A few more pics

I was in my grow room and saw a few plants that were worthy of pictures that I have not displayed before.

First- Cephalotus 'Hummers Giant' growing happily. This particular plant as given me 4 other plants from division.

Second - N. rafflesiana

Third a close-up persitome shot on the above rafflesiana

Third - D. scorpioides twins

And lastly P. 'Sethos'

Looking good Wolf. You're doing well with the Ceph. 'HG'. I have heard that pitchers on this clone can exceed 3 inches. Mine are about 2 inches right now. How are you growing yours? Love the rafflesiana. Which form is that? Have you flowered the ping. 'Sethos' yet? Great photos....keep 'em coming

The largest the pitchers on my HG have gotten are just a touch under 2 inches. But I have been dividing it quite frequently which always seems to make it resort to growing inmature pitchers for a bit. I do not plan on dividing this plant again until absolutly necessary. I grow it under intermediate conditions. High of 80 during the day and low of 65 at night. It is the only plant I grow in a terrarium and thus the humidity stays pretty high.

I have no idea what form the raff is, any ideas?

The 'Sethos' seems to be as reluctant to flower for me as my 'John Rizzi's' are, but it is a very attractive ping anyways, I love the pink flush it gets.

Well I must take some pics every so often to keep Lauren on her toes!

Wolf

Not sure about the raff. Could be a Brunei speckled form...but I grow very few lowlanders, mostly due to the lack of available growing space so I'm not too sure of the id. Still..it's a very nice looking clone you have there.

Don't despair over the pings not flowering yet. They will. The 'John Rizzi' just needs time. Since I grow them in a greenhouse I don't see flowers until mid winter. Then they flower for months on end.

Yes we must keep Lauren on her toes. Keep those pictures coming.

~P~

Oh yaaa, you'll be sorry for posting those photos buddy. Pretty soon I'm going to post my shriveled up oreo phylodia photos and then you'll both be quaking in your boots. Just you wait you two.

Say Wolf, those are really really really nice photos. You simply must add those to the PlantFiles!

Ask and you shall receive!

I would love to see a pic of someones S. flava altropurpurea. I have seen many online but I never seem to be able to see personal plants that maintain the deep red throughout the pitcher. And mine certainy did not stay altropurpurea this year. At best they looked like a rubricorpa.

I am buying Phil a digital camera for his birthday!!

This message was edited Oct 25, 2005 11:39 PM

It was a tough year for plants but it's getting too late for photos now anyway. Unless of course you don't mind them being crunchy crispy dried out straw colored tidbits.

Remind me next year and I'll post some atropurpurea and rubricorpa. I've got a killer cuprea if it breaks dormancy next spring. The atropupurea was bizarre. Some pitchers on the plant were text book but most pitchers from the exact same rhizome were virtually devoid of the red pigmentation. It was weird. The same rhizome shot up different colored pitchers. I saw a lot of that going on this year.

Bad news, he doesn't do photos of his plants or greenhouses.

Yes, that is why I am down to posting tropical plants. They start looking their best this time of the year. I can keep their temps exactly where I want them both day and night time.

SSSSLLLUUURRRRP!
That's me in the corner, slurpping up all the botany talk.
Extremely COOL photos! My fave is the Cephalotus. That's a new one for me!

Yes the cephalotus most definatly is a neat plant. Very different from the other species.

It looks like an alien species; as though it's from another planet. That's one thing I really like about CPs. They look different from the norm.

The Cephalotus follicularis is an awesome plant. I wonder how long one of those would last over here before something tried to use it as a dietary supplement.

Say, the photos you added to the PlantFiles look great! You forgot to add photos of your D. scorpioides, P. 'Sethos', and your N. rafflesiana. That N. rafflesiana pitcher along with the detail photo are particularly nice. I don't know what kind of a camera you used to photograph that pitcher but it sure did turn out nice. There would be a lot of people out there looking for good photos of that plant to use as a comparison with what they may be growing.

Humm I added all the photos posted to the plantfiles, so the must not be up yet.

You do not grow Cephalotus folliculoaris Lauren?

Well it appears all the pics have finially been uploaded to the plantfiles as requested.

Lauren you didnt answer my question, about growing cephalotus follicularis

I'm here. I've been running up and down the stairs doing laundry. I be the laundry queen!

Good that you added photos. Believe it or not I have at least 400 images to add this winter when the snow starts flying and the holidays have passed. It takes so long to add photos it isn't even funny. It takes even longer if an entry has to be created. I've been putting off adding the entries until I can just set aside a few weekends and put my mind to it. Here's hoping I get motivated and do it early 2006 because a few people have been nagging me.

Cephalotus folliculoaris is too rich for my blood. I've never even tried to grow it. I don't want to try it right now either. They are pricey little plants and I would be reduced to tears if someTHING got a hold of one and uprooted it or used it as a dietary supplement. We've lost a few Neps to catTHINGS. I also don't want to try any Petiolaris complex right now but I've been itching to do so for a while and I've got a few people who would unload those on me in quantities if I would just give the go ahead. I really want to focus on Sarracenia for a few years.

Oh Wooooooooooolf.... we're ordering N. diatas for a project. Check it out here-
http://www.humboldt.edu/~rrz7001/Nepenthes.html
I'm told it is pretty common but I sure don't hear of many people trying to grow it and I never see it on any grow lists. I suppose this is not a good thing because there must be a trick to it. I hope there isn't. I don't want any tricky plants here right about now.

Instead of starting a new thread I thought I would just add a few new photos here.

First, a leggy D. madagascarensis

Second, A N. truncata highland. Now I know it is far from mature, but I was very thrilled when it finally put out a pitcher that is showing it to have a solid orange-red pitcher color.

Third, a newly acquired N.'Red Leopard', that has put out the first pitcher showing nice coloration.

And finally, we had some nice weather this past weekend so I decided to go to the last Cowboy shoot of the year. So I thought I would post a pic of me showing all the fun I had.

Madagascarensis are all leggy, aren't they?

Well, so much for me posting a photo of the new 2.5" to 3" N. diatas we ordered when it comes in. My plant will look puny by comparison. You are really doing exceptionally well with your Neps! And, your truncata is doing far better than ours. Ours has doubled in size but it's no where near as large as yours and our pitchers would have needed a magnifying glass to view.

I took classes on how to shoot. I tried a rifle once and ended up on my tush. I think I was able to feel my shoulder again within no time at all... like as in a few weeks. The black and blue marks went away pretty fast too... like as in a month.

Yes, Yes, about 7 monthes ago I conviced my fiance to let me have one of the rooms of our house to use soley for growing neps, and other tropical CP's. The results have been wonderful.

Ohh sorry about the shoulder, common mistake when you start is to flinch which will make space between the butt of the rifle and your shoulder which will result in a hard smack, and black and blue. Keep it tight to your shoulder and all you will feel is a push.

Anyone know how tall a D. madagascarensis will get? It keeps surprising me.

"common mistake when you start is to flinch which will make space between the butt of the rifle and your shoulder which will result in a hard smack, and black and blue. Keep it tight to your shoulder and all you will feel is a push"- Easy for you to say. I am not in to pain. I will never never never try that again. Some mistakes are just not so much fun that you want to go and repeat them.

Not to change the subject but... has any one seen this thread?
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/548658/

Fair warning- pee first and do not be drinking anything when you start reading this thread.

I read it and re-read it and I think I am exhausted from laughing the hardest I have laughed in a very long time. It brought back not so fond memories of when I innocently fed a few geese.

Great pics Wolf. You have an entire room devoted to plants? That's awesome. You have a very understanding aka loving fiance. The plants are doing great. I love the madagascariensis pic. Is that a butterfly stuck to its base? Anyway depending on what form of madagas. you are growing you can expect the typical and Botswana forms to reach 6 to 8 inches. I have this form and the Rhodesia form which gets 10-12 inches with leaves a bit larger. It resembles Drosera intermedia on mega steroids.

Lauren- Congratulations on getting a N. diatus. Word of caution.....it despises overly warm conditions. Give it warm days 75-85 deg.F and very cool nights down to 55 if possible with high humidity. It's a great species, one of the toothy types. Which form did you get, the forest or meadow? They're both nice.

Well I have to go feed a mouse to my Nepenthes rajah. Just kidding! Keep those pics comming.

I knew it! I just knew there had to be a reason why I never saw diatas on people's grow lists.

The area where we grow these is air conditioned in summer and we keep our house set at 72F. Day time temps are in the low 70's year round. Night time temps are only down to 65F. No can do the ideal of 55F at night. The humidity in the area is relatively high and we additionally go in and spritz the Neps and Orchids a few times a day with a spray bottle. So far the orchids all bloom for me and the Neps are pitchering for my son. Albeit small puny pitchers but then most of his Neps were in the 3" range when he bought them because that's all he could afford. I have no idea which form he bought. I could ask him to send an e-mail to the source though if it would make a difference. I think, not positive, that my kid also ordered a puny N. burbidgeae and I know he was eyeballing a puny densiflora but he probably ran out of money. There's a big difference in price between the 3" and 5-6" and then another leap in price to the 10".

I think the Neps we have over here are sort of in the sink or swim league. Either they grow being "not so lovingly" tended by a kid or they die or get uprooted by a cat when the keeper of the Neps forgets to shut the door to where they are growing. I can't get involved in the Neps more than to remind him to spritz them and water them and to make suggestions here and there. Right now he has a grow bulb burned out for 2 days. He is begrudging buying a new one for $5 and has been trying to find an online source where he could pick up a few for cheap. May the force be with him!

Don't despair yet. Give the plant a try and see what happens. If you find that the plant is declining then we can discuss what should be done. N. densiflora and burbidgeae are also both highland species. You may be ok with burbidgeae as I have heard that it does fine with nighttime lows in the low 60's, but it must have very, very high humidity. It will shrivel up very quickly if the humidity is too low. It is also veeeeeery slow growing and reported by some growers to be somewhat difficult. My plants do just fine, but seem to hate cold winters.

Have your son research altitude ranges for these species before making a purchase. It is better to know what conditions you have to work with first, then select plants based on this criteria. Even if he wants a particular species sooooooooo badly it is best to gain some experience growing less rare and more forgiving species than watching a rare plant slowly succumb to less than favorable conditions. If you want I can make some suggestions for you of plants that will most likely do well for him. As long as you give me the conditions he will be growing in, lighting/duration, etc. I'll do my best. Just a thought.

We have one bathroom that I grow my orchids in and that he grows his Neps in. The bathroom is very big and the plants are spread out on a ceramic tile decking to a whirlpool as well as on two vanities flanking either side. The walls are painted a semi gloss white and the ceilings are vaulted up about 20'. There are good sized mirrors over the entire length of both vanities that seem to bounce light all around the room. There is a huge double window over the tub that is topped off by a large decorative semi circle window. The double hung windows are some sort of a low-E II archival glass. That is a problem. The huge semi circle is standard glass although at one time it was argon filled. That window was replaced and the new one was installed because of the plants. There is a shower/steam area that is all glass and is open on top. That is what single handedly keeps the humidity high in that area because I taped over the switch so we longer use the exhaust vents over that area to remove the steam because of the plants. He has several grow bulbs on timers in there trained on the Neps for 14 hours. Where he came up with 14 hours is beyond me. They are basic gooseneck lighting fixtures.

I do not have a list of my orchids because they are all either from Home Depot or from these two suppliers in Hawaii who send plants to me and they select them for me based on the bathroom. I don't select my own plants because I grow orchids by default. I like them very much but don't know enough about them to make my own purchases and the plants sent to me do fine in there and all I do is repot them every time they flower. So far, all's well with them and I am not losing orchids.

The Neps he has are virtually all highlands. Here is his list-
N. alata (highland form)
N. copelandii
N. ephippiata
N. faizaliana
N. fusca
N. 'Judith Fin'
N. khasiana (not looking all that healthy)
N. macfarlanei
N. maxima (highland form)
N. rafflesiana
N. reinwardtiana
N. sanguinea
N. tobaica
N. truncata (highland form)
N. x ventrata
N. ventricosa, red peristome
N. spathulata x spectabilis
N. truncata x ventricosa

Plus the two or three new ones that he just ordered that he won't have for a few weeks. We lost N. 'Gentle' to Tyson and Melvin and we also lost his N. sibuyanensis and his N. veitchii to the gruesome twosome too and all three of those were doing great. You'd think he'd be able to remember to shut the doors to the bathroom consistently. All of his plants are small.

His wish list-
N. bellii (highland form)
N. hamata
N. glabrata
N. lowii (highland form)
N. ‘Medusa’
N. rajah
N. spectabilis
N. thorelii
N. ventricosa, black peristome

He was over at the Humboldt site a leetle beet tooo long!

What I would like to know is if anything he currently grows sticks out in your mind as being able to be grown over my kitchen sink in a hanging basket? The exposure is eastern. I have African Violets that are doing great behind the sink if that helps.

By the way, please have a field day with his list and suggest away. He doesn't listen to me but maybe if I print off what you write a light will go on in his head. And he does know who you are but has been afraid to contact you. This is also the same kid who is going to be doing an experiment on lighting for Drosera capensis.

Yep you were right Phil, that is a butterfly still stuck to the bottom of the D. madagascarinsis.

Wow Lauren, your son has quite the collection. Does he take the loss of his plants to animals hard?

Ok got two more pictures. This first one is probably the favorite plant I have at the moment. I received a few nep seeds from a nursury (that I now have forgot, but it would be the nursury that made this hybrid) as an addition to an order for it being late. The tag stated that they had a few seeds that missed there pots and ended up on the floor. They had no idea what seeds they were because they planted many different ones over a few days span so it could be anything. So I sowed all the seeds but only one made it for me. It has now started to put out pitchers that allow me to indentify it. And wow was I exicted when I saw the first one. The pitcher/leaf ratio is crazy. I will let you figure out what it is from the picture.

The second picture does not have nearly as neat of a story, but is nice looking anyways. The nicest looking trap of the previous summer for me.

Nope, he doesn't take the loss of Neps well. He paid for all of them except 4 (three were gifts from my Dad to him and I have no idea where they came from) and one was a gift from my husband and I. Needless to say, he closes the door the vast majority of the time because it is his own money sitting out there in lots of little pots waiting to be eaten and dragged through the house. This is one of the times where you just have to sit back and allow them to take responsibility for their actions or rather lack of action.

I love the little trigger hairs in your trap. Good going!

So what Nep do you have there that is grown from seed?

You grew that from seed? I am humbled. Entirely.
What cultivar of flytrap is that? The pink is fabulous!

Oh sorry, while I did not collect and sow the seed myself, I belive it to be N.'Predator' a hybrid between N. truncata and N. hamata.


Ugh yeah I would be upset to, wonder why the doggies like neps?

The flytrap is a cultivar named dentate.

This message was edited Nov 8, 2005 11:38 PM

It's not any of the dogs that like the Neps. It's Tyson and Melvin. The dynamic duo. I think they just like to eat greens every once in a while so they can barf them out all over my house. It's so much fun stepping in mushy warm green cat upchuck in your bare feet. Ask my husband, he'll tell you how much fun it is.

N. truncata and N. hamata, eh? I doubt I would have ever guessed that. 'Predator' is a great name for that plant.

Say Wolf, I have a thread over in here somewhere on S. x stevensii and S. "Stevensii" or S. 'Stevensii'. What do you know about them all?

Geez and I was all excited about posting the pic of N. 'Predator' for I figured you would know exactly what it was on seeing the pic. I wish the picture was better, but sometimes it is hard to get a good exposure with all the mylar and light. The pic of the VFT was my PC wallpaper for the longest time.

I posted in your Stevensii thread my opinions.

This message was edited Nov 9, 2005 12:49 AM

Oops, Tyson and Melvin are cats. Plant eating cats!

I'll go take a look a little later on the stevensii. My kid is the one who trolls the Humboldt site looking at photos of Neps not me. I have a hard enough time with Sarrs. Those things change from month to month it seems.

Wolf-

That's a great looking Predator. But I'm a bit confused about something. In your first thread you said you sowed all the Nepenthes seed but only one made it, then your reply later on said you didn't collect and sow the seed. Huh?

Anyhoo if you didn't get the seed from Exotica, it's refreshing to see other nurseries making similar crosses. I've grown hundreds of Nepenthes from seed, how long did it take to reach that size? My giant female campanulata has several flower spikes forming and I plan to cross it with a super good spectabilis x talangensis. This particular hybrid looks exactly like a large form of talangensis only with the colors of spectabilis. A close friend who collects exotic shells said it reminded him of a colorful cowry. Hopefully this cross will turn out better than the campanulata x veitchii that are out there. I have a decent size one and it's nothing to write home about.

Now on to Lauren. Lauren, dear Lauren, pleeeeease tell your son I welcome his questions. He can email me any time he likes. I work full time with children so I would be all over his questions. He would never be bothering me. Now I have looked over your son's grow list and wish list. His grow list is impressive. I'm sorry to hear that your cats destroyed some of his plants. I'm sure he was heart broken over it.

It sounds to me like the bathroom set up is pretty good. But you wanted to know which ones would be suitable in a hanging basket. Here are the ones that would 'not' be good:
None! They would all be fine. A couple words of caution on some of his plants. First, ephippiata is related to lowii, although not quite as montane. It does not like to remain wet. Let it dry out somewhat. It should be grown like an epiphyte, and not overpotted. Best to underpot. And try to provide a decent amount of nocturnal cooling.

I hope that by the time these plants grow up he has a larger area to grow them in. Some of them can get extremely big. 'Judith Finn' for example is a bit slow to get started but will progressively get muuuuuuch bigger. I have a plant that gets 15 inch pitchers on it every summer with a leaf spread of over 2 feet. So be prepared. Nepenthes macfarlanei is found growing in montane mossy forest. It is found growing primarily in live sphagnum moss where the pitcher tendrils bury themselves. Although it is not necessary to grow them this way, he may find his plant does best in pure sphagnum and in shady conditions with the highest possible humidity.

I'm not sure which form of reinwardtiana he has, but the lowland green form is found naturally growing in tree tops as a true epiphyte in every sense of the term so one must be very careful with watering. The Pasia red form is more highland and can be grown with a bit more moisture.

Wish list:

I was not aware, yet, that there was a highland form of bellii. Clue me in. Of this list the only plants I can see that 'may' give him some trouble are hamata in the summer, glabrata (tricky species. does not do well from cuttings), rajah DING, DING, DING. He should have no trouble with the rest. As a suggestion he should also consider trying: spathulata, pilosa, veitchii (again) both highland and lowland forms, stenophylla aka fallax, gracilis and ampularia. Then there are the hybrids. Most of them should do well if he selects those made up of both highland and lowland species. Even the pure highland forms are more intermediate in their requirements so he could work with these as well.

As a newbie it is important for him to study them daily for any signs of stress whether they be H/L, L/L or Int. and make appropriate adjustments. I'm sure he already is very attentive to their needs.

So when are you building him a greenhouse???
hee hee hee.

Be good all.

Phil

Sorry for the confustion Phil. I meant to say I did not make the cross and collect the seed. I did indeed sow the seed myself, and out of about 20 seeds this was the only one that made it. I did indeed get it from Exotica, and I belive it is three years old, but I could be mistaken my record keeping skills as to dates are horrible.

Never seen a campanulata x veitchii, but I would assume it to look pretty nifty. I guess this must be a case of in theory it should look nice but not in reality.

This message was edited Nov 9, 2005 8:25 PM