...is much like raising crocodiles: before you decide on getting one, you gotta be aware that eventually they WILL outgrow the bathtub...
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Growing bicals...
- Thread starter Hans Breuer
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nice nice
I wish I could say the same.
2 years...8 inches now..
I wish I could say the same.
2 years...8 inches now..
I got the li'l one in the first picture for my birthday on 11/27/05. The last picture was shot yesterday, it's the guy on the left. I have a third bical in a pot the size of a toilet bowl; that plant experienced similar speedy growth last year. It suffered quite a bit last winter, but is now recovering, making its first pitcher now, but its stem is still as fat as my tumb (and that's a FAT thumb).
I used to credit the weather and the abundance of country bugs for the happiness in all my bicals (and over the last two years I've had quite a number coming through here) However, they all display similar freakish growth when caged in terrariums during the two winter months. Maybe it's the good mountain air after all....
Droseradude - did you grow yours from seed?
I used to credit the weather and the abundance of country bugs for the happiness in all my bicals (and over the last two years I've had quite a number coming through here) However, they all display similar freakish growth when caged in terrariums during the two winter months. Maybe it's the good mountain air after all....
Droseradude - did you grow yours from seed?
haha no...I got it like 4 inches from cook's.
The reason for its slow growth is probably because it's in a 5 inch pot...and I dont have room to repot it. so..its sort of a good thing that its small.
The reason for its slow growth is probably because it's in a 5 inch pot...and I dont have room to repot it. so..its sort of a good thing that its small.
Thanks for the nice comments, caballeros.
A 5 inch pot will provide you with a bonsai bical forever. If there's one Nepenthes species that needs room to grow (literally), it's our little fanged friends. The reason I use totally oversized pots for the bicals is that they never stay oversized for long. Whatever you give them, they'll grow into it before you can say "I need new greenhouse". Under ideal conditions, a 24-inch diameter plant in a 15 x 15 inch pot (width by depth) can become rootbound within a year. Trouble is, bicals HATE repotting, so I give them lots of acreage to romp in right from the start...
A 5 inch pot will provide you with a bonsai bical forever. If there's one Nepenthes species that needs room to grow (literally), it's our little fanged friends. The reason I use totally oversized pots for the bicals is that they never stay oversized for long. Whatever you give them, they'll grow into it before you can say "I need new greenhouse". Under ideal conditions, a 24-inch diameter plant in a 15 x 15 inch pot (width by depth) can become rootbound within a year. Trouble is, bicals HATE repotting, so I give them lots of acreage to romp in right from the start...
I have several bicals that seem to constantly be in a state of adjustment. I'm sure it hasn't helped that I've been adjusting my conditions a whole lot lately, but it's odd that it's taking them so long to get used to things.
Do you guys ever have this problem? Do bicals take a while to adjust, maybe moreso than other Neps?
Do you guys ever have this problem? Do bicals take a while to adjust, maybe moreso than other Neps?
JB_OrchidGuy
Cardiac Nurse
Hmm I have mine in a little pot now because its a small guy. I mean SMALL. Less tha 4 inches across. It took a hit adjusting when I got it from black jungle, but its growing. I think I will leave it alone till it is starting to grow good before I move it to a bigger pot.
Your Bicals are AWESOME. I can't wait till mine start to grow like wildfire. I enjoy larger plants. I will make the room for them
Your Bicals are AWESOME. I can't wait till mine start to grow like wildfire. I enjoy larger plants. I will make the room for them
So far I'm quite pleased with my baby bicalcs. When I got them in early April, they had a total leafspan of maybe 3" with pitchers less than 1" tall, and now ithey've both just put out a single leaf that's easily 4" long (the pitchers on those haven't developed yet).
What potting medium are you using? Pure LFS?
Mokele
What potting medium are you using? Pure LFS?
Mokele
Yes, I use pure LFS. The soggier, the better, what with them being Creatures from the Swamp and all.
I just got my first bical and its out on my patio in the Atlanta summer. It came growing in a 3" pot from Sarrencenia Northwest. I immediately put it in a 6" pot filled with LFS. Its been a week now and it hasn't croaked, and yet hasn't really grown. I'm taking this neutrality to be a step in the right direction -> I didn't immediately kill it.
I just got several bicals from that Sarracenia Northwest sale as well. They're all in different growing conditions, so we'll see how they do.
i was just wondering what humidity and temperature it is thriving in.?
elgecko
I've got a magic window!
My bical will be hitting the windowsill in a week or so. So I can not help you out yet. It is a south facing window.[b said:
I have to see how it like the winters as I keep my house on the cool side. As a side not I have a N. rafflesiana that I grow as a windowsill plant. It just slows down over the winter.