marcellocatalano: mindanaoensis, philippinesis and northiana

[David]

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mindanaoensis, philippinensis and northiana
« Thread Started on Dec 26, 2007, 8:20pm »
Hi!
The atmosphear of Christmas gives me the enthusiasm to start a new, exciting thread

Did anyone of you ever have luck with mindanaoensis and philippinensis?

They seem to just grow for me...but I don't have great conditions. But not even on the web I ever saw great specimens, over 20 cm large overall, to give an idea.

And then N. northiana. We all know it grows fine, but producing tiny pitchers. Completely different from the 35 cm monsters in the wild. Like with N. merrilliana, for many years there have been long discussions about the reason why just 5-10 growers around the world are able to obtain those giant pitchers. And those growers usually suggest high humidity, high temperatures, big pots, good light (low light was an urban legend, right?) etc...nothing special. A few weeks ago Rob Cantley, who knows the problem and he had it himself, wrote here that he was finally able get the serious pitchers from his northiana. Rob?

thanks,

Mr. Cello
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Re: mindanaoensis, philippinensis and northiana
« Reply #1 on Dec 27, 2007, 2:00pm »
Hey, Mr. Cello!

Greetings from Puerto Galera, Philippines.

Yes, we finally got decent pitchers on N. northiana after all these years and without any special effort. We just transferred it to our new shadehouses in a different location. Ditto N. mindanaoensis and others. The differences between the two locations?

Temperatures: The same, 28 deg C night, 33 deg C day.
Light: The same, 60% shadecloth
Watering and chemical applications: The same.
Feeding: The same, Osmocote 10-11-18 + 2MgO + TE
Humidity: The same.
Potting media: The same old trusty coco-products we've always used.
Tender loving care: The same. We do not sing to them or play music.

So what could be different? Can you guess?

Hint: The same change has vastly reduced the incidence of fungal pathogens.
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Re: mindanaoensis, philippinensis and northiana
« Reply #2 on Dec 27, 2007, 5:58pm »
Hi Rob!

Could the second location be more exposed to winds than the previous?


Friendly,

François.
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Re: mindanaoensis, philippinensis and northiana
« Reply #3 on Dec 29, 2007, 12:38pm »


Seems that the same people are on 2 forums!

François, you hit the nail on the head. Airflow. In order to maintain humidity at our old nurseries, we had to put up polythene walls as th relative humidity outside was too low since it became a built-up area in the 10 years we were there. The new nursery is completely open and surrounded by wet paddy fields. Airflow is good and absolutely everything is growing far better than ever before.

I think good airflow is something that's been overlooked a lot. In Brunei in the 1980's, the first nursery for the likttle nursery ISRA Exotics was in a humid area near jungle and had good air movement with net walls and roof. Then we had to move to another place nearer the town in a built-up region. Using polythene walls and a net roof to maintain the same RH produced very poor results by comparison.
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Re: mindanaoensis, philippinensis and northiana
« Reply #4 on Dec 30, 2007, 10:06am »
So that means if we compare high humidity with stagnant air and high humidity with airflow, the later is much much better. Thanks Rob, I've always thought the best conditions for Neps is high humidity with stagnant air like in a terrarium. Looks like it is even better with some airflow.

Perhaps that explains why some of my plants always have rust spot fungus even when placed outside. I have a shadehouse that is covered from top, side and back with shadecloth and at the back of the garden with a fencing behind. There is very little air flow in that area and when the rainy season comes, I always have problem with fungus.

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Re: mindanaoensis, philippinensis and northiana
« Reply #5 on Dec 30, 2007, 11:18am »
I'm not sure if it's dramatically important for all species. N. ampullaria grows well in the new nurseries but did well in the old stagnant nurseries too. Since it's found mainly in dense peat swamp forest which is very stagnant, that's not surprising really. However, N. bicalcarata which grows well alongside N. ampullaria in the same forests definitely does far better in the new nurseries whcih can occasionally get quite breezy.

In general though, I'm really sure about this effect. Everyone working in the new nursiers as well as any visitors who had visited the old stagnant nurseries have commented on it.

However, the best pitcher on a cultivated N. northiana I have ever seen is that of Jeff Schafer. Magnificent specimen, as good as you would ever see in habitat I believe. It would be interesting to find out if he has any fans in his setup.
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Re: mindanaoensis, philippinensis and northiana
« Reply #6 on Dec 30, 2007, 5:44pm »
Rob,

Now, i'm thinking to add a fan to each of my terrarium !

So thanks to the paddy fields , the relative humidity is still as high as in the previous nursery or did you notice a slight drop ?

François.
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Re: mindanaoensis, philippinensis and northiana
« Reply #7 on Dec 31, 2007, 10:49am »
François,

It's about the same as the old nurseries where we wrapped in polythene. The new nurseries are surrounded on 3 sides by paddy fields nearly 1Km across and on the other side by large rubber plantations. Neps planted out in the soil there grow without any maintenance.
« Last Edit: Dec 31, 2007, 11:03am by borneo »Link to Post - Back to Top Logged