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Bomb proof nepenthes?

Does such a Nepenthes exist that would grow in a bathroom with a considerable amount of very bright indirect light and decent levels of humidity?  Air temps of 72-75 during the day and around 68 at night?
 
I can vouch for what I thought was a ventricosa but others say is a sanguinea.
 
N. ventrata
 
Looks as if N. ventrata has every one's confidence.

Oh nice thread you sent us to endparenthesis!  Thanks for pointing out that was there.  

So far I'm thinking N. rafflesiana, N. macfarlanei, N. sanguinea, N. maxima, N. truncata, and the most bombproof of them all... N. ventrata. Need to do a little bit more research now.  Looks as if this it totally doable in an all white bathroom with high ceilings, high humidity, and lots of mirrors. If orchids will make it in there, these should too.  Tee he, big huge jacuzzi tub for 4 in that room that we can fill up with water and let sit. Geesh, we rarely use it anyway so might as well get some use out of it.  That ought to raise the relative humidity in there!
 
NO khasiana! They can withstand frosts! They can grow as lowland or highland, they can withstand incredibly low humidity, and too low watering levels. They are indestructible.
 
I would be a bit sanguine about the comment that khasiana can withstand frosts. I think that view mostly comes from Michael Catalani's site, which says it is 'reputed' to survive them. The only khasiana I am aware of that experienced a frost died. Has anybody experimented on this one?

H.
 
N. khasiana in my expierience is quote tolerant to cold temperatures, but cannot tolerate drying out. It needs to be kept well watered in order to grow well.
 
  • #10
Appears we have almost made our selections.

Looks as if he is going to go with a highland maxima, a coplandii (a recent suggestion from a cyber friend), and either a khasiana or a fusca (another recent suggestion). We are looking at a highland alata and we are being gifted a ventrata from a member here.  We've got a birthday around the corner and a truncata as well as maybe a sanguinea and the macfarlanei may be in the cards.

Why is it that some people think a rafflesiana may not be such a great house plant?  We were looking at a rafflesiana gigantea and it seems to have really neat color and formation.  All of these plants will go in a bathroom and ultimately be repotted in aquatic baskets in an rochid bark/charcoal potting medium.
 
  • #11
[b said:
Quote[/b] (LauraZ5 @ Mar. 05 2005,6:18)]Why is it that some people think a rafflesiana may not be such a great house plant?

In my experience rafflesianas pitchers don't last long under low humidity (which I experience once a year in dry season). It does pitcher, but maybe only 1-2 at the same time. Your bathroom might be humid occasionally, but always?

Best, Volker
 
  • #12
We have two whole house humidifiers that are set to around 40% in the winter. That particular bathroom probably an average of around 60% normally because of the shower in there that is used daily for at least half an hour. We have a big tub in that room that has decking on either side of it in there. It is this decking that we have placed plants on. We don't use the tub so I filled it with water and let it sit. My guess is the relative humidity around those plants is pretty high although I have never checked it as I don't have anything to check it with. The one thing I can say is that orchids take off in that room.
 
  • #13
You could buy a submersible aquarium heater that you leave in the tub to heat the water that sits in it to around 80-90F. The water would evaporate creating a lot of extra humidity. Then you'd just turn on the faucet every once in a while to replace the lost water.
 
  • #14
There's so much water surface that I should be getting enough evaporation to increase the relative humidity in and around the plants without adding an auxiliary heat source don't you think? I'm not particularly comfortable with the idea of a submersible heater and the electrical cords that would be attached to it in a bathroom. I suppose it could be done but it would take whopper heaters as my guess is that tub holds at least 200 gallons as it has its own 100 gallon hot water heater.  We do have an "insta hot valve". I never thought of it but I could just use hot instead of cold when adding more water. Who knows, maybe I don't have enough humidity in there and need to set the plants in pebble trays in addition to leaving the tub full of water. On second thought, I have vaporizers for when the kids get sick. I'm wondering if I could turn one of those on intermittently if my humidity isn't high enough.
 
  • #15
I don't think you will have too much trouble with humidity. The plants may take some time to adjust but the one's your considering don't need it to be a steaming jungle. I am more concerned with the light level, since most Nepenthes really like it quite bright with even a little sun in the morning or late afternoon.

Tony
 
  • #16
Hamish, Dustin and all,
A friend of ours had his large N. khasiana get hit with a temperature drop to 30 degrees F. in Miami a few years ago (for only a few hours in the pre-dawn morning.) The plant survived, but looked like someone took a blowtorch to it. It took all summer to recouperate. Not a good idea to subject them to frost. Plan on major setbacks.
LauraZ,
We must concur with the opinions on the rafflesiana. For us, they do their best in uncomfortably muggy conditions, and humidity drops will wipe out the pitchers. Unfortunately, raff gigantea is even more picky. I put it in the same category as N. merrilliana, N. sumatrana, N. northiana: needing constant high humidity (80 percent plus) to do anything other than struggle to survive, much less get nice traps. These plants require conditions that make orchids sweat!
smile_n_32.gif

There's so many species that should work for you as long as light levels are bright enough (as Tony suggested).
 
  • #17
Hey guys, my cyber buddy is fixing us up with plants so we're good to go. We are ditching the raflesiana. Many thanks for all the reasons as to why it wouldn't make it here.  We have a few final decisions to make which should be done by Wednesday night and then we'll pretty much have everything we need.

The bathroom windows face nnw. The deck on the right side of the tub gets sun for several hours in the afternoon due to the angle of inclination.  There is also a vanity that gets some afternoon sun too.  All we need to do is move plants into the afternoon sun's path. That space is currently void now so it will actually be nice and cheery with plants on the vanity top next to a sink. Regarding the rest of the space, the ceiling in there is vaulted and there is a huge non standard window that is about 7' x 6' topped off with a decorative semi circle window that is about 7' by 3'. The walls are painted a white semi gloss and that room is beyond bright.

The Neps will be indoor only plants for the most part as to set them outside for the summer might mean they'd get way too much sun. I don't know but maybe we can cross that bridge this coming summer when night time temps are in the 60's for about 2 months while day time temps hit the high 70's and 80's.

Again, many thanks for all the suggestions.
 
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