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Which nepenthes to start out with and why?
- Thread starter raymond
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- nepenthes ventrata ventricosa
seedjar
Let's positive thinking!
They're all good choices, but N. x "Judith Finn" might not be the most gratifying choice for a beginner. It's a sturdy hybrid and will grow reliably even in poor conditions, but it can be finicky about pitchering so you might get frustrated with it. I've had one for about six years and have probably had a total of six pitchers from it. It's getting huge, though. XD
I suggest you get whichever is cheapest, preferably whichever will allow you to get more than one plant. When you're just starting out, it's good to get a few that are similar so if one becomes unhappy you still have the others to enjoy. Also, having multiple plants can help you tell if problems are due to general conditions (like not enough light) or individual causes (like a pest infestation or bad media.)
~Joe
I suggest you get whichever is cheapest, preferably whichever will allow you to get more than one plant. When you're just starting out, it's good to get a few that are similar so if one becomes unhappy you still have the others to enjoy. Also, having multiple plants can help you tell if problems are due to general conditions (like not enough light) or individual causes (like a pest infestation or bad media.)
~Joe
Wolfn
Agent of Chaos
Personally I like ventricosa and its hybrids. With nice color and pitcher shapes I don't find them boring or plain at all.
In general, you want to stick to the easy species like those being mentioned or hybrids incorporating one of the easy species as a parent. They do not have to both be easy parents, hybrid vigor should make up for it.
In general, you want to stick to the easy species like those being mentioned or hybrids incorporating one of the easy species as a parent. They do not have to both be easy parents, hybrid vigor should make up for it.
I agree that any of the plants you listed are a good choice for a beginner. If you get a N. alata, though, make sure it's a real alata and not a ventrata.
I had a N. x Judith Finn for a few years before I traded it off. I never had any trouble getting it to pitcher, but I agree that they are hard to kill. Mine was supposed to be a N. madagascariensis, and I didn't realize it wasn't until it had grown quite a bit. I was under the impression that N. madagascariensis liked to dry out between waterings, and I must confess that I was a little brutal with the plant. It didn't miss a beat and seemed even to thrive under the treatment, developing thick fleshy leaves like a succulent. There are very few pictures of a large mature N. x Judith Finn, but they are absolutely stunning plants when they get big.
Another good choice for you might be a N. x effulgent koto. I had one I was growing as a houseplant, actually several plants in a big pot, which grew like a weed indoors and then grew like a weed outside on my porch in the summer. It was always loaded with long graceful pitchers. (I had to sell it last year because I ran out of room and couldn't bring in another big plant–it was a bushy 4 feet tall!) The pitchers on those are mostly green, but they are utterly beautiful when backlit by the sun.
A word of advice: Put your plants in bigger pots than you might think necessary. Give the roots some room to expand. Happy roots = happy plants.
I had a N. x Judith Finn for a few years before I traded it off. I never had any trouble getting it to pitcher, but I agree that they are hard to kill. Mine was supposed to be a N. madagascariensis, and I didn't realize it wasn't until it had grown quite a bit. I was under the impression that N. madagascariensis liked to dry out between waterings, and I must confess that I was a little brutal with the plant. It didn't miss a beat and seemed even to thrive under the treatment, developing thick fleshy leaves like a succulent. There are very few pictures of a large mature N. x Judith Finn, but they are absolutely stunning plants when they get big.
Another good choice for you might be a N. x effulgent koto. I had one I was growing as a houseplant, actually several plants in a big pot, which grew like a weed indoors and then grew like a weed outside on my porch in the summer. It was always loaded with long graceful pitchers. (I had to sell it last year because I ran out of room and couldn't bring in another big plant–it was a bushy 4 feet tall!) The pitchers on those are mostly green, but they are utterly beautiful when backlit by the sun.
A word of advice: Put your plants in bigger pots than you might think necessary. Give the roots some room to expand. Happy roots = happy plants.
thez_yo
instigator
I started out with sanguinea, ventricosa red, burkei, truncata pasian, and Deroose Alata (some of my first few plants). Sanguinea orange and red always grows well under all sorts of abuse (temps, watering, light) as does ventricosa red (because it may actually be a hybrid with burkei or something like that), and Deroose Alata was ok too. The rest did sorta awful and continued doing poorly even after I had figured out how to grow the likes of macrophylla and hamata and inermis.
glider14
Always a newbie
