Growing My N.Northiana
 

This is my northiana when I bought it from Fauzi on 4th April 2010 (Sunday)

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A great beauty from Fauzi, I thank him a lot! :1thumbup: After that, I repotted my northiana in the same pot, this time with perlite, charcoal and some limestone(this limestone i got from the side of the road near my school). Accidently ripped out some roots during the transplant :blush: but otherwise, hopefully it will thrive.

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The stone that I am using is not confirmed to be limestone. My science teacher told me that limestone is used for building roads and covering ground. I boiled the limestone in water for 10 minutes :tongue: to get rid of any bacteria or dirt. Right now, I am testing it out. Also added a pellet of fertilizer to the media to assist in the north adapting to the media.

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

My northiana same size as yours but the pitcher very tiny:spinning:

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Great info on transplanting your northiana Edward!!! So far very few people locally would have used this media mix but no updates on how theirs are doing. This plant looks much more robust than the other one with the fern garden eh? *biggrin2*. Will be keeping track on its progress, thanks for sharing!!

Alvin

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

actually, where you all get the perlite from local nurseries? If do, what is the common name of them?? If buy at ace hardware, how much does it cost??

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Alvin, thanks for you comments, :blush:.

Allen, I don't think it's easy to get perlite at local nurseries. I have yet to find one that sells perlite. Ace hardware sells a bag of perlite for about RM8-10, I think so.

Over this weekend, I am going to attempt an extremely complex media that I bet not many people have tried yet. I'm trying to imagine how northiana's habitat would be like, and to mimic it.

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Edward, the perlite are not properly mixed, though it doea no harm.

I have tried using different media:
pure clay pellets, burnt earth, perlite 60% + peat, perlite 60% + sphagnum moss and pure peat - all don't show negative effect. Only need to be careful with pure peat ie water only when it looks dried. Too wet the roots wil rot.

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

It's mainly because N. northiana acclimatise very slowly to changes. For me, it'll take at least 4 months before I can see my northies start to pitcher after I repotted them. That's not counting if the growing condition is not ideal... :sweating:

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Now you can even but perlite in some supermarket. Like this one
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Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Wow.....too bad my place won't have these thing.....porably, lazy to search, will try luck at Tesco next time, haha

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Thanks for informing me, Robert. For some reason, perlite tends to go to the bottom first with the charcoal and limestone on top. Plus, the pot was really small, so it was hard to mix it.

Now, I am wondering whether this is a good media. I have heard and hypothesised that northiana grows in gaps inside limestone cliffs. I doubt that N.northiana grows directly on hard limestone. Most probably there should be some ferns, peat or moss growing and decomposing, thus becoming a media for N.northiana to grow in. Therefore, I intend to prepare a very complex media to mimic northiana's environment......

1st layer-a bedrock of big sized limestone at the bottom of the 6 1/2 inch deep pot. Most probably will fill it up to about 1/3 or half of the pot.

2nd layer-small pieces of limestone, some charcoal, a little bit of perlite and peat moss. I believe that maybe sphagnum moss might have grown on broken pieces of small limestone and overtime, decompose to form a small layer of peat moss.

3rd layer-a few strands of LFS, lesser amount of limestone and charcoal compared to the second layer, peat moss, tree bark, dead ferns. The third layer as I imagine, is where ferns and some other plants grow on top of the decomposed peat moss which acts as a media.

4th layer-a few strands of LFS, more dead ferns, tree bark, no peat moss, a few limestone and dead leaves. The further growth of ferns and moss on the 3rd layer which has decomposed.

5th layer-a few strands of LFS, dead ferns, tree bark, limestone and dead leaves. The part where I imagine N.northiana grows on.

Altogether, I think that this MAY be the environment that N.northiana grows in. Perhaps when northiana has matured, the roots will penetrate the limestone to gain better anchorage and maybe to stimulate the growth of large pitchers. Of course, all this is my imagination and I haven't tested it out yet.

Too bad my terrarium isn't windy....:tongue:

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Well I don't put layer on my northiana medium. I did it last time and doesn't help at all(:laugh:My opinion) Well I just mix them up. Perlite, silica sand and vermiculite
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The medium...
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Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

nice plant also....haha

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Pitcher is dam*ed small. Wondering when will it grow big. Edward, do you put them in shade?

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Might probably get a northiana maybe at the end of the month for piscesilim or something...

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

I'm not putting them in lots of shade. Ask Fauzi. His pitchers are double yours but the leaves are the same diameter.

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

edward, I understand you're trying to create the most natural media for your northiana, but these are my opinions on your complex medium:

1. I highly doubt that sphagnum moss would grow on the vertical limestone cliffs and crevices that northiana naturally inhabits. I think that most of the moisture comes from decomposing leaf litter and heavy dew. IMHO, a lot of these cliff-dwelling plants can take less water than we give them credit for. I grow a slipper orchid (Paphiopedilum stonei) which comes from similar habitats as northiana in Sarawak. Previously, I used rather fine media which remain excessively moist and the plants dies. Now, I'm having success with coarser media and watering only once every 2 days. Don't worry. The plants will adapt to your conditions sooner or later.

2. Your complex mix seems to utilise a lot of organic matter (dead fer leaves etc). As you plan to grow in a terrarium, I am concerned that the high humidity, coupled with lack of airflow may cause very quick deterioration of the compost and create fungal or bacterial problems. I think that in high humidity situations, a more inorganic compost is the way to go.

Good luck! :)

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Okay..but it doesn't really grows that slow like people says don't you think?:sweating:

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

I use to have one but forgot to water for a few days (my mistake) and it died...But when it was living it grew quite fast but not pitchering thats all

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Paphioboy, thanks for the concern. I have just recently revised my extra complex growing media and made it MUCH more simpler :smile:.

I got white pebbles which are about the size of two ping-pong balls and made them as the bedrock for the plant. The gaps between the big pebbles were filled with small 2-3cm diameter limestone. I think that the white pebbles are limestone.....because when I smashed it and checked the inside of the pebble, it resembled the real limestone that I have. Plus, the outside of the pebble was very dusty. White dust.

I filled up the 6 inches deep pot about two thirds with the pebbles and limestone. Then, I used a mix of tree bark, a little bit of dead ferns, lots of the small limestone, quite a number of charcoal and some sphagnum. The sphagnum is only to retain water since I found my previous media which was perlite, charcoal and limestone(which turned out to be granite) to dry up VERY fast. Even in my terrarium, the media dried up in 1 and a half days.

And about air ventilation? :biggrin2: I have the solution to that! My terrarium is a styrofoam box with four 8x5cm rectangular holes that I cut. When I opened all four, the ventilation was quite well. I leave two holes open during the day and one hole opened during the night. So far, I tested out for fungus by putting wet wood for nearly a month. The wood decomposed, but there was no sign of any fungus or harmful parasites. Also, I seem to notice that charcoal hinders the growth of fungus. Not sure about that, but is it true?

Cheers.....will post pics on my north after the plant has recuperated and started growing. Thanks for comments.

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Charcoal seems to be a beneficial additive to many mixes. I'm not sure what exactly it does, but I have added it to soil mixes, nep mix and even for regular garden plants.

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

but isn't that charcoal got high ph value? Does it still suitable?

Re: Growing My N.Northiana
 

Huh...my northiana can tolerate a few days without watering:confused: