personally weird and obscure...
 

Ok. I understand that this forum was made for cp lovers in malaysia and all the other and only places nepenthes grow. What kinda upsets me is most all of u can just plant a nepenthes,acclimate if its a stupid HIGHLAND, and whalla. U act as though ppl from US do so much better with CPs.yeah, we have the venusflytrap,it moves.only found in pretty much one place....whooopy. THen U guys, get to live in a damn jungle infested with nepenthes(and poachers) U get all the adventure. Sorry, just needed to rant that out. U can grow any climate of nep high int or low, u live where they originated ppl, be a little smarter!!

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

Ok, here's my observations...

We are stil relatively new to the cultivation of Nepenthes in Malaysia. The interest only started about 10 years ago, at least thats when we started to hear about Nepenthes and CP enthusists in Malaysia. This is because information about them and culitvated plants were not available. You cannot find any reading material on neps in bookshops.

Neps were also considered by many as roadside weeds and there is this misconception that these are jungle plants. If you try to cultivate them at home they will surely die. Another famous misconception is that Nepenthes only grows in the highlands where it is cold. Hope you can see how misinformed we are or perhaps how uninformed we are.

Credit must go to 3 sources, ie. Charles Clarke, Ch'ien Lee and Malesiana Tropicals for starting the ball rolling in Malaysia. A lot of us come to know about Nepenthes through Charles Clarke's Books. Ch'ien's work in MT at that time also gave publicity to the hobby. When it all started MT was the only source of tissue culture Neps and cultivation information for many of us. Of course later PetPicther came into the picture with the aim of providing information and a place for enthusists to meet and discuss about their plants.

We cannot ignore the fact that there are aslo alot of enthusiasts who have been growing these plants for a much longer time in Malaysia. However, some of them have a mentality like that of orchid growers in Malaysia, who are very secreative about their cultivation information. Perhaps they fear others would grow better plants than them. They will not share information but may check out the forum to get wahtever information they want. It is like the Chinese saying... "kiki ku kiki" which means (direct traslation)... "ownself take care of ownself". There is also the mentality of "what-can-I-get-out-of-it". Whay should I share my hard earn inforamtion and efforts? There are also some who feel that a Malaysian forum is not worth their time as the discussion here is not as educational or shallow as compared to discussions in overseas forum. If everybody thinks like this, we will never progress.

There is also another group of these veterans in Nep cultivation who are not familier with the English language or unfamilier with the internet or forums. As such we do not read or hear from them on the forum. You can only talk to them in person, and I can tell you they do grow huge robust plants and there is no doubt about their knowledge and experiecne in growing Neps.

I think sometimes because we live where Nepenthes grow naturally, we feel we do not need to experiment much to get the plants growing well for us. This can be a good thing or bad. Bad in a way that (example) we will not check the humidity etc for the plant as they just thrive in our gardens. But for growers, lets say in USA, you guys got to monitor all these factors like heat, sunlight, humidity, etc. So you guys would have more knowledge on these things. However, I think this should not be an excuse for us and I hope we can all encourage enthusists to equip themselves with more knowledge and experience.

Don't talk about enthusiats from countries far and wide. Somehow, enthusiats from our neighbouring country such as Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia seem to be more advance in this hobby compared to us in Malaysia. I personally feel ashame because these plants grows in my "backyard".

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

agree, be who you are, not to copy what you want to be, appreciate what you have rather than admiring what others' have...

For so long that I've seen majority of Malaysian aren't Malaysian, all trying to be some one else, totally photocopying of some one with a different culture, try to act as if he or she is totally from another part of the world, sadly, it happens to majority, a lost of identity and a lost of origins, that's how most people are about, admiring and jealousy about what is popular, following those trend, end up abandoning jewels in area we reside, going for the treasure of others, that's what most people are, either in the same way or different perspective...cultivating nep which is far from it's origination is just a small part of the bigger picture...

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

neps are tropical plants thriving from lowlands to highlands with varying temperature esp in the evening.

H/L neps will survive in lowland but the leaves and pitchers growth will be small,short and stunted. Too much lowland heat they will dry up and die.

Lowlanders can't take the cold H/L temp.

acclimatised for lowland neps to highland or the later to lowland conds doesn't help to make a healthy plant. They will survive but as i mentioned earlier will be small,short and stunted.

we grow lowlanders in the open natural conds but highlanders will need an enclosed greenhouse supported by misters and cooling air-cond unit and that mean having the $s to spend.

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

As far as I know, to run and maintain a "cool" terrarium or enclosure 24/7/365 in tropical weather will cost an arm and a leg. It's much more expensive to cool down than to heat up....

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

all well said and done, we have managed to achieved what we are now and we should be proud of that achievement.....so what? we are dealing with mother nature.....the message that i would like to get it across is, things might be easy when we look at it, be humble, as questions, shares information, share your thought wisely, we are born the same, not more,not less. flora tends to acclimatise slowly, so do human and animals, we can communicate, floras dont! CPs dont comes cheap, unless somebody wanna give us free......although we might trampled on it in the jungle floor or pissed on it by the roadside, they are unique, that is why we treasure them.
just my humble thought, no offends! :2thumbup:

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

I really feel what both of ya have to say. Thank you for not being mad at me, as i was a little frustrated. So in a way this forum is pretty much a tome for u...i will continue to share my experience =) i wish i could show all of u that u can grow any nepenthes. its silly. villosa and rajah,very slow and finicky, gets along in an atmosphere with sanguinea. I dont monitor anything except water levels in the bottom trays(for humididty) and light. Feed them an organic fertalizer. IMPORTANT. look for one that states it is made from crushed up shellfish; and wont burn foliage. i use this stuff called alaskan organic, wont feed them any thing else. anyways u all have a happy growing time =P vin~

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

... Humans were the only things to be given choice. That means we change whenever WE make the choice. And plants acclimatize easily;MAKE THE CHOICE THAT IT IS. The phrase 'yes i can' is 10 times more powerful than 'i cant'. If u believe u can, your mind will only belive in itsself. Watch the movie called 'The Secret" good stuff. Works everyday. But u have to feel greatful instead of sorry. So im to understand that a highland plant experiences lower temps, cuz of the altitude the plant lives in. So you are telling me you cant grow high lands, but lowlands; and i grow high lands, but not lowlands? I grow low med and high in the same atmosphere( and i will probably mention this a million more times) with only one plant, bicalcarata, still showing signs of acclimating. Hope this helps:biggrin:

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

It depends on the atmosphere you are growing all your plants (highland, intermediate, lowland) compared to us in Malaysia. Your lowland atmosphere may be different from our lowland atmosphere in Malaysia. The conditions in Malaysia may be humid but it is also very hot. We do get dry spells as well. Your plants may not experience these high temperatures in USA. Also, just because we live in Malaysia, a country with a tropical rainforest, it does not mean we are physically living in the forest. Alot of our plants are in the city or urban areas where we live. If you live in a concrete jungle like Kuala Lumpur, the atmosphere again will be different. The air is hot and dry.

Most lowland plants can be grown in a cooler environment. I have seen lowland species growing superbly in Cameron Highlands in an enthusiat's nursery. But ultra highland plants do not thrive in lowland conditions in Malaysia that well. Like Robert said, the leaves and pitchers will be small and stunted.

However, there are exceptions to the "rule". I know of growers who grows sanguinea and ramispina well under lowland conditions in Malaysia with huge pitchers on the plants. But so far I have not heard of anyone growing those ultra highland plants well under lowland conditions. Species like rajah, lowii, microvulgaris, macfarlanei, tentaculata, etc. I use to have a tentaculata that took months to acclimatise to my lowland conditions. It gave me growth and lots of pitchers but the plant is stunted and pitchers are small. You won't get football size pitchers from N. rajah if you grow in lowland conditions.

I think it also depends on the clone or individual plant. Just like humans and animals, some are born stronger than others while others are born with natural skills or capabilities, etc.

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

i might got the message wrongly, we are comparing orange and 'durian' here. in a laymen sentence, how i wish to grow tulips and carnations for mothers day in the chiller box without costing me electricity.....or you grow a mangosteen tree in your backyard and harvest the goodness of tropical fruits without building a greenhouse over it and heat up during winter months.
we shall take your advice more positively and to be more daring in growing our neps. :tongue:

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

Vincent,
I think if you said none of us in the tropics (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore & Thailand) never tried growing H/L plants, then you're wrong... :smile: The results were usually poor, with neps growing smallish pitchers (best case scenario without plant dying). Intermediate neps however are more forgiving to be grown in L/L tropical weather with good results. With all this being said, there will be always some exception.... :tongue:

From my little experience of growing nepenthes, I have found only a handful of intermediate to H/L nep species that can do some what ok in L/L tropical weather. However, hybrids of intermediates or H/L nep with L/L species will be very adaptable to L/L tropical weather.

Most temperate countries have weather pattern similar to intermediate condition hence IMHO have more flexibility in terms of growing nep species or hybrids from wider temperature range with better results. :smile:

FYI, most of the nep growers in L/L tropical weather region kept the plants outdoor hence most of the plant will experience what mother nature will provide directly without any sort of shelter (at most some shade) be it sun or non stop tropical monsoon downpour... :sweating:

I get what you're trying to convey and encourage and your intention is good, it's always good to have someone remind and push us for we can move forward... thanks. :1thumbup:

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

lol that was a good one xD David, didnt mean to sound like malaysia was just a tuft of jungle, and u are right. We have very different climates here, for i experience about 9 ft of snow every winter where i live lol. Its kinda easy, I fill my atomizer up with ice cubes and refrigerated distilled water, and give all my plants a spray in one whack.They have trays that dont touch the pots under them to catch excess water, thus creating a never ending evaporating ponds;keeps humidity above aleast 60% im guessing. None of my nepenthes can survive outside in the summer, except for sanguinea its 5 cuttlings, they have survived our scorching dry sun! I guess all in all, i try to keep temp,humidity,etc. at 60%-70%. You then can grow ultra high and lowlands, cuz the ultra lowlands maximum is the ultra lowlands minimum. get it? And Kevyn, thats right! Think more positive, and damn it be daring! Dont think about it as being irrational, as i know thats what probably just went through your mind, think of it as you are being open minded, and know that you can accomplish anything. Plants are easier, cuz they dont think, they do. They have the power to rip through concrete foundations and rip down houses, and eat living creatures!Adapt? that depends on you. Once they leave that nursery and get put in a box its all up to us to give it the care it needs. The thing is, its getting a whole new different set up, so it doesnt matter really where its gonna go, its gonna sit in a plastic bubble with some water in it and acclimate. After a good 4 days poke some holes in the bag with a fork,once,every day for the next week till you can start taking the bubble off every few hours a day. Next plans, where to put it? in your collection. But what if it likes it a little colder and its hot? distilled water ice cubes. And if you have a spray bottle, put some in there and mist the plants. I have my plants by a gaping east facing window, so it stays farely cold in the winter. luckily there is a heater right there so it doesnt go down past 62%.Sorry, i would go on, but got off work, its 4 20 am here, and im la tired lol. caio

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

if H/L and L/L neps adapt and grows with ease in the tropical lowland then i would expect wild neps migrate in either direction long ago, and expect an explosion of various hybrid or perhaps new species. But no they've a limit to their growth zone.

As David mention your location may be suitable for growing both L/L and H/L under the same conds. This can't be disputed. A year round intermediate temp averaging 24°C with average humidity 65% was conducive for most neps. This time of the year in the tropics( Borneo at least ) enjoy cool rainy day, high humidity and night temp 25°C. Neps that grow in the intermediate zone tended to do well until march when the hot dry monsoon approaches.

Thanks for bringing up this topic, Vincent. This encourage tropical growers to seek growing in another dimension.

Can you post your plants in another thread for all to share:1thumbup:

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

you guys are cool =p

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

i rest my case and leave it to the Experts...........:laugh::laugh::laugh:

Re: personally weird and obscure...
 

girly voice,"This house is cleahr!" lmao