Lots of questions!

[trashcan]

Hello all,

I have a ton of questions, so everyone bear with me.

1) Its currently 9.1c in my highland terrarium (!). Recently it has only been getting down to 14-15c with two frozen water bottles, so I included all of them, instead of the usual cycling. Is this too cold? My higland growlist is at the bottom of this post.

2) Are my lowlanders desperately in need of repotting? Most of them are in the 2.5" PFT pots, except for my truncata, and one of my ampullaria. My rafflesianias have leaves about 4-5", and my ampullaria have about 6" leaves. My ventrata has 8" leaves, and is in a 3" pot.

3) Is is true that highlanders have smaller root systems? I, of course, don't want to dig them out and investigate, and put them in shock. My highland plants are a little smaller (diameter-wise), so I don't think they need to be repotted, but I could be wrong. Pictures available if needed.

4) Is it ok if my lowland terrarium drops to say 20c at night? Humidity is maintained in both aqariums at no less than 70%.

Highland growlist
NN. ventricosa, x judith finn, tentaculata, spectabilis, and macfarlenei.

 

[lithopsman]

Hello,


1) That sure doesn't sound too cold, but just watch the plants to make sure.

2) I can't say for sure, it would help to have pictures...

3) I don't think so, and in some cases, I feel that it is quite the opposite, because when highland plants have roots, boy do they have roots!!

4) Most likely that is fine, but particular species could be more/less tolerant of those temps. It really depends on what you grow.

I hope that helped!! GOOD LUCK!!

 

[The Griffin]

As far as # 2, I think they probably could be repotted. It certainly couldn't hurt. Some growers won't go below a 4" pot for the smallest Neps. If your ventrata is 16" in diameter, it might enjou a 6" pot.
Actually, I would love to see some pics of that one. You are doing a great job to get it that huge in pots of that size.

Regards,

Joe

 

[trashcan]

Thanks for the advice and kind words...

Here is the ventrata:

Here is the second newest leaf, measured (the newest one is a little bit larger, but the picture came out too dark):

 

[lithopsman]

Hello,
The ventrata certainly could use a bigger pot, but the other plants in the terrarium look fine... GOOD LUCK and GREAT GROWING!!

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Your temperature for your grow chambers sound ok. Would like to see the lowland warmer particularly at night. BUT in my experience as long as the day temperature with the lowlands is nice and toasty they can deal with cool nights. Prolonged periods of cold, day and night and they would be really unhappy.

Repotting is a matter of preference. I have not noticed lowland vs highland having different size root masses. Some species over another yes. Personally I like smaller pots as long as the plant is growing well and healthy. Chances for overwatering are less and I can fit more plants in lol. Your own growing conditions would dictate the size pot needed also. For instance growing lots of plants outdoors where humidity might be lower and air movement fairly strong would require a larger pot to hold more moisture. Otherwise the pots might dry too quickly and a watering missed.
Tony

 

[trashcan]

OK, I will keep that in mind. The reason the lowlands were getting so cool at night is because I opened the window to cool the room (for the highland terrarium). But since the extra water bottles helped so much, I think that I can leave it closed - and keep the lowlands at 25-27, at least.

And what do you consider good, toasty temperature?

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Lowland toasty? 30c or warmer. If they will be 25c at night and warmer in the day they should be happy campers.

Tony

 

[trashcan]

Yep, they definitely will be at least 25 at night. I have been working on something to cool it a bit in the day, because it has gotten as high as 32c. Probably will end up poking some holes in the suffocating saran wrap.