Growing My N.Northiana

[edwardyeeks]

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




A great beauty from Fauzi, I thank him a lot! 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 but otherwise, hopefully it will thrive.




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 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.

[marvin1997]

My northiana same size as yours but the pitcher very tiny

[funkychips]

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? . Will be keeping track on its progress, thanks for sharing!!

Alvin

[allenphoon]

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??

[edwardyeeks]

Alvin, thanks for you comments, .

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.

[Robert]

Originally Posted by edwardyeeks

Attachment 3487

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.

[NepNut]

Originally Posted by funkychips

So far very few people locally would have used this media mix but no updates on how theirs are doing.
Alvin

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...

[marvin1997]

Now you can even but perlite in some supermarket. Like this one

[allenphoon]

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

[edwardyeeks]

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....