A few more pics

Wow. You were very fortunate to get seed from them. I love Exotica's plants. I've waited as long as 5 years to get a particular cutting from them. They are the undisputed best Nepenthes growers in the world.

How did you sow/germinate the seed? I'm always looking for new and easier ways.

Yes, Exotica is the best. Some of the pics they show of there hybrids are wonderful. It just can take so long to get what you want as you state. And out of 30 some pages of hybrids they only have just a handful available for sale, very frustrating beings they have such great plants. Also I have noticed that they have implemented a $500 minimum on plant sales outside of Australia, which will make it tough to order from them, atleast for me.

I dont think you will be getting any tips from me, but I just sowed them on straight LFS kept damp and with bottom heat. They germinated in a few weeks, but for some reason most of them died from some cause and this one made it.

Does the size of my plant look like an plant that would be three years old? Never grown one from seed before so I was beside myself when I was able to see what it turned out to be.

This message was edited Nov 10, 2005 9:17 PM

I know the frustration well. I have like 38 of their hybrids and many of them haven't been offered again for sale for many years. Some plants, they say, have been taken off their hybrid list permanently so that people will stop asking for them. I was lucky to get what I did.

The increased minimum order is to help stop people from buying only a few plants and depleating their inventory of a particularly good cross. They would usually only purchase the very good stuff so now they must buy a whole bunch of things if they want their choice plant. I get mine through a friend who buys from them once or twice a year. When we place our next order I'll let you know and you can get in on it.

Now see I've picked up some good growing information from you already. You use bottom heat for germinating seed and I've always been convincd that this helps but have never used it. The next time I get seed I'll give it a try and see what happens. Your plant looks better than what the average 3 year old plant looks like. Your's resembles what Exotica's would look like if they had grown it. You're doing a very good job with it. I have mine out in the greenhouse but am considering moving it indoors under my lights where it is warmer. This will probably help it grow a bit faster as it seems to be super slow in highland conditions.

I can't wait to see if the upper pitchers on this thing have any of the character of hamata's uppers. Should be interesting.

Up with a sick kid! Tomorrow will be a long day. Ugh.

Melvin is my husband's cat and Tyson is that son's cat. Those two cats are pretty bad and can't be trusted around anything that is green. The cats here that are mine don't bother with plants for some reason although one does drink out of the toilet and sits on the edge of the bathtub and falls in occasionally. Come to think of it, one of my older somewhat senile cats would try to use any large pot as a litter box which is one of the many reasons why we can not have plants in the house other than in that bathroom or maybe hanging from a hook in the ceiling. Nevertheless, my son was ready to puke when he found the cats had gotten in and destroyed his plants. He never has been able to replace any of those yet.

I get a greenhouse before this kid does! I know exactly which one I want some day too-
http://www.bcgreenhouses.com/
The one I would like to have is under the Pride of the Pacific line-
http://www.bcgreenhouses.com/images/glass/10a.jpg
but I want the one that is 10x18.
This will have to wait though. I'm afraid to price it out right now.

The bathroom that the plants are in is good sized. That's ALL he gets right now other than the area over my kitchen sink until my 21 or 22 year old Siamese goes to heaven and even then we have two plant eaters to worry about so he'll have to use hanging baskets.

Stopping him from buying a hamata or a glabrata won't be a problem. They're pretty expensive and he'll stop himself. The rajah is in his price bracket unfortunately. About the only thing I can think of to be able to give it high humidity would be to allow him to get a huge hexagon shaped fish tank so he could grow it in there. But then this plant can get huge so what do we do if it starts growing, section off a corner of the house or set up lights in a steam shower? Maybe a future Christmas present in the years to come but I don't know what he'll do with it if it takes off. That can be one monster plant.

He didn't know where he saw the bellii (highland) reference. He thought maybe at Tony Paroubek's site or Bob Ziemer's site? The other site he has visited would be Nepenthes University. I remember him finding a reference to a highland form because he showed it to me but that was months ago. I'll have him do an Internet search and see if he can find the photo of the non existant highland bellii and worse case scenario is that he finds out on his own that all that is out there is lowland forms. Had to have been a typo at a site he visited but could have been a reference to a bellii being grown as a highland? It's been too long, I can't even remember.

Your comments about have macfarlanei have been printed for him. Its his choice to repot in a more apporpiate growing medium but I do have LFS here for him ifhe wants to repot. "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 will save these comments, "As a suggestion he should also consider trying: spathulata, pilosa, veitchii (again) both highland and lowland forms, stenophylla aka fallax, gracilis and ampularia" and let him take a look see next time he goes surfing for his wish list. Oddly enough, he is attracted to plants based on their overall appearance and pitchers as well as based on their names. He would really like a Nep named "Predator" just as he was attracted to VFTs with names like "Fang" and well you get the idea. The comment was not a request for a cutting of Predator just a comment because I know how this kid thinks. He like to write out the plant stakes.

I'm leaning toward asking him to pick which ever one he wants to hang in a basket over the sink.

Back to this- "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" Yes and no. Long story. I will suggest to him that he contact you about being able to educate himself to recognize signs of stress. To the best of my knowledge, he hasn't gone down this road yet.

It's going to be a long day. I'm running on little sleep and one of them is home for the day sick which means I can't go to work. I did an Internet search for bellii lowland and I can't find any references what so ever to any form other than a lowland.

I briefly spoke to Nick this morning and mentioned to him that some of the plants on his wish list might have really attractive pitchers and all.... but they might cost too much to purchase and care for and that he needed to go back to Nepenthes University and read about the individual plants and see if he wants the list to remain the same. He knows that high humidity is going to be an issue here. I also told him that several alternates had been suggested and that I had printed off the names for him and he could check those out and see if they might not be better choices for his wish list. So far, he wants to know if we can add plant hangers to the walls in our master bathroom. Ummm, gotta think about that one but it's probably going to be a no. I'm going to have to look around here and see if there are any other places that he could add a hanging basket in addition to over the kitchen sink since it would now appear he wants to expand a little bit more beyond the few plants he just ordered.

Sorry to hear of your boy being sick! That is no fun for anyone. Hope he is better soon.
I ordered my greenhouse from BC greenhouses and I probably saved about 3000$ that way. I just love it, and the customer service was awesome.

Flu and cold season is upon us I guess. I knew I was going to be staying home from work today. Your greenhouse came from BC? Cool! If you don't mind my asking, where did all the other accessories for it come from? And why don't they list prices for any of their models? Makes me nervous about even inquiring lest I get bummed out.

They don't list prices because there are too many variables - size, position of door, kind of glazing, options like vented windows... you get the idea. I did a LOT of research before buying and they definitely had the best deal for what I wanted. Of course, we're on the border of BC, so trucking to your part of the U.S. would be a bit more, but probably not a deal breaker. I bought mine two years ago this spring and after I had mine up I saw that Charley's Greenhouse up north of me were selling the exact same ones for about 4000$ more than what I paid for it. Also, the exchange rate when I bought mine was favorable.

Mine is set up on a knee wall that I have yet to finish. I was going to finish it with river rock, but I never could get around to it. I think I will just finish it with stucco. The shelves are stainless steel bakers shelves I got at Costco, the lights I got at Home Depot or Lowes. My heated sand trays were made from the wood that the greenhouse came crated in, as was my potting table top. We've just added stuff as we went along.

The only thing I wish I had done differently is choose a different glazing. Mine is a glass house with just plain glass. I just finished putting up heavy plastic to try insulating it for the winter. I wanted the walls to be clear and bright during the spring and summer, not opaque. It had to be decorative as well as functional because it sits directly in the garden adjacent to the pond. I only wish I had purchased a larger one. I got the 12x18, or maybe 12 x15, I can't remember which. It seemed large last year, but this year with the overwintering tropicals, if feels small. C'est la vie!

Hope your son is feeling better!

I am going to go with a hip wall instead of a knee wall. For me that will fit in better with the few other elements of design around here. I already decided to use the exact same brick that was used to create the knee walls around our patio as well as the waist walls to our front doors and all the rest of the accent brick on the house. I figured it would look so much less chaotic here using the same brick used for the house as opposed to the retaining blocks style used for several retaining walls here and raised beds. It was a toss up but I think the brick will look nicer. So far I've got prices on excavating the site, running electric and gas to it, getting a plumber to create floor drains, pouring the concrete for the pad with the right footings under it to handle the frosts and the weight of the actual brick and greenhouse, and a bricklayer, and after that... I sat down and had a heart attack figuring it would be a "few" years. So 10x18 is too small? I thought that seemed ideal. My husband already told me to look at the next sizes up of greenhouses just in case. I'm obviously not locked into a size at this point in time. Who knows, by the time I get around to getting the price for the actual greenhouse, I may be going with hoop frames.

Oh definitely plan for the largest structure your budget will allow. Once you have had a taste for greenhouse gardening and all the new opportunities it presents to you, you will regret not having built a larger structure. My greenhouse is 12x24 and filled to the max, so I had to opt for another off site structure 20x50. At one time I was even using my home gh for not only my cp collection, but raising tropical fish, native butterflies, etc. I have even hosted home school science projects here on general horticulture and gh gardening. The kids always left here wanting a gh of their own, hee hee. I'm sure the parents just LOVE that!

My best friend also has a 20x50 and is planning a second structure because he realized the tremendous potential more space allows. Now these are rather large structures and most people can't accomodate something in this range, but the truth remains that once you see how well your plants, of all kinds, do in a controlled environment you use up any available space very quickly.

Just for the record, if you live in a hard freeze zone and want to garden year round it is probably best to glaze with 8 or 10 mm twin wall or triple wall polcarbonate. If aesthetics is important and you opt for glass...even though polycarbonate is very attractive, you will be paying exorbitant heating bills due to the non existant insulation factor of glass.

Lauren, I think you should get one of the BC Greenhouse Garden Rooms! Can you immagine?

Yes, I agree with Phil. If my budget had allowed, then I would have wanted an even larger one. They fill up fast. The floor in mine is crushed rock, which allows for drainage . The brick sounds right on. For me, using a stucco finish will match the walls I've build in the garden.
Also ditto on the polycarbonate. Wish I could have seen one before buying. But also, at the time I bought mine, I really didn't think I would be doing much in there in the dead of winter, and the plants I wanted to overwinter at the time only needed protecting againt freezing. Little did I know then what I know now about all the cool plants I want to grow!

We're in a hard freeze zone which is why we'll have to go with rebar in the concrete slab foundation. No other way around that. The use of concrete in and of itself has some benefits in that it will absorb heat and release it after dark. I might be able to get away with a cold frame made out of polycarbonate but I'm in an area where our subdivision has a Home Owners Association complete with an Appearance Board. There is no way those pie makers would ever approve any structure utilizing polycarbonate in the design because the bylaws specifically prohibit it. It yellows over time and we just can't have anything yellowing around here now can we. I'm probably going to go with a double pane glass. The inner glass being standard Low-E and the outer glass being some sort of a clear tempered safety glass. Heat loss will be high, but not as high as it could be. Other than that, we'll probably go with a floor mounted gas heater that is vented with a back up vented kerosene heater that is thermostat controlled. I am just now beginning to check into solar energy. I could probably ram a few water drums in there but seems to me as if stainless steel tubes filled with Glauber's salt might be the way to go and they take up considerably less space than 55 gallon drums of water. Cooling in the summer is going to be another issue. I'm leaning toward a swamp cooler mounted on a pad next to the greenhouse as well as a few exhaust vans or maybe standard old vents. Too many options here and we get closer to actually doing something (need more moolah) I will have to sit down and explore my options.

Although I want the greenhouse I posted a link to, a more expensive sun pit greenhouse might be more practical in this area and they really aren't unattractive at all. Most have steps down into the greenhouse which if landscaped tastefully look quite attractive. There are a few people around here who had inground swimming pools who converted them to solar sun pit greenhouses and they look very nice. Unfortunately, we don't have an inground pool to convert. I do have the space to do what I want although money will be an issue. I suppose I will have to look into a mist system sooner or later too.

Here is one link I found on below-grade greenhouse construction-
http://www.motherearthnews.com/top_articles/1986_July_August/Mother_s_Bioshelter_Greenhouse

I've toyed with greenhouse sizes and I think about the largest we could afford would be 14x22 for many reasons. Of course I'd love to have a greenhouse that is 20x50 but that won't be happening. Sheesh, I could put a whole pond in there with two little chairs and a table for relaxing and hanging out to watch fishies swimming around. Fish are tranquilizers to me. I can get lost watching them.

I'd love to have a BC Garden Room but two would be even nicer! No way the budget can handle one of those at about 90-125k. You get one and I'll come and visit and sip lemonaide and look at your plants.

Yes, living in the hard freeze zone really changes things. I think your weather must be hotter in the summer as well. With two automatic vents in my ceiling, a window on the door, and the vents on the side, all I need is shadecloth in the hottest part of the summer (which we didn't even get this year). I understand your pain on the $$ issue. I have enough space for a really large greenhouse, but money hasn't fallen out of the sky around here since I can remember.
I think the double glass system you mentioned is a good compromise. Polycarbonate does yellow over time, which is one reason I didn't get it.
But I had to laugh about your "two little chairs and a table for relaxing and hanging out"... I laugh because I have a little table and a chair in my greenhouse, plus my CD player/radio. I like just sitting in there all snuggy with the plants. DH calls it my Australia simulator.
I finished the insulation today. I've been experimenting with using those large black and metal clips that hold large amounts of paper together, along with 6mm clear plastic. The clips fit perfectly over the metal ribs of the greenhouse, holding the plastic in place. It is making a very big difference. DH put in one of our little heating elements that we use on the boat in the winter to keep the inside of the boat from retaining moisture. It is low voltage and just puts out a bit of continuous heat. I have insulated the entire ceiling and most of the walls so far and the temp is already 15 degrees higher than the outside temp. I think I'm in business. The main goal was to be able to work out in the greenhouse with freezing my behind off! Last year I used a propane heater out there, but with the automatice vent openers and the natural proclivity of heat to rise, well, you get my drift.
I'll check out the below-grade greenhouses. That sounds quite interesting!

Edited to say: I think we've taken over Wolf's thread. Maybe we need another one?

This message was edited Nov 13, 2005 12:43 AM

I'm on five acres here. The yellowing of the polycarbonate wouldn't bother me in the least and to be quite blunt, we're pretty wooded and nobody would be able to see it anyway. The Board members are meddlesome and we have one lady who runs around with bright pink by-law infraction notes sticking them on people's front doors "allegedly" to protect property values of all. She's the ultimate pie maker. Home owners associations are so much fun- not. I got a bright pink note for tying a horse up to my front mailbox once.

Pixie, I've seen your greenhouse. It's really nice. I didn't notice the chair and table though. Tucking those away in a corner to hide from your kids are you? Just teasing.

"DH calls it my Australia simulator"- cute comment.

Wolf could care less if his thread gets hijacked. No worries there. Hijacking happens. I think he was going to build a greenhouse himself but I think there was some deliberation over where it was going to go. The classic one wants it in one place and the other wants it in another place.

So Wolf, did you win or did your significant other win regarding where the greenhouse was going to go? Will you get to start construction next year or are you in a holding pattern like me waiting for money?

Isn't this the same Wolf whose significant other gave over an entire room to his 'growing' interests? She sounds workable to me. LOL

I dunno, she sounds pretty cool to me too considering when it comes to what goes where inside our home... my husband has little or no say so other than to hand over the check book. I take what my husband suggests under advisement when it comes to what goes where outside. Tee he.

oops wrong thread to post in!

This message was edited Nov 13, 2005 4:35 PM

Yeah. I'm thinking that any woman who gives over an entire room to a guy who isn't even her husband yet is either entirely workable, or madly in love, or both! LOL

Well I would have to say madly in love, what can I say!!

Well we sort of compromised on the GH, it will be built in the area that I wanted it built, but I am going to have to pay a little bit more and concentrate on aesthetics slightly more then I orgininally had planned.

Yes I could not belive she let me have the whole room. I just kept getting more and more plants and she was forced to continually move her stuff, so I think more out of frustration she just said why dont you just take the whole room. I had no problems with that.

Pretty funny. I did something similar once and my husband took me up on it too. It had been my intent to "guilt" him into moving his stuff out so I could take over and it backfired on me. I won't make that mistake again ;)

Big question of the hour... is the ever so sacred orchid still alive?

Still alive, although incredibaly slow to grow new leaves. I have no idea how long it will be before it flowers, which is the only improvement she will notice!

Still alive is an accomplishment in and of itself. Good for you. That was a nice looking paph.

Ah, yes. The aesthetics of the greenhouse. That's entirely understandable. I have a greenhouse that I have never grown tired of looking at. It's very decorative and an integral part of our landscaping. And it works every bit as well as a less desireable one. It may not make sense to you now, but you won't regret getting a lovely greenhouse!

Must be a female thing. I for one could care less about how it looks as long as it performs its required duty well. But if the choice is to get one and have to make it attractive or not get one at all, I guess I can bend a little. Just requires a little bit more money and work on my end.

Yes, I think it must be a 'female' thing! Good luck finding one that satisfies you both. Check out bcgreenhouse.com. They have good prices and excellent customer service.

Well my photo thread has been dead for a bit so I did some looking to see what I could find to take a picture of. And I was able to find a photo worthy pic of a plant I have not showcased yet.

A newly opened pitcher of N. truncata, so far all of the pitchers on this plant the peristome will turn a deep red with time, although I prefer the striping it has before it turns all red.

And here is a close up of the peristome, showing some detail.

Wolf

Here's an ittie bitty little truncata back at ya!

And another-

For those who saw Wolf's truncata first...
maybe this photo will help you see ours better-

Well, now we know what ours will look like when it grows up all big and strong!

Wolf, beautiful photographs! May my son enjoy as much success as you some day! He has learned that regularly spritzing them a few times a day helps them to pitcher. He wants this one to open up real bad so he can give it a few drops of 2% milk and from there he wants to move on to a freeze dried pin head!

Haha funny funny. I use freeze dried flies from the petstore when the pitchers are tiny, once they reach large size I use freeze dried crickets. This pitcher as the largest flared peristome so far. I would like to find one that the peristome stays striped rather then all red, but I wont complain. It is one of my favorite neps. I have many nep hybrids that have truncata as a parent that look great also.

I don't know what your son paid for his truncata, but I got mine from Sunbelleexotics.com and wow is all I could say. I got it last summer and it has done quite well for me. While I don't usually plug vendors, Trent (the owner of Sunbelle Exotics is incredibly knowledgable when it comes to neps and has some great plants for sale). While is sale page is not all that big, if you look at the pictures of the neps he grows and you find one that you like, if you aks pretty please and he has one available he will sell it to you. He also has N. Viking available which I would love to get ahold of some day.

Lauren, I was wondering what your son has his truncata growing in? From the first picture it almost looks like an orchid mix, with bark and charcoal.


Wolf

This message was edited Dec 8, 2005 5:34 PM

This message was edited Dec 8, 2005 5:36 PM

I just ran upstairs and took a look. Here's my best guess. He's got that one in fine grade coconut husk chips, there's some LFS in there, and coir, and there's also a little bit of fir bark and it does appear he's got some sort of perlite in there. And by gosh by golly he did toss in a little charcoal. Looks as if he tossed in everything but the kitchen sink. The plants had just been watered and set to drain when that photo was taken which may have given the appearance that the mix had a lot of charcoal in it, it doesn't.

This plant had doubled in size from when he originally bought it maybe 6 months ago or so. I would have expected it to have grown more but maybe not. The pitcher you see is the first.

Well good for him, hopefully it will continue with its good growth. It seems to take forever for N. truncata's to form and then finally open a new pitcher, but it sure is fun to see what it looks like once it finally does.

Wolf

Are you serious? You call doubling in size and one pitcher good growth for a highland truncata? Are they slow growers or something? I guess I never bothered to go look them up. This plant was really tiny when he first got it so at least it is growing.

What do you think of his soil mix concoction? I don't think it is that bad now that I took a good look at it.

He's got his first pitcher on his N. spathulata x spectabilis which is now hanging in a pot over the kitchen sink. That plant seems to like its new location although the N. ventrata is merely marginal hanging from the ceiling in its new location and his brand new N. diatas that he has hanging and his N. ephippiata are not happy at all and I suggested a while ago that he consider moving them back where they were and he's holding out. One of these days those two are going to be dead. They just aren't getting the humidity they need and I suspect since they are now growing in different locations that he is forgetting to water those regularly. It takes time I suppose to get into a new routine. Here's hoping his plants survive but I think two are gonners already. I think he better consider swapping those two plants out for his beastly Judith Fin and that N. truncata x ventricosa. I think that thing had quadrupled in size since he bought it and I suspect both of those would take well to being grown as hanging plants. This is going to be one of those little learning curves for him. I've been watching those plants slowly decline and I've been commenting but he seems to feel they need a longer adjustment period. Hmmm, maybe he can use them for a dried flower arrangement? They really don't look happy at all.

Ahh, well the the truncata that I took a picture of is my lowland form. The highland truncata I have does seem to grow slower for me then the lowland form I have. Although the HL truncata was much smaller when I initailly recieved it so I am sure that has something to do with it. Well atleast if some of his neps die, he will then have a better idea at what plants he will be able to grow with the conditions he is able to give. It defiantly takes awhile to find out what plants you are able to grow.

I don't know about his medai for his truncata, if it is working then I would say stay with it. For me it seems a little on the dry side, for I use straight LFS but I also dont like to water to much, I sure it is fine just he prob has to water more then I do. I usually water my neps every 3 days.

Wolf

What's really sad is that those plants were fine before he hung them up. I know there is a problem with lack of humidity and I know the mix is dry but if he was watering them as he used to when they were in the other area, they'd probably be fine. It's going to take time for him to remember to go into other areas of the house to water the strays. He'll figure it out or else he'll be buying a few more plants next spring.

Ahh I understand, well trial by fire I guess. I should have plenty to replenish his supply by spring. I am running out of room as we speak. I need to to a lil trimming.

Wolf

You will have cuttings of N. diatas and N. ephippiata? Your plants are getting so big you are running out of room and you need to trim? Did you buy your new house next to a nuclear power plant?

The way I figure it is that both of those should be dead in under two weeks if he doesn't get rid of his stubborn streak. I'd take a photo but I think you know what Neps on their way out look like.

Nope I have no idea what neps look like on their way out, never had that problem.... :-)

Sorry should have clarified, I do not grow diatas or ephippiata so no cuttings there, but I will have N. coccinea, N. ampullaria, N. 'Red Leopard", N. thorelli X aristo, N. ventrata that all will need new homes in the spring.