Growing Outdoors in New Mexico

[Jimmy]

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.

[arvin555]

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

[Jimmy]

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!

[edwardyeeks]

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

[Jimmy]

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.

Thanks again!

Jimmy

[Khoas]

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.

[Jimmy]

Thanks for the info, Khaos. 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.
Regards,
Jimmy

[edwardyeeks]

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.

Cheers