It blooms!!

[Ifurita]

This is a first ever for me:


Close-up shot of the flower itself:


Until recently, this plant has only produced green pitchers for me, but it looks like the newer growth is starting to colour up. Yay!


The most important thing: No cooling during the day, no use of artificial lighting(sits at a windowsil) and this one is NOT the supposed 'lowland' species!

[delphiguy]

what heli is this? and how do you grow this and how long has it been in your care? im so envious that you could grow one.

[Ifurita]

Originally Posted by delphiguy

what heli is this? and how do you grow this and how long has it been in your care? im so envious that you could grow one.

Its H. minor. Hope it starts to colour up, then it will really look nice. I grow it as a windowsil plant, so it gets morning sun for light(bright shade for the rest of the day) but has to deal with the heat during the day. Its been in my care for almost a year. I water 1-3 times a week, top watering, not on the tray system. The media is a sphagnum and perlite mix with a layer of dead sphagnum(live is probably better) on top. It likes higher humidity levels.

BTW if you have the cash to spare, H. ciliata seems to be able to grow under lowland conditions. Its the most heat tolerant of all the currently known Heliamphora species.

[delphiguy]

thanks Ifurita for the info... I hope I can find one locally as I am dying to give this a try.

[jimmy0123]

Nice Plant . When you first bought it is it in juvenile state or mature state? If mature did it turn back to juvenile sometimes?

[edwardyeeks]

Really a great achievement of windowsill growing! Did you bag the plant for humidity?

[Ifurita]

Originally Posted by delphiguy

thanks Ifurita for the info... I hope I can find one locally as I am dying to give this a try.

Hope you manage to! Because otherwise you may have to order from Wistuba like I did and that ain't cheap. I had to save up for a long time for it, heh.

Originally Posted by jimmy0123

Nice Plant . When you first bought it is it in juvenile state or mature state? If mature did it turn back to juvenile sometimes?

When I first got it, it had mostly immature pitchers, but was starting to grow mature ones. It kept on producing mature pitchers and never went back to producing immature ones, except for the baby clumps popping up from the base. Reverting back to immature pitchers is a sign that the plant is stressed, usually heat stress over here. In my earlier attempts to grow Helis, they usually reverted back to immature pitchers and after hanging in there for a few months, died off.

Originally Posted by edwardyeeks

Really a great achievement of windowsill growing! Did you bag the plant for humidity?

This one is not bagged, but I do use a humidity shield: place other things and plants around and very close to it to keep humidity around it high. I have tried to bag Helis to maintain humidity levels before, but they usually die from rot at the base after a while. Thus I now don't bag the plants anymore.