Nepenthes 'Alata'

I couldn't believe it when I saw these plants for sale at the grocery store the other day. I also couldn't pass up the chance to get one....a belated birthday present to myself. lol Hopefully I can keep it alive.

Sandy

Here's a closer picture of the pitchers. The largest ones are about 6" long.

Oh what fun! I've got one over my kitchen sink. Hasn't pitchered since I bought it. All I'd have to do is add some supplemental light to get it to pitcher but I'm out of space and liking the foliage on the plant as it is although I must admit the alata I bought never looked better than the day I bought it with all the pitchers dangling off of it.

Happy belated birthday to you. Nice gift you chose too!

Very nice! My Neps are doing great this year!

Happy birthday too!

Thanks. Are they fairly easy to grow? A few of the pitchers are starting to die at the tops. I read somewhere that that's normal and that it takes about 3 months for the plants to acclimatize to their new growing conditions. Is that right? I have the plant hanging in the solarium where it gets lots of light. There is a shade cloth over the top. I've been moving it outside during the day when it's hot to get some cooler air. Should I mist it with rain water?

I was back to the grocery store and was surprised to see the other 3 plants still there. I thought they would have been snapped up.

Where I chose to hang my alata (which is a highland) ... it will probably never acclimate to the extent that it will produce pitchers. I'd have to move it to a more appropriate site where the air temps drop at night and/or provide it with more light where it is currently hanging. Like I said, I like my plant where it is without pitchers because of the foliage so that one can stay where it is. If it acclimates and pitchers great, if not... that's the way it goes until I have more space. Space is a commodity for me right now and the plant is healthy just not pitchering.

There are a few variants of alata. Your pitchers look different than the pitchers I recall on my plant when I bought it. I can't tell you whether you have a highland or a lowland variant of alata but maybe Tommy can. Both are supposedly easy to grow though.

The dieback you described is normal. The 3 month time frame to acclimate may or may not be normal for your plant but a lot is going to depend on which variant you have. I wouldn't bother misting it if it were my plant but I would add some rainwater to the pitchers. Pitchers don't produce their own fluids once the lids open.

As a rule of thumb, highlands like temperature drops at night to around 60F. Many can tolerate a temperature drop lower than that. If your day time temps are in the 80's why not leave the plant out 24/7 until fall hits?

There's a great site out there called Nepenthes University. You might want to check there for growing tips.

Here's a neat site I found looking for photos of different variants of alata-
http://www.nepenthesaroundthehouse.com/nalata.htm

Thanks for the information and website link. Mine doesn't look exactly like any of those. Hopefully it's a highland variety as the conditions I have are more suited to that type. I'm afraid to leave the plant out 24/7 as we haven't been having the warmest summer. The last few nights the temperatures were predicted to go down to 11C which is only about 52F. In the solarium the heater comes on if it gets below 13C. The daytime temperatures outside have only been 70F at the most the last couple of days.

I did put some rain water in a couple of the pitchers that were empty when I got the plant. I'll keep an eye on them and add a bit if the water evaporates too much.

Don't worry about liquid in the pitchers, the plant will make it.

Okay, thanks.

I only add a little bit of liquid to extend the life of them when grown inside. More so for aesthetics. If they were growing in situ, some rain would be getting into those pitchers. Your plant should make it without the addition of liquid.

Believe it or not, the air temps you described outside should be perfectly fine. It's temps over 90ish and temps below 50ish that get really iffie for many highlands but even then quite a few can take dips into the 40's for a few days. Mine certainly have. And also too, many people grow the variants of alata as if they were all highlands as was indicated at both of the sites mentioned above. I was actually talking to Michael Catalani of that Nepenthes University site getting lots of help with my new greenhouse and we got to talking about kids, pets, and plant problems and ended up laughing about my alata hanging over my kitchen sink. I'm convinced those plants are bombproof. You should see the abuse this particular plant takes! Cats sitting on the counter chewing on it, hot steam from pasta noodles rising up to it, kids shooting it with those sponge darts, and me forgetting to water it even though it is right in front of my face several times a day... I think you're going to be really happy with your birthday gift to yourself. The alata is the Mary Poppens of neps in my book... practically perfect.

That's a great relief to know that the plants are pretty bombproof. I'm really delighted to have found it and would be quite unhappy if I lost it. I think it will be happy in the solarium as there is a big difference in temperature between night and day. I might try leaving it outside. I thought that if it's been used to growing in a greenhouse that it might be a shock for it to go outside right away. I remembered to reset the thermometer I have outside that records the highest and lowest temperatures so I'll see what the temperature is getting down to at night.

Yes, you're right. It would actually be too much of a shock because I forgot you just bought it. Forget everything I typed... keep taking it in and out for a while. Oops.

Ohhhhhhh no, not all neps are bombproof. This alata is bombproof in my book though. I doubt seriously if you could kill that plant even if you tried swinging it around and banging it into a wall... which by the way has happened to mine because we slam it into the window behind the kitchen sink all the time.

lol That's okay. I think I will just keep taking it in and out of the solarium. The temperature was down to 50F last night.

I figured you were just refering to the alatas as being bombproof since I read that some of the nepenthes are rated as difficult to grow. If yours can take some slamming against the window then I guess mine should tolerate a bit of wind outside.

Tee he, wind should be fine. I'll be back in early September, please post some more pics of your plant when you get a chance.