Anew neps on the way

[schloaty]

Hey Guys and Gals! I have purchased N. Merrilliana and N. Bicalcarata. I read up on them at the "Nepethes University," but I wanted to run this by you folks for some feedback anyhow.
I plan to put both in LFS.
Water the Bical like an amp (very wet), and just keep the Merri damp.
Both will be in my Lowland tank (temps around 80 degrees mostly. + or - 5 between day and night roughly).
I'm going to put both in deeper than usual pots....

How'm I doin' so far?

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Sounds good! Don't put a Merrilliana in a peat mix, I learned the hard way as it suffocates the roots in my expierence. I use a mix that is VERY open. I use a special orchid blend that is large charcoal,pumice,and orchid bark. I also tossed in some perlite and loaded the mix with sphagnum to clump it together. So far the merri's LOVE IT. You can let them go quite dry but not too much! Just water them when they feel they are going dry under neather the surface. The spahagnum really helps them pitcher. Also the Bical will be fine...depending on it';s size it will need a deep pot. Mine is 2 ft across in a foot diamter pot. In sphagnum. YOur temps are perfect, ncie and warm. Good luck!

 

[GEORGE-CP]

Read plants w/ attitude also. the Bical you can actually sit the pot in water all the time w/ no ill effect. that one is a water mongrual. also keep the temp sum what warm all the time. the other one i don't have but, from reading up on it. it does better in warmer condition and does not do so well if the temp. gets to cold.

 

[schloaty]

Cool, thanks for the soil tip, Nep G.
Thanks for the link, George. I'll check it out!

 

[swords]

Beware! Your bical will get big relatively fast! Mine is now growing against the lid of my 75 gallon fishtank and I've only had it for about 6 months. I got it in June sometime and had an accident with it in september. At the orchid shop near me they've got one with leaves 2 1/2-3 feet long each (plant is 5-6 feet across.
My leaves are roughly 16-18" long each with softball sized pitchers. It's a big un but really cool too! Even though I know how big they get I got another color form of Bical to go with this one. I'm moving all my lowlanders into a growing chamber I made out of a shower stall this week.

 

[mindmaze128]

Hey all

I'd just like to say that i have my 2 merrilliana plants in a mix of peat, charcoal, LF sphagnum, crushed clay pots, and sand. I water the plant when the top of the soil gets dry, and I haven't had problems yet. My only problem has been leaf spot due to cercospora fungus, but that's just on one plant, which has had the problem since I got it, and I'm just too lazy to mix captan up once a week.

hehe

I also keep my 2 merrs in bell shaped clay pots so that the soil doesn't stay too wet for too long. They look very nice there, it's just hard to move the pots around after I water them!

Jœl

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Joel, I wasn't saying peat is terrible but I was aiming to try to say don't make it peat/perlite mix it's just too compacted for a Merri's roots. And besides you have lots of chunky and airy things in your mix which is excellent for the species.