Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Hello, ;)
Here are my efforts at outdoors CP growing in a desert region.
My minibog shows excellent progress. :)
From late spring or early summer:
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...o/IMG_8925.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...o/IMG_8927.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...o/IMG_8923.jpg
Now:
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9787.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9790.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9795.jpg
Now, for the new stuff:
An outdoors growrack.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9767.jpg
N. ventricosa - it's showing some sunburn in certain areas.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9768.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9769.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9780.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9782.jpg
Sarracenia seedlings, plastic bag removed:
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9783.jpg
N. sanguinea....It got eaten by a colorful grasshopper!
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9770.jpg
N. Lady Pauline - look at the leftmost leaf. It got eaten by the rainbow grasshopper! I was able to rescue it from the hungry insect just in time.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9778.jpg
D. capensis and D. binata
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9779.jpg
U. gibba
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9777.jpg
Cacti seedlings
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_9774.jpg
Jimmy :)

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Hi Jimmy

Very nice plants and quite a lot of variety at least more than mine.Do you mind stating your growing conditions???I checked a little about your weather there and it seems that it gets really cold at night..

Ken

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Ah, my growing conditions. Honestly, they change from day to day and by the hour. Right now, days are usually in the low 80s, spiking into the low 90s sometimes, while nights are between lows in the low 50s to the high 60s. Humidity is always naturally below 50%, usually around 35%, and breezes/gusts are common. Right now, I have no problems with my plants growing in these conditions, unless they are 'soft', low-light terrarium grown or TC plants.

But these conditions are only during autumn and spring. Winter and summer are completely different extremes.

The growrack was set up cautiosly with the onset of the cooler temps of autumn. I dare not set it up in the summer! Lol:laugh:

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Impressive plants, Jimmy! Living in a desert hasn't hindered your ability to grow Cps at all it looks like.

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Hi Jimmy

Wow suprisingly the weathers are quite suitable for highland neps outside except for the low humidity.Like Marigold said doesn't affect your ability to grow Cp's at all

Ken

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Thank you! I don't quite think it's my green thumb - I think it's just that CPs are hardier than they are given credit for. I'm really expanding my collection now, and moving on to some harder Neps....:)

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Wow!! Gorgeous plants!!

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Thank you!:laugh: Hopefully they are just the beginning of a great display of CPs! Now is the prime time to get highland Neps, because the temps permit shipping and the plants will have some time to harden off and prepare for the hot summer of next year.

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

:1thumbup: Wow..U really get many species of cps....
I more like N. ventricosa...it has beautiful and cute pitcher...I attract by their lovely colour of pitchers...look live red-orange...so lovely!!:tongue:

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Great plants!

May I know the diameter of your bog pot just so I can get an idea of the scale? I'm hoping to make a similar one (minibog) one of these days.

Next time you catch a grasshoppper, give it to a nep or if small enough to a VFT. My brother has been catching cute little grasshoppers in our garden and feeding them to his VFTs, I caught one and it ended up a pet for my kids for a few days then released.

TTFN
Arvin

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Thanks Harlem, I like to try my hands at everything that I can. :)

Arvin, Thank you too!

That bowl is about 18" across, and I used a mix of 1 part peat to 1 part perlite, with a thin top dressing of sphagnum, to prevent the peat from splashing all over the plants when it rains.

The grasshopperas around here are two inches long - or just big in general. :) Right now I have....'imprisoned' the insect, so I can get some pics, and just because it's so colorful. It would make an excellent display in my future "Large Bugs of New Mexico" entomology collection.

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Thanks for the info about the size Jimmy. Maybe you can get some big pitchering nepenthes and feed the hoppers to them in the future. Tit for Tat! :) You are interested in insects and then interested in plants that eat them :) Sort of me, interested in keeping fishes as pets but I like fishing too... well maybe not exactly the same situation there but.....

TTFN
Arvin

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

True Arvin, I'm interested in a lot of things - first it was garden plants, then insects, then tropical fish, then rocks and minerals, now chemistry, biology, CPs, and engineering - particularly aerospace engineering.

I've never quite lost interest in any of those fields. :)

And sure thing, soon I hope to have some large Neps that I can feed crickets and grasshoppers to!:laugh:

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Amazing plants! I didn't know nepenthes could survive in the areas of New Mexico but you have succeeded! Well, good luck in germinating more CPs. Try to grow pinguicula moranesis, i heard its from mexico too. Your nepenthes ventricosa looks healthy but give it a cooler daytime and I think it will be great. Congrats!

Cheers

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Thanks Ed! I'll be sure to try P. moranesis - I still need to get the hang of Pings. That good ol' ventricosa is too big for the windowsill, so I just put it outside in the growrack - and it grows! Day temps and relatively unfiltered sunlight are a couple problems that my setup has, but day temps are getting cooler, and the sun only gives it a mild case of sunburn. If it wasn't so leafy, hungry for light, and eager to tangle its pitchers in everything, I'd have it inside. :biggrin:

Thanks again!

Jimmy

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Mexican Pings are quite tough, they should do well somewhere there is a bit of filtered light. If you get hummingbirds around they will cross pollinate the flowers.

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

Thanks for the info, Khaos. :smile: Perhaps I'll be able to set up some shade cloth over a growrack next year....This rack is already pretty beat up, and winter is fast approaching. I'll look into Mexican Pings for next spring. In my area we get both hummingbirds and hummingbird moths that do excellent jobs of pollinating, if conditions are right. I never did figure out how to pollinate a P. primuliflora flower myself. :2thumbup:
Regards,
Jimmy

Re: Growing Outdoors in New Mexico
 

If you wanna get p.moranesis seeds, germinate them around the early spring. keep them damp outside, they do well in bright light. They like outside condition but don't roast them under afternoon sun. I don't know about winter, but they can stand maximum 40 degree farenheit during winter. Good luck, they give pretty flowers and hope your plants are growing well.:1thumbup:

Cheers