I have two plants that I have ordered from cpjungle.com, N.truncata highland version and N.truncata "Queen of Hearts" X "King of Spades" from seed. So far I haven't been able to reach this seller through email. I've sent my money and we'll see if there is anyone on the other side! I'll update with how the rest of my experience with cpjungle goes. I'm hoping they are just super busy and cant respond to emails very fast (it has been three days).
My other four plants came from cobraplant.com. These people are incredibly helpful, fast to respond, have relatively low prices, and ship their plants very fast and secure. I would advise buying from them if you need anything they have!
Friday, September 10, 2010
My Plants
N.boschania X densiflora, arrived in August 2010. The leaves that are turned away have a similar red coloring to the pitchers shown. Two pitchers with a third starting on the other side.
N.singalana, arrived august 2010. This plant has two pitchers and it has three (possibly a fourth) growing on it.
N.miranda (possibly a X I've lost the tag :( ) This plant and the next one are the ones that survived three weeks without water. The sanguinea shows much more wear from the experience than the miranda. You can see here now that I have it in proper lighting the leaves are darkening and there is a red tint starting to show through. They should continue to redden. It has two potential pitchers starting up. Arrived around Feb. 2010
N.sanguinea , arrived around feb. 2010. You can see the deformed leaves and the spotting from when it basically died off. It shot that new leaf straight up right after I started watering it and then started another new leaf before it stopped completely. It isn't growing very much at all now but at least it isn't dieing yet!
I have two 55 watt compact fluorescent lights (300 watt equiv each) that I have on between 10-12 hours a day. I have no windows that would provide enough light so I have these on at night and I keep the plants in this corner of the room where they receive little to no light to simulate a "night" time. I taped black duct tape on two sheets of foil to create a sturdy reflective wall so I'm not blinded by these lights while I am still awake. I take it down during the day so it isn't too ugly... it also serves to reflect more of the light back onto the plants. My first version didn't have the duct tape and the foil wore out pretty quick. This version can be folded up and put in a corner without too much degradation of the foil.
I put the shorter plants on extra pots to raise them up to the level of the other plants so they all receive approximately the same amount of light. The tips of the lights are between 5-7 inches above the highest part of the plant.
Terrariums... no...no...no. Oh... and let your plants adjust
Small spaces....sealed walls....heat...light..... = mold = sick plants. For a large portion of nepenthes (some lowlanders excluded) they can be acclimated to low humidity areas, a lot make great house plants. A lot of places in the US you can actually have these plants outside in hanging pots or planted directly in the ground!! Just make sure they have the correct light and soil. When you put these plants in terrariums you add a lot of negative potentials for an unnecessary benefit.
When you get your plant in the mail it will most likely be in some form of container. Depending on how you get your plant shipped to you you have a few options for acclimating your plant. If your plant came potted it probably has some form of clear plastic container over the plant itself (if not you can make one out of a clear plastic disposable cup). A good/easy way to allow your plant to adjust is two punch 4-6 holes in the clear container, and every week add another few holes until the cup isn't needed anymore. Depending on how big of a change your plant is having you can extend the process by adding less holes and/or extending the time between adding new holes.
If your plant is shipped to you bare root you will probably want to pot it in an appropriately sized pot and the correct soil mix. Some people use only long fiber sphagnum moss. You can duplicate the process with the plastic cup by putting the potted plant (or if your plant came with moss wrapped around the roots you can just put the whole thing into a bag) and close the plastic bag over the pot and plant. Similar to punching holes in the cup you can slowly open the bag until the plant is completely uncovered/adjusted. Make sure to get your plant the right amount of light even when it is still adjusting!
Nepenthes have fragile root systems. Particularly young plants. When potting a bare root plant be very careful with the roots or you could lose your plant. This is why in some cases if your plant shows up with moss wrapped around the roots it is best to just leave the moss there and either bag the whole plant + moss for the adjustment period, or plant the root with the moss still intact so you don't accidentally break off any fragile roots.
When you get your plant in the mail it will most likely be in some form of container. Depending on how you get your plant shipped to you you have a few options for acclimating your plant. If your plant came potted it probably has some form of clear plastic container over the plant itself (if not you can make one out of a clear plastic disposable cup). A good/easy way to allow your plant to adjust is two punch 4-6 holes in the clear container, and every week add another few holes until the cup isn't needed anymore. Depending on how big of a change your plant is having you can extend the process by adding less holes and/or extending the time between adding new holes.
If your plant is shipped to you bare root you will probably want to pot it in an appropriately sized pot and the correct soil mix. Some people use only long fiber sphagnum moss. You can duplicate the process with the plastic cup by putting the potted plant (or if your plant came with moss wrapped around the roots you can just put the whole thing into a bag) and close the plastic bag over the pot and plant. Similar to punching holes in the cup you can slowly open the bag until the plant is completely uncovered/adjusted. Make sure to get your plant the right amount of light even when it is still adjusting!
Nepenthes have fragile root systems. Particularly young plants. When potting a bare root plant be very careful with the roots or you could lose your plant. This is why in some cases if your plant shows up with moss wrapped around the roots it is best to just leave the moss there and either bag the whole plant + moss for the adjustment period, or plant the root with the moss still intact so you don't accidentally break off any fragile roots.
A note on water
First of don't over water. For my nepenthes in their specific soil composition (1 part peat moss, 1 part silica sand, 1 part perlite) I water once a week or as needed. I found they are most happy if I wait to water until the soil is JUST starting to feel dry to the touch. Do not let the soil completely dry or even become mostly dry or you will have very unhappy plants. A few months ago I was in the process of moving and in the rush forgot my first two nepenthes (my only two at the time) and they didn't get water for three weeks!!!! As soon as I got back to them I watered them and they are finally looking pretty recovered. The N.miranda recovered almost instantly and is now thriving and just starting to produce new pitchers. The N.sanguinea started to put out a new leaf and then just stopped doing anything all together. I'm taking it as a good sign that it at least isn't visibly dieing...
Don't over water!!! nepenthes are highly susceptible to root rot. Nepenthes naturally live in aerated well draining soil and you should try to duplicate this as noted above. Growers have their own soil mixes but as long as the soil is low in nutrients, and provides proper drainage it should be ok (peat moss of some sort is a very common part of the mix, as is coconut fiber bark). I can't vouch for my soil mix because I just transplanted my first plants into the soil mixture and I won't be seeing any negative effects for a while yet if there will be in.
Water should not be hard! Most people advise using distilled water or rain water. However most beginner plants are pretty forgiving. I personally use my tap water but my local tap water is not hard at all (granted it is harder than rain water and distilled water...). Would my plants grow better if I didn't use tap water??? I can't tell as I haven't tried it yet. Maybe I should try it and see if they grow even better! But it isn't always needed with nepenthes as they can be pretty hardy, especially the beginner plants.
Don't over water!!! nepenthes are highly susceptible to root rot. Nepenthes naturally live in aerated well draining soil and you should try to duplicate this as noted above. Growers have their own soil mixes but as long as the soil is low in nutrients, and provides proper drainage it should be ok (peat moss of some sort is a very common part of the mix, as is coconut fiber bark). I can't vouch for my soil mix because I just transplanted my first plants into the soil mixture and I won't be seeing any negative effects for a while yet if there will be in.
Water should not be hard! Most people advise using distilled water or rain water. However most beginner plants are pretty forgiving. I personally use my tap water but my local tap water is not hard at all (granted it is harder than rain water and distilled water...). Would my plants grow better if I didn't use tap water??? I can't tell as I haven't tried it yet. Maybe I should try it and see if they grow even better! But it isn't always needed with nepenthes as they can be pretty hardy, especially the beginner plants.
Questions, answers, and happy plants
I started growing my first two nepenthes about 9 months ago and have had several questions come up and I've made a few mistakes along the way. I've learned from my mistakes and I hope to help you learn from mine as well!
My first two nepenthes were N.miranda ( It might be a miranda X ? I lost the identification tag shortly after getting it) and N.sanguinea.
I recently purchased N.singalana and N.boschiana X densiflora.
All of the plants I purchased were very young as I found larger plants cost a small fortune for a poor college student...I will take pictures of where they are now and give their approximate ages and growing conditions. Until recently my first two plants were not receiving enough light. They were growing fine but their color was off, they were very pale green when they should have been darker green and red.
Feel free to ask any questions and I will try my best to answer or at least to point you in the direction of some proper experts. I am not an expert, I would say I am just leaving the "beginner" class in that I have done a lot of research and grown at least two plants for about a year. Don't take my word for it on anything! Use google... it is your friend. Also the people at cobraplant.com have wonderful care sheets for various carnivorous plants I advise checking out their site. This blog is strictly a documentation of my experience growing carnivorous plants and I will do my best to share what I learn.
Feel free to ask any questions and I will try my best to answer or at least to point you in the direction of some proper experts. I am not an expert, I would say I am just leaving the "beginner" class in that I have done a lot of research and grown at least two plants for about a year. Don't take my word for it on anything! Use google... it is your friend. Also the people at cobraplant.com have wonderful care sheets for various carnivorous plants I advise checking out their site. This blog is strictly a documentation of my experience growing carnivorous plants and I will do my best to share what I learn.
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