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which nep is your biggest diva

Since I grow lowland neps one would think they are all easy but not so.........I would say that to date my biggest diva is probably Mirabilis var echinostoma.....i dont know if they are all diva's or I got a weak clone....it's worse than my northiana but then again the northy is small....i hear they get testy when they are larger........but that mirabilis......one wrong look and poof the pitchers all shrivel up........If i had to speculate I would think it may require more humidity than the rest of them. I haven't quite located it's happy place if it has one that is. lol. But one day i will find it a place where it can thrive in my chamber. I have acclimated intermediates and highland hybrids that aren't as finicky as this thing. UGH!

how about you guys?......i know there has got to be some picky purebreed ultra highlanders out there that make my annoyances seem like child's play.....lets hear your stories. :)
 
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Talangensis is a mystery to me as it is to most people. Hamata, jacquelineae, dubia, inermis, flava, etc. are growing quite happily right next to it. But it's only made one pitiful excuse for a pitcher that I remember since I got it many years ago. Finally it turned into enough of a palm tree that I cut the top off to root it, figuring maybe the base isn't all that healthy anymore. Nope. Two new offshoots pop out of the lower stem immediately. Now I have three healthy talangensis that won't pitcher. Maybe it just forgot what kind of plant it is.
 
I grow lowlanders and a few inter's, anything from campanulata, to mirabilis, to amps to viellardii...all easy, yet for some reason I have always struggled with rafflesiana, I have red squat (second attempt) raff brunei giant and raff?, and none thrive, they sometimes don't pitcher for months, or make small leaves, or rot.

They will thrive for a month or two, then do nothing or get sick, then thrive, then relapse, I have tried an array of spots in the greenhouse, polyhouse and outside but can't seem to succeed, different watering (tray depth to none), lighting, always have high humidity, tried different soils, no luck, they just survive.
 
My mirabilis var. echinostoma is a Diva as well! I consider myself pretty successful when it comes to lowlanders but that one I just can't make happy. It'll put out one to two pitchers a year that are awesome, but the rest if the time it sulks, looses a leaf, looses a pitcher and so on. I'd love to know the secret on this one if anyone knows ;)

Here's a pic of my Diva when she decides she likes me...
DSC_6740.jpg
 
Nepenthes glabrata. It is an unrooted cutting I bought june 2013 and still won't make roots or pitchers or decent sized leaves.
 
I am yet to get a mirabilis var. echinostoma (have never seen them for sale here), but my other mirabilis (thai, local Au form and viking) all seem to thrive in high light levels (full sun in the arvo or morning for several hours), humidity above 70%, kept in a water tray year round, high temps (20-40C) and the best soils for all seem to be peat/orchid potting mix and spag 1:1:1 or peat/sand/bark 2:1:1, without peat they make smaller traps, also without a tray they grow slower and flower less.
My viking leaves are red in more than 4hours full sun, which is nice, and the Au mirabilis gets a red stem and red blotched leaves in the same lighting.
I also find that all mirabilis sulk (grow slower, make smaller traps and smaller leaves) when temps are below 20C a few nights in a row, so for me 1-2months of winter, then in summer take off again.

How are you growing the echinostoma?
 
Nepenthes x 'Gentle'
The deformed pitchers barely grow larger than the diameter of the tendrils.
 
I grow lowlanders and a few inter's, anything from campanulata, to mirabilis, to amps to viellardii...all easy, yet for some reason I have always struggled with rafflesiana, I have red squat (second attempt) raff brunei giant and raff?, and none thrive, they sometimes don't pitcher for months, or make small leaves, or rot.

They will thrive for a month or two, then do nothing or get sick, then thrive, then relapse, I have tried an array of spots in the greenhouse, polyhouse and outside but can't seem to succeed, different watering (tray depth to none), lighting, always have high humidity, tried different soils, no luck, they just survive.

I have had a BE raff var elongata for about 2.5-3 years from a 6 inch seedling to 22 or so inches now; it likes to sulk which is why it isn't bigger but i have so many lowlanders I cannot give it the attention it needs.....I think they are called n. baramensis now but the 3 keys to keeping it happy are humidity, food and STABILITY. They don't like to be moved at all so if you can mark it out a spot and leave it there. lol.

I have a pink kuching squat that has sulked since it arrived from MT but it is finally coming around.......thank god it had a pitcher on it. If you receive one make sure it has a pitcher and dump the juice from another nepenthes pitcher into it and FEED IT. Far as light it seems fairly flexible but doesn't like it overly bright.

hope that helps. :)
 
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@ divaskid.......mine acts similar but it makes pitchers fairly often(maybe 20-30+ a year; I don't have an exact count)for me but just doesn't keep them before they shrivel and die. It does like to drop leaves faster than most of the rest of the neps. But thanks for the memory jog.....yes when mine was younger it didn't pitcher as much but I have discovered one thing that mildly pleases it.......seems it has a sweet tooth. If you feed it; it will make more pitchers for you.....they will shrivel and fall off annoyingly fast so you have to stay on top of it. lol.

give it a try and lmk if that works for you.

hope that helps.

@ charlie.......i have some ampullaria cuttings that are the same way.....******* root already! I know I have a harlequin that has made 6 leaves since I first got it. grrrrr

@ fdf I have never grown 'gentle' but I thought they were easy to grow........small, deformed traps could indicate either a pest or not enough humidity.

@adelae with that mix and tray watering you run the risk of root rot. I flood my chamber but all the water evaporates within 2 days and some of the lowlanders respond well to it....my echinostoma showed no change.......bicals however LOVE it. my growing conditions vary season to season based on ambient temp.....day time humidity varies high 70's to mid 80's and night time humidity varies mid 80's to low 90's. 3 out of 4 seasons they are grown in part north eastern sun and for the winter florescent lights which all of them slow down at that point. temps vary the most but I have a temp controller that activates a heater if the temp drops below 20.3 and they grow the fastest in the summer.

since it has been photographed, the pitcher will most likely fall off tomorrow. lol.

102_1210_zpse0ce9864.jpg
 
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  • #10
Thanks for the advice Bobby, but the red squat was only moved 3 times in the last 2 and a bit years, (6month min before I give up on a site) and the relapses are far more common than when I moved them, I am actually thinking that there is another factor that raff dislike in my environment, as other lowlanders are more than happy, perhaps a bug or mineral, I'm not sure.

But this makes more sense as to why the plants bounce around in health as the factor might be bouncing itself (for example the water is from a bore, perhaps after heavy rains, or little, a certain mineral is in higher doses, or an insect/bacteria more active), sadly I don't have the time to look into this theory as I only go to my greenhouse once a fortnight on average due to uni (my parents let me make an automated one at their place which is about 1.5hour drive).

The problem is why would this not effect the other plants beside the raffs such as ampullaria, bical, distillatoria, khansia, alata, veitchii, mirabilis and maxima which are all in the same sections as the raff's, I could understand if the raffs were more susceptible, but surely at least one of the other species would also share this weakness.

Hopefully when I finish my new greenhouse in the next couple weeks and move them they will be happier.
 
  • #11
I have always grown the following neps in water trays and never had a problem with any
Ampullaria
Bicalarata
Alata
Distilatoria
Campanulata
Ventricosa
Veillardii (but not in winter as it likes it drier)
Maxima
Khansia
Mirabilis (all)
maxima X alata
Raff
camp X vent
truncate X maxima
gothica (which also makes deformed lids and small 3-4inch traps and has high light and humidity)
kongkadana
black knight
a couple others, but you get the gist

Plants that hated trays and don't get them are truncate, veitchii, pervillei and dyreana.

Most of my neps are in my greenhouse (shade cloth, misters), others are just in hanging pots in tree's watered by rain and a few are in my polyhouse here at uni.
I am also in tropical north QLD, so as I don't get many cold persistent temp swings rot has never been a real issue (except for crown rot but the tray would not cause this).
 
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  • #12
Nepenthes glabrata. It is an unrooted cutting I bought june 2013 and still won't make roots or pitchers or decent sized leaves.

I have a rooted cutting of glabrata, although mine makes leaves just fine, it hasn't decided to pitcher properly yet. Then again, I haven't had it for very long, so time will tell if it really is a diva or not
 
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  • #13
So far, I only grow lowlanders, and a few of them do very well for me, while others just don't.

My N. mirabilis (var globosa viking) pitchers like no tomorrow as long as I keep it happy, but one temperature spike, or one dry day, and it drops every pitcher it has, and takes a month to start over. I have had it about a year.

My N. ampullaria (Brunei spotted) grows at a decent (neither fast nor slow) pace, and seems to always pitcher for me.

My N. bicalcarata (Brunei orange clone) took a while to adjust, but is thriving now. Slow grower compared to more speedy neps like Ampullaria.

My N. bicalcarata (Sarawak giant) is both slow AND picky. Leaf/pitcher output is much slower than any other nep I have, and it is far less tolerant of spiking temperatures in the terrarium on hot days. A temp spike that doesn't phase the amp or the other bicalc will cause intense leaf burn and pitcher loss. Have had it only one year, and only 2 pitchers have ever formed.

Am thinking I need to divide up my tanks into a lowland tank that is warm and humid, and an Ultra Lowland that is HOT and humid.

So my Diva is the N. bicalcarata sarawak giant.
 
  • #14
Divas change throughout the year for me. talangensis did well for quite some time when I first got it, then summer came and now it's really only barely holding on. Song of Melancholy I am trying to reroot as it decided to go downhill and rot for no clear reason. Highland seedlings are a terrible pain; I've had jamban, lingulata, bongso, and izumiae all stay approximately the same size for over a year now. Oh, and an SG pectinata and the muluensis x lowii are painfully slow and reluctant to gain size....
 
  • #15
@ dragoness.......i don't believe your bicals will stay that way for very long unless it is chilly......once they get settled in not much can stop them.....they do not get tall, just big. lol.
 
  • #16
The diva in my tank is n. jacquelineae. I've only had it for a year but it hasn't increased in size at all. Unsure why it's being so picky since the other neps and helis in the tank seem to be doing fine. Talangensis throws out a pitcher on occasion and a newly acquired heli decided to flower. The jacqu just sits there mocking me.
 
  • #17
The diva in my tank is n. jacquelineae. I've only had it for a year but it hasn't increased in size at all. Unsure why it's being so picky since the other neps and helis in the tank seem to be doing fine. Talangensis throws out a pitcher on occasion and a newly acquired heli decided to flower. The jacqu just sits there mocking me.

I had my N. jacquelineae for a year and a half before it started to make good, strong growth and decent pitchers. Just FYI
 
  • #18
My Nepenthes burbidgeae x edwardsiana is a huge diva for me. When I first got it, it was doing fine.... for 3 months and producing fine pitchers but then it stopped on month 4. On month 5, a leave started to die and it wasn't putting out new growth. After I moved it into a bigger terrarium, with better air circulation and a misting system, it has been recovering. The new leaf it up out is incredibly small compared to the older leaves, but at least it isn't dead. I'm thinking about fertilizing it by putting some diluted Maxsea into the pitcher at the moment...
I could understand that some plants need to adapted to new conditions, but the ones I bought in the past, never had this problem. They all started to put out new leaves, make bigger pitchers and just explode with new growth.
 
  • #19
@whimgrinder didn't realize it could take that long. good to know!
 
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