Experiences with SD Hamata

[alcran]

Ahh hamata, arguably one of the most amazing and beautiful neps discovered. My experiences with hamata have taught me many new things and busted myths about this species. It is not nearly as dependent on very high humidity as I thought. It would pitcher in relative humidities of 30-70%. It would grow fine despite minimal drops in temperature at night. It is really one of the easier species, if not one of the cheaper ones. Unfortunately, mine is no longer with me due to mites. It is missed. I never got to watch it grow up, but before the mites it was a tough, dependable plant.



Here it was in August, four months after I got it. Please post your hamata pics, seed grown or tc.

[jeff1u]

it pitcher for you under low humidity? slight drop of temperature?
are you sure? Do you mind share more of your experience?

[footefanatic]

My 2 young hamatas are growing well in S'pore weather, new leaf about every 2-3 weeks and pitchering. Personally i feel this species is not as hard as its reputation seems to be. Day time they can take up to the 30s, at night i cool them to 18 degree, shielded from the harsh dry aircon. I pampered them with misting at least 3 times a day.

[Ifurita]

I tend to agree. I won't call hamata a cheap or easy to obtain neps, but I will agree that it is easier than seems to be thought. The problem lies here: when N. hamata is small/young, it can be quite sensitve to a change in growng conditions, especially drops in humidity and temperature changes. However, once adapted or if it doesn't go into shock/semi-dormancy, its a fairly easy nep to grow.

Mine can withstand S'pore's normal day temps and are cooled to around 20C at night. They take air-con level humidity and don't get any misting at all. Only my MT hamata is pitchering, the rest are either just coming out from semi-dormancy or are relatively new and still adapting.

BTW what I refer to semi-dormancy is the plant not just halting growth, but converting its growing tip to a tiny green bud. When the plant is fine, the bud opens and new leaves come out. I've not seen any other nep do this before and it differs from the standard shock symptoms so I call it semi-dormancy.

[alcran]

it pitcher for you under low humidity? slight drop of temperature?
are you sure? Do you mind share more of your experience?

My hamata was a seedgrown from BE. It was hardened off very well and had a very large root system for such a small plant which made it easier to adapt. For a short amount of time (4 months about) hamata can survive and grow well with smaller drops in night temperature. Pitchers are not as large as they would be in an ideal enviroment. They were half an inch on two inch diameter plants. One thing to look out for is mites. Hamata seems to be very sensitive to mites. The new leaves will come out much smaller, pitchers will not develope, and small red dots are visible on the growth tip. Death follows shortly if not treated, like I did.