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Nepenthes feeding

  • #121
I've tried feeding some of my other plants with different brands of slow release fertilizer and thus far, my HL truncata has showed some amazing results. It's newest leaf is almost 2 times as big as the others  
smile_k_ani_32.gif

To the weekend I might be able to take some pictures of it.


One of my lowii's I fed earlier has also had some good results but nothing like the truncata.


To the weekend I am also going to install my new lighting system. I was going to buy a 400W MH but had to go with a much cheaper HPS 400W. Anyway that should encourage the plants to grow a little better.


Hopefully I will also receive my platychila and vogelii to the weekend. Man, I'm gonna love this weekend.
 
  • #122
I find that odd that Neps would like fertilizer.
 
  • #123
How come they wouldn't like fertilizer?
They need the nutrients.
 
  • #124
alot of people use osmocote.

i foliar feed with orchid fertilizer.
 
  • #125
[b said:
Quote[/b] (RTB @ June 08 2005,12:20)]How come they wouldn't like fertilizer?
They need the nutrients.
They get the nutrients from bugs and are not use to fertilizer.
 
  • #126
Neps are one of the few carnivorous plants that can benefit from a light fertilizing. I have seen definite improvement in my Nepenthes when I have fertilized them. Small, spotted, yellowish leaves where replace with larger green leaves when I fertilized. Too much fertilizer can result in a plant not pitchering though.
 
  • #127
Well my plants does not get enough nutrients from the few bugs they catch. That's easy to tell there for I think fertilizer is a good substitute. The plants have been much healthier since I started using slow release fertilizer.
 
  • #128
The reason we all say no to fertilizer is to make everything easier.. it's alot easier and safer to not use fertilizer than use it without knowledge of whether or not it will be good for it.
 
  • #129
Hehehe, I always love this topic. Right now i'm just giving my neps betta pellots since the pitchers are all still pretty small. What I used to feed them was flake food, but pellots seem to not cover the inside of the pitcher as well as the flake food so it's easier to just drop in the fluid. The thing that really showed a difference while I was doing it though was the extra guppy from breeding that just wouldn't have made it too much longer in the tank.
smile_n_32.gif
 
  • #130
About the whole milk thing..I wonder if you could feed them with a very very diluted protien drink?
You know those you drink when you are lifting weights to build muscels.
Or maybe egg? they are high in protein..
 
  • #131
Plants have adapted to grown from insects as well as nutrients found at their roots. Stck with a method that they have evolved with.

I like to use and depend on liquid fertilizer like GrowMore Liquid Seaweed Extract and stuff like Peter's soluble. They can obtain nutrients directly from their tissue and leaf surfaces. Roots can also pick nutrients and help advance seedlings of selected clones.

M
 
  • #132
Fertilizer is more than NPK you know.  they contain many of the controversial micronutrients like magnesium, calcium, manganese, molybdenum, cobalt, zinc, copper, iron, and so forth.  yeah bugs can supply SOME of their nitrogen, but fertilizers have it in ready-to-use form for immediate use.  bugs need to be digested and work with a compatable fungus and then bacteria breaks it down further, then what's left is for the plant's needs.  Yawn.... Well I guess I can't wait that long and I'll just fertilize it, I know I'll see the results three times as fast and always a sure thing!  No deadly burns from fertilizer use, unlike the turning of pitchers from unNATURAL food stuffs like betta pellets, fish flakes and milk (double yawning.... is there any sense of this NATURAL -talk B.S.).  Yeah, mine catches bugs when there are decent traps produced but will be fed to make bigger traps on their next leaves from fertilizers alone!

All this and I didn't have to feed a single tuna to it!  Big Sigh of laziness here!  Oh well I fertilize and plants grow!  
nep4043.jpg
 
  • #133
Fertilizer can give impressive results. Particularly with low nutrient potting mixes and very pure water sources. There are drawbacks however, and unless you happen to have a grow area where the plants can be flushed regularly, it may not be the best option. If I were growing in an enclosed chamber indoors and anything that went into the system remained, then I would be hesitant to introduce inorganic fertilizers.

In the past I had attempted to feed my greenhouse plants with freezedried insects and a variety of other things via the pitchers. The proper food on a steady basis will work as well as inorganic fertilizers. But it does need to be done fairly frequently and steadily and the results take longer to see. With very large collections and high densities of plants it became impractical however trying to keep up.

My concern is the hobby grower with a terrarium/grow chamber that is using soilless potting mix, pure water and NEVER feeds anything! Plants need food or they will simply eat themselves to death trying to continue growing.

Tony
 
  • #134
The soy bean is an example of a plant that makes its own food, especially able to pull nitrogen from the air and use it for growth. Yet farmers want a good yield so even though they're capable of producing their own food, farmers still fertilize them!

Results from fertilizing is great! There are brands which do burn though (Miracle Grow, Miracid, and some unknown cheapo brands) but when used in a rate that works for you (experiment) and wih frequency the plants adapt and toughen themselves up due to that. I like Peter's, GrowMore Liquid seaweed, many of the hydroponic blends, and stuff made especifically for delicate species. If you are growing them in a chamber, be sure to remove your plants from that system and flush withg regular water. My plants get drip and mist/sprayed with water on a daily basis so residues and toxicity levels are nonexistent but for those who don't flush it out, accumulation will result. Your media should also be very drainable/porous. In a soiless media you are essentially growing your plants hydroponically.

Seedling plants require the most nutrients to develop properly. Lacking these would be the difference of a plant that is retarded or a plant that would be considered super!
Larger more established plants may not need as much fertilizing but supplemental fertilizers do help.

Michael
 
  • #135
I've read some posts about what to use to feed neps. I decided to try the koi fish food. I purchased a small bag of Laguna Goldfish & Koi Fish Food - floating medium food pellets. It states that the ingredients are: fishmeal, soyabean meal, wheat flour, rice flour, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, Ascorbic acid (source of Vitamin C), Ethoxyquin (as a preserver). The analysis is: 29% crude protein, 3% crude fat, 8% crude fiber, 8% moisture, 9% ash, 1300 IU/Kg Vitamin A, 260 IU/kg Vitamin D3, 13 IU/kg Vitamin E, 35 mg/lb Ascorbic acid.

Can anyone tell me if this would be ok? If not, what should I be
looking for? If needed, I can still take it back...I've been holding
onto the receipt.

Thanks,
Dwight
 
  • #136
Could one just "fertilize" a nep with tap water every now and then? I mean, it has all kinds of things in it we're trying to supplement. I always have a big bucket of dechlorinated tap water for fish tanks and it seems like it would make sense to pour a little bit of it in the pot every now and then (and even dilute it with RO water) to reintroduce some nutrients. I guess it's an issue of how much the roots are capable of absorbing.
 
  • #137
Fourteen pages and I think a readers digest version is needed.
Feed your Nepenthes
[ ] once a week
[ ] twice a week
[ ] once every two weeks
[ ] once a month
Food you can give your Nepenthes
[ ] Nothing nature does it (provided your plants actually get nature)
[ ] Koi Pellets
[ ] Mealworms
[ ] Beetles
[ ] Flies
[ ] milk dilluted
[ ] ex wife / girlfriend or husband / boyfriend
[ ] other, Please Describe


I fertilize my Nepenthe
[ ] Yes
[ ] No

Quantity of Food
How many bugs/pellets(place x's over the one that does not apply per pod do you feed your Nepenthe"
[ ] 1-3
[ ] 4-6
[ ]7-9
[ ] 10-20
[ ] 21 +
How much dilluted milk do you give your Nepenthe per pod
[ ] 1-10 cc
[ ] 11-25cc
[ ] teaspoon
[ ] tablespoon
[ ] More, describe

Place x's in the boxes that apply. If needed create a new box , but keep it simple. My brain melted trying to asorb all the of the info here.

Sincerely,
Brendhan
 
  • #138
I feed mine with crickets.
Every time a new pitcher opes I put a cricket or 2 in it. Probably up to 4-5 when they get large enough.
I sometimes give them meal worms to.
I dont use chemical fertilizers.
 
  • #139
Well, I can tell you that my S. purpurea catches a TON of bugs during summer, believe it or not. It catches wasps, flies, and llittle rolly polly bugs. (It also smells like crud after a while.)

(Replying to Flip_Side_the_Pint on the bottom of page 6)

Hmmm....selcon. That's a marine fish food.
12515458.jpg

Dunno if it'll work. Might as well try. The only kind of fish food I ever used was Nutrafin Max Complete Flake Food; "For All Tropical Fish". My cape sundew loves 'em.
smile_n_32.gif
 
  • #140
Here is some pic of my plants after they have been fed for a month.
All exactly every nep in my tank has been fed and has leately started to grow huge leaves.

this shows that regular feeding with crickets works to ;)









 
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