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Upper/Lower Pitchers

  • #21
Well, it's not like you are going to have much of a say in the matter: when a plant gets old enough to vine, you are gonna get uppers! Best to educate yourself now (before buying a boatload of plants) to learn which ones will produce the kind of uppers you wil like, and which ones you don't. People grow N. lowii because they want the uppers. Others, like N. maxima produce rather plain uppers lacking marking and color, other than green.

I looked up the upper pitchers of all of the neps I own. Luckily I like them all, and most of them are colorful uppers. I believe the picture that I bought my ventricosa x talangensis from was the picture of the upper pitcher judging by the shape, and that plant is already vining, probably over 16" tall already and growing fast. I should be getting uppers on it soon.

I think the maxima's upper pitcher looks kinda cool though. It's a neat shape, despite being green, and it's not just a green flower... It's a green flower filled with digestive juices that eats bugs! :-O
 
  • #22
I just don't want weirdly-shaped green pitchers on my neps rather than the regular-shaped colorful pitcher with flared peristomes, teeth, spikes and ladders. That's why I'm afraid of upper pitchers now, haha. :crazy:

Yeah I'm with Whimgrinder, sometimes, in fact most times, people want uppers because some of the most bizarre characters can be displayed depending on what species or hybrid it is.

But, on the other hand there are plenty of plants that get really lame boring looking upper pitchers. Just figure out which ones you are most interested and don't worry about it all that much because Nepenthes just don't grow all that fast so uppers wont be happening any time soon (probably).

cpphotofinder.com is your friend. It's what I use if I am interested in any plant or especially before I buy a plant. If it's a hybrid I look at as many pictures as I can of both the parents and get an idea of what both the upper and lower pitchers look like and then I decide whether they will be interesting enough to devote space in my confined and restricted grow space.

---------- Post added at 11:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 PM ----------

I think the maxima's upper pitcher looks kinda cool though. It's a neat shape, despite being green, and it's not just a green flower... It's a green flower filled with digestive juices that eats bugs! :-O

Also, I'm not sure if you were joking or not, but Nepenthes pitchers aren't flowers they are actually highly modified leaves.
 
  • #23
N. x ventrata will always have lower pitchers. It produces basal shoots more than any other Nepenthes I've ever seen.

I've seen some very nicely shaped and marked N. maxima uppers, it all depends on the form and the genes.
N. burkei is an exception to the upper/lower pitcher size. From what I've read the uppers are larger then the lowers, possibly even more colorful.

Also, some lower pitchers have a tendril attachment at the front of the pitcher. It all depends on the species.
 
  • #24
Here are a few examples from a couple of my N. spectabilis plants
lower pitcher on my North Sumatra male clone
DSC05468.jpg

upper pitcher from the same plant
P1010023.jpg


and an upper from my female plant from Gunung Sinabung
P1010063-1.jpg
 
  • #25
Here are a few examples from a couple of my N. spectabilis plants
lower pitcher on my North Sumatra male clone

upper pitcher from the same plant


and an upper from my female plant from Gunung Sinabung

Thanks for sharing! I like the upper pitchers of spectabilis a lot more than the lowers, and I love the lowers, so I guess I'm in luck with my densiflora x spectabilis! :)
 
  • #26
@ sir. k showin off much? ;)
 
  • #28
lol nah cpsammich, just tryin to show the difference...
here you go... Holy uppers batman - N. xSplendiana
DSC_0287.jpg


or lowii x ventricosa red :p
DSC_0312.jpg
 
  • #29
In his defense this was a completely appropriate time to show off those.

But they have lots of teeth and stripes. That's crossing the line. :nono:
 
  • #30
But they have lots of teeth and stripes. That's crossing the line. :nono:

lol N. spectabilis isnt all THAT toothy.... I could get more into depth with teeth but that is definitely not for this thread!! ;D
 
  • #31
lol N. spectabilis isnt all THAT toothy.... I could get more into depth with teeth but that is definitely not for this thread!! ;D

Psh, now I see your toothy avatar. :-(
 
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