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Cold Neps

Does any one have any ideas on how to grow cold loving neps in florida?I've heard about geting a box freezer and grow them in it with the temp. turened up(since freezers can normally freeze water) but I want to see what else there is.
 
Highland Nepenthes in Florida, such an enticement. Here we are in the most tropical zone in the continental USA, and those beautiful and fantastic highland species go belly up after one of our hot, humid summers.
After some serious considerations, there are basically two ways to grow highland Neps in Florida: 1. build a highland chamber and grow them under lights using a refrigeration unit controlled by a timer or set-back thermostat. 2. Build an air conditioned or refrigerated greenhouse type of structure, taking advantage of Florida's high percentage of sunny days and relatively high humidity.
Both options are expensive, with option #2 being really expensive.
I did not mention using swamp pads and evaporative cooling in a greenhouse because they do not lower night temps enough during the summer to grow many of the highlanders you see pictured here at the forum. Swamp coolers are kind of a third option, and probably some of the lower montane species would do okay if you placed them down at the pad end of the greenhouse, and if you ran the system at night. Species like ventricosa, maxima, fusca, faizaliana, veitchii, reinwardtiana, some forms of sanguinea and ramispina could all survive (some may even thrive)a Florida summer by growing near swamp cooler pads.
Options 1 and 2 would allow you to grow the majority of highland species.
Hope this is helpful.

Trent
Boca Raton, Florida
 
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