the roots of this plant to be much more wiry compared to the roots of my other plants. I would typically now mix up my standard nepenthes mix, but have opted otherwise for this plant specifically.
After doing some research here last year, I learned that Cindy has acheived greater success growing this plant using what she called "burnt earth," which turned out to be *dirt* cheap local baked clay. As we can all assume, the conditions of my bedroom do not even closely match her growing conditions overseas. I decided to purchase "Pond Care Aquatic Planting Media."
The package clearly states there is no fertilizer contained within, and the media has a very similar look to Cindy's burnt Earth, only lacking the awesome red color. A standard square 4" pot was prepared, and a mix of 3:1 Aquatic Media to Sphagnum peat moss was used. Plant was inserted, and baggie was replaced over top, with the two corners slightly snipped to allow slight air flow. I will/have been cutting a little larger portion from the corners of the bag every other day. I will water as I water my other plants, every 3-4 days as needed. It will be grown in a dimmer corner of my grow rack, per some article that was posted out of the ICPS in my inquiry post last year. I use 2 GE standard daylight tubes I bought at Wal-Mart. The pictures below will conclude this entry. Hopefully I can procure a better camera soon, so that I need not use my camera phone. Enjoy!
Upon Arrival
In with the rest