Baby ventricosa humidity?

[curtisconners]

Good morning, terraforums. Yesterday I bought a baby N. Ventricosa from Lowe's and made a little terrarium for it to help maintain humidity. But I read online that ventricosa will tolerate low humidity, but mines a baby and it looks like it just started producing full pitchers. I even saw a protopitcher on it. In short, the plant's really young and I'm trying to figure out what it's humidity requirements are. Thanks.

 

[farmertom]

Hiya, since no one's replied yet I'll give it a shot- chances are your Nep is actually a ventricosa/alata cross, often called 'n. ventrata.' They usually turn out very vigorous and easy hybrids, and places like lowe's get em in by the pallet. Secondly, what a lot of people are discovering (and what is still hotly debated) is that most neps can actually acclimate to much lower humidity than has been thought- it's complicated, but if other cultural requirements are met, particularly temp and watering, your plant should do fine in the long run. Here's the catch: they take a while to acclimate. I've seen a similar Nep go a year without pitchering, and then suddenly take off- it's pitchers are now bright red, as big as my hand, drooling nectar, and last several months (hint: this one is slack potted and hanging in an eastern window). If you want to try and skip the acclimation period, higher humidity, bright light, and a nighttime temp drop of about 5-15 degrees F should ease it into your home. You can eventually and slowly adjust it to lower humidity. This is very general advice, and chances are there are some details I'm rusty on. TF is a great source of info, but a lot of times you gotta dig for it happy growing

 

[curtisconners]

No wonder my ventrata has hardly grown all winter. I really hope it's a ventricosa as I already have a ventrata. I took the plant out of the terrarium since I found something growing in the spagnum moss I used as a substrate. As I stated earlier, my plant looks like it's just leaving the seedling stage and I'm not sure if such a young plant could handle the lower humidity. It was a "death box" plant, hopefully, that gives you a basic idea about the size. Thanks for answering, activity on the forum seems really low this weekend.

 

[hcarlton]

I received my first Nepenthes from a Lowes, and it was in fact a red-form ventricosa; they can be found there as well. I would suggest that if you want to grow your plant in low humidity, acclimate it slowly to such conditions; with them generally being kept in the little death cubes humidity is high and moving them out will shock them terribly, possibly kill them depending on how thin-leaved they are. They can grow in very low humidity, but they won't pitcher well; mine lived for over a year experiencing less than 20% average humidity, but never pitchered in that time.

 

[curtisconners]

Ok, I'll dump out the bad sphagnum and put it back into the terrarium. Thanks for the help.

 

[farmertom]

What was growin in your sphagnum? Like mold? I got a batch online several months ago, and it now has two fir seedlings, some rybes, and a few more unidentified friends comin up. I kinda like em.

 

[curtisconners]

It looked like a bubble tip anemone (google that if you don't know what one is) that's all I can say about it. I wanted to see it grow, but I didn't want my ventricosa going into shock from sudden low humidity. So I dumped it and opted for paper towels instead. I'll probably try to grow another one, one day, when the little guy's out of the terrarium and in my backyard.