almeliepoulain: Nepenthes Cultivation

[David]

ameliepoulain
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Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Thread Started on Nov 7, 2007, 12:57am » Fellow 'PetPitcheer',

As we all know, there's a lot of nepenthes 'addicts' in this forum, most with years of experience in cultivating the CP, both as in a hobby (that later turned into an obsession !) and some doing it profesionally.

Then there are newbies like me who's just gotten bitten by the CP bug. We are clueless sometimes, doing silly things that sometimes cause total agony to the plants <--- this is from my own experience The many informations floating around the Net are sometimes confusing or somewhat not suitable for our climate. The rest are borderline 'sabotaging' information.

I'd like to suggest that we come up with some kind of summary of guideline for easy reference & quick look on the cultivations of the different kinds of nepenthes. The guideline could be in a table form and states the different requirements of each species/cultivars such as highland/lowland, sun requirement, moisture requirement, prefered media, likes/dislikes & others stuffs.

The same kind of guideline can also be made for other CPs & exotic plants such as droseras, ping.,sarras. & tillis. as we are also blessed with people like Andy, Cindy and Khairi.

The keyword here is a quick-look and easy to understand guide, nothing too complicated & too detailed (long-winded!)

I do understand that this is a time-consuming undertaking so, I'd like to volunteer to help out with anything I can do.

Hope we'd be able to kickstart this soon, hey! who knows, it could be the beginning of something bigger.

just my 2-cents worth,

~A~
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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #1 on Nov 7, 2007, 4:20am » Great idea, but unfortunately, the genus compises various species occupying a variety of growing habitats. There seems to be no one best way to grow these. The hybrids combine these growing adaptions that can be something intermediate between the two species or unique to either.
I suggest that species from swamp dwelling lowland zones (i.e. bicalcarata, ampullaria, rafflesiana, etc.) can withstand wet feet. These plants can be grown in pots sitting in a saucer of water. The media is also important so that water does not become too acidic or foul from a surplus of organic components.
For the most part, avoid highly organic medias like coir, coco chips, LFS, and rice hulls as a basic media. If using these, combine porous materials like cinders, river sand, perlite and others to make a porous media. A top dressing of LFS or other organics are preferable over one standing in the mix. Most importantly, be sure the container drains freely.
M
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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #2 on Nov 7, 2007, 8:14am » Hi Amelie, i'd agree that there is no best way to neps. and due to the inherent differences in our growing conditions and environment, our mileage will vary even if we all employ the exact same cultivation technique/s.

what i do is to:

1) check up if the species is lowland (0-1000m), intermediate (1000-1500m) or highland (>1500m); or if the hybrid is a LxL, LxH or HxH. this gives me an idea of the temperature requirements, and basically if i can grow 'em or not.

2) potting mix should mainly be well draining. if the nep grows mainly in peat swamps, then a more peaty mix is used. but if the nep is cliff dwelling or epiphytic, then i add more coarse materials (like bark, charcoal, burnt earth) to increase drainage.

3) as for sun, with the exception of a few species (N. hirsuta and N. sumatrana are more shade loving plants), i give them the maximum amount of light that i can initially. if there is excessive sunburnt marks, i then reduce the light exposure. shade lovers gets a more shady growing area all for themselves.

4) because i have adjusted the potting mixes according to my idea of their growth habits, i basically give all my plants the same amount of water. but should you be using one standard mix, then you'd have to adjust the amount of water the neps get to according to their growth habits.

NB: the above is just what i do and consists only of my limited personal experience. your mileage will vary and remember that there are exceptions to everything. but still, i'd say to be brave and experiment. what doesn't grow for somebody else might just grow for you!
Link to Post - Back to Top 203.124.2.41looking for different forms of N. ampullaria, N. rafflesiana and N. xhookeriana.

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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #3 on Nov 7, 2007, 9:40am » I agree with Athene and both rainforestguy and hongrui.

We can have a general information section that include info liek what rainforestguy and hongrui mentioned discribing the natural environment the plants grow in. It will just be info on the allevation, humidity, etc and whether it is a heath forest, swamp area, etc.

After that we can have a section on specific cultivation information for each species. This can be an ongoing work document and we can start with the soecies that most of us have. Information would include whether we grow it in the garden,, apartment, terrarium, etc. The media mix we use in each of this conditions, light levels, humidity, etc.

We can discuss here and I or my pioneer member/moderator can sumarise the disccusion and place it in a document in the article/archive section.


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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #4 on Nov 9, 2007, 10:00am » Why don't we have a collberation of people's knowledge of species and list their growing preferences such as...

N. rafflesiana HABITAT: elevation: 0-1200m temperature: (x-x) media: kerangas etc:

Cultivation: temperature: (x-x) media: ............. humidity: etc.

i think this is possible and would be a great help to new hobbiests and a general overall home for nep knowledge. I hope this helped some cause there are so many techniques that work not to recommend bad info but so things just don't work for some but if it works in that area it should help others in that area with their cultivaion skills.

Rob
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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #5 on Nov 9, 2007, 2:00pm » Perhaps the format could be... eg...

Species: N. rafflesiana

Habitat in the wild
- Elevation
- Temperature
- Ecology (ie. the habitat like swamp or belukar etc. Media they grow in)

Cultivation
- Location (ie. garden, terrarium, window)
- Media (ie. what kind of media in your experience works best)
- Lighting (ie. sunlight / artificial lights - shaded, dappled, full sun - % shade cloth)
- Humidity (ie. % of humidity)
- Water (ie. how much water, source of water)
- Fertilisation/Feeding (ie. what, when, how?)

« Last Edit: Nov 12, 2007, 9:17am by David »Link to Post - Back to Top LoggedMy Wantlist nep369
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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #6 on Nov 10, 2007, 5:56pm » I like yours much better might be part of my own problem with knocking down some of those walls that say it has to be one way.
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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #7 on Nov 12, 2007, 9:06am » Ok, perhaps we can start the disscussion on the following plants that I will list below. I think we should start with the most common plants that most of us have. Then from there we add more and more. Also this will be working document. As and when there are new disscussions or inforormation, we can always add in again.

I have added a section on fertilisation/feeding in the information.

This project will only work if everyone contributes. The more people contributes the more accurate the info will be. I know that alot of members/visitors here prefer not to share their experience, but if everyone could be a little generous and share their experience, we will all benefit.

I will collate the info and organise it into the article/archive section so that all of us including new cpers can refer to it and benefit from it.

So, here's the plants for disscussion at the moment:

- N. rafflesiana
- N. ampullaria
- N. gracilis
- N. mirabilis
- N. xventrata
- N. xmiranda

« Last Edit: Nov 12, 2007, 9:13am by David »Link to Post - Back to Top LoggedMy Wantlist David
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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #8 on Nov 12, 2007, 9:17am » Here's the format again:

Species: N. xxxx

Habitat in the wild
- Elevation
- Temperature
- Ecology (ie. the habitat like swamp or belukar etc. Media they grow in)

Cultivation
- Location (ie. garden, terrarium, window)
- Media (ie. what kind of media in your experience works best)
- Lighting (ie. sunlight / artificial lights - shaded, dappled, full sun - % shade cloth)
- Humidity (ie. % of humidity)
- Water (ie. how much water, source of water)
- Fertilisation/Feeding (ie. what, when, how?)
« Last Edit: Nov 12, 2007, 9:18am by David »Link to Post - Back to Top LoggedMy Wantlist hongrui
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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #9 on Nov 12, 2007, 10:29am » Species: N. rafflesiana (Jack)

Habitat in the wild
- Elevation: 0M - 1200M

Cultivation
- Location: Garden
- Media: peat/perlite & pine bark(~20%), top layer of pinebark.
- Lighting: Full sun till 3pm, bright shade thereafter.
- Temperature: 24-34C
- Humidity: 30%+ to 95%+
- Water: rainwater, tapwater when rainwater runs out. heavy watering once a day, additional watering in the afternoon if it's very dry and if i'm home.
- Fertilisation/Feeding: 20ml of "1000 Organic Growth Promoter" + 5ml of terrasorb vitmin B1 + 1/8 teaspoon of KH2PO4 into 5L of tapwater. once every 2 weeks, watered directly onto the plants and into the pots.
Link to Post - Back to Top 203.124.2.44looking for different forms of N. ampullaria, N. rafflesiana and N. xhookeriana.

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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #10 on Nov 12, 2007, 10:31am » Species: N. ampullaria (Jack)

Habitat in the wild
- Elevation: 0M - 1000M

Cultivation
- Location: Garden
- Media: peat/perlite, top layer of pinebark.
- Lighting: bright shade whole day.
- Temperature: 24-34C
- Humidity: 30%+ to 95%+
- Water: rainwater, tapwater when rainwater runs out. heavy watering once a day, additional watering in the afternoon if it's very dry and if i'm home.
- Fertilisation/Feeding: 20ml of "1000 Organic Growth Promoter" + 5ml of terrasorb vitmin B1 + 1/8 teaspoon of KH2PO4 into 5L of tapwater. once every 2 weeks, watered directly onto the plants and into the pots.
Link to Post - Back to Top 203.124.2.44looking for different forms of N. ampullaria, N. rafflesiana and N. xhookeriana.

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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #11 on Nov 12, 2007, 10:32am » Species: N. gracilis (Korthals)

Habitat in the wild
- Elevation: 0M - 750M

Cultivation
- Location: Garden
- Media: peat/perlite & pine bark(~20%), top layer of pinebark.
- Lighting: Full sun
- Temperature: 24-34C
- Humidity: 30%+ to 95%+
- Water: rainwater, tapwater when rainwater runs out. heavy watering once a day, additional watering in the afternoon if it's very dry and if i'm home.
- Fertilisation/Feeding: 20ml of "1000 Organic Growth Promoter" + 5ml of terrasorb vitmin B1 + 1/8 teaspoon of KH2PO4 into 5L of tapwater. once every 2 weeks, watered directly onto the plants and into the pots.
Link to Post - Back to Top 203.124.2.44looking for different forms of N. ampullaria, N. rafflesiana and N. xhookeriana.

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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #12 on Nov 12, 2007, 10:34am » Species: N. mirabilis (Druce)

Habitat in the wild
- Elevation: 0M - 1500M

Cultivation
- Location: Garden
- Media: peat/perlite & pine bark(~20%), top layer of pinebark.
- Lighting: Full sun
- Temperature: 24-34C
- Humidity: 30%+ to 95%+
- Water: rainwater, tapwater when rainwater runs out. heavy watering once a day, additional watering in the afternoon if it's very dry and if i'm home.
- Fertilisation/Feeding: 20ml of "1000 Organic Growth Promoter" + 5ml of terrasorb vitmin B1 + 1/8 teaspoon of KH2PO4 into 5L of tapwater. once every 2 weeks, watered directly onto the plants and into the pots.
Link to Post - Back to Top 203.124.2.44looking for different forms of N. ampullaria, N. rafflesiana and N. xhookeriana.

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Re: Nepenthes Cultivation Guideline Summary
« Reply #13 on Nov 12, 2007, 10:36am » Hybrid: x'Miranda'

Cultivation
- Location: Garden
- Media: peat/perlite & pine bark(~20%), top layer of pinebark.
- Lighting: Full sun
- Temperature: 24-34C
- Humidity: 30%+ to 95%+
- Water: rainwater, tapwater when rainwater runs out. heavy watering once a day, additional watering in the afternoon if it's very dry and if i'm home.
- Fertilisation/Feeding: 20ml of "1000 Organic Growth Promoter" + 5ml of terrasorb vitmin B1 + 1/8 teaspoon of KH2PO4 into 5L of tapwater. once every 2 weeks, watered directly onto the plants and into the pots.
Link to Post - Back to Top 203.124.2.44looking for different forms of N. ampullaria, N. rafflesiana and N. xhookeriana.