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Show your N. rajah

Hi all,
a very popular species but not too many people seem to be growing it succesfully.
There is a giant holdback to try this plant because of many negative threads about rajahs dying and being too picky, but those threads are too old to be still relevant I hope.
Some people seem to have grown a windowsill rajah in less-then-ideal conditions but their thread suddenly stops whitout updates. I Always wonder if those plants have died. I think and hope that the dying plants isn't due to their less-then-ideal conditions but due to the acclimatisation to these conditions (which should be more gradually). Please show with a picture and some info on the conditions that there you are growing them, it is impossible that only 5 people on this forum have a rajah that is bigger then 3 inch.
Hoping for some succes stories...
Oh and please add your story if you had a rajah that has died and give some info too, that would help everyone.
Thanks
 
Hmm, no posts ... Am I right to say that most of you Nepenthes masters don't grow the species or has it died for all of you?
Please can someone explain why pictures of rajah are almost Always years ago and why not many people grow them? I can't imagine that the serious growers that are on this forum haven't tried it yet. If you have ever tried a rajah or know why nobody does, please share your knowledge...
 
I have a couple of small seed grown ones but they're not much to look at at the moment. My Kinabalu seedling looks like any other Nepenthes seedling right now and my Tambuyukon plant is just starting to produce the distinct rajah shaped oval leaves.
 
I used to have a rajah, it never got much larger than when I had first received it, and that was for 4 years straight. I kept is in two different pots, first a very inappropriate peat moss, vermiculite, and sphagnum mix, and then a much better sphagnum and perlite mix, but it stayed possibly too moist and in the shade, and eventually just withered away. I haven't found any place to get a replacement yet, so I've never tried growing it again. That, and my greenhouse no longer has room.... maybe when I get a proper highland house can I get one back.
 
I have had this Rajah for about a year and it has been an exceptionally slow grower. And in that time it got moved around to three different growing areas to see if I could get faster growth. No improvement was seen, so now I am just leaving it alone to hopefully let it slowly 'settle in' in the main greenhouse. Temps are 75 in the day and 55 at night with humidity hovering around 90%. It is currently about 4" in diameter. In the time I have grown it, it has put up three new leaves. One of them being the biggest healthiest one there so at least it is showing signs of active growth. The newest leaf is a bit smaller but that may be partly because of the short dark days of winter here.

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Conditions it's in right now sound about like what it should like, though knowing the mountain it's from cooler nights could be a possible helper (though from experience I'd just leave it and let it grow). Yours is certainly larger than mine ever was.....
 
Really nice to see some of yours experiences!
Knepenthe, your rajah looks very healthy, do you use fertilizer or coffee?
hcarlton, it sounds like you know why it didn't grow (not enough light). I definitely think you should try again if you like the species and after all, one would make room in its greenhouse for a large rajah ;)
Hoping that some others jump in too
 
The seedling I have from Tambuyukon is actually moving along quite nicely. The plants from that mountain grow at a lower altitude and should prove to be much easier in cultivation than the Kinabalu rajah. I can certainly vouch for the villosa from Tambuyukon being easier and faster, I don't see why the same wouldn't be true for rajah.
 
I make my own little fertilizer concoction for all of my nepenthes. I add three to four cups of organic coffee made with r/o water and one tablespoon of fish emulsion into an empty gallon jug and top off with r/o water. Shake it up real good and apply about 1/2 cup to each plant folliarly and over any exposed soil. (Most of my plants are in 6" pots for reference) I add less for smaller plants of course. I do this about once every month and contrary to what most people do I don't rinse the soil unless I see a problem. Otherwise I just keep on caring for the plants as usual until next fertilization time. On top of this I also add a small amount of fish pellets into the pitchers halfway between folliar feedings. The only time I do not use the fertilizer mix is during months like this where the days are so short that I don't want to force the plant to grow. Hope this helps :)
 
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I have always been inclined to think that people are too scared to kill their rajahs to give them their nutrients. This is what holds them back. Good on you for fertilizing them. I think the other problem is lack of light and keeping them too wet. Personally, if it were me, I would put it in my same mix as everything else- bark and perlite. I think I will get a handful of clones sometime soon and see how I do.
Vermiculite you would think would be beneficial for this species due to its composition. Unfortunately it breaks down too quick.
Cthulhu138, that is so great. I envy your seed grown rajahs! I would give anything for a Tambuyukon SG rajah.
 
  • #11
I'm growing mine in a mesh pot for air circulation in my basic nepenthes mix of 1 part CP mix (perilite, sand, and peat), 1 part LFS, and 1 part orchid bark and it seems to be liking it so far.
 
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Oh, forgot to mention I do add just a little peat moss for moisture.
 
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