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N. argentii cultivation

  • #81
I love this thread, so much good information. I have a little argentii coming to me this week so now I'm a member of the argentii club! :)
 
  • #82
Hello everyone. I can't leave be and am going try to help with a few considerations with growing N. argentii. In Oct 1996 a group of 4 of us were the first CP nuts to climb Mt Guiting Guiting and locate this sp, N. sibuyanensis, N. alata(?) and another unidentified sp. N. argentii only grew on the wind swept ridges at the near summit of the peaks. This was an area of very low shrubs under lined with deep thick moss. Most of these ridges were razor back and terrifying to cross in the wild winds that swept the ridges, often with out warning.
argentiisite-1.jpg

N. argentii grew under this low shrubery and the mature flower head would surface any where up to a metre away. The "vines" were like grass runners through the moss and shrubs and would emerge to flower. Very seldom were the pitchers exposed to the winds and were buried deep in the moss.
argentii3-1.jpg

In 1996 I attempted to formally describe and write this new species up as (N. bicristata) for the way the peristome continues up the throat of the pitcher and out along the under side of the lid. N. argentii and N. campanulata growing conditions are very far apart as with N. campanulata is semi lowland growing on and around the face areas of limestone hills.
argentii.jpg

To this day N. argentii remains the smallest of all the Nepenthers species.
When growing this plant so many people don't look at one of the most important requirements. Consider the soils of the mountain tops. Yes they are often composed of different mineral and matter structures, but in these altitudes the soils will keep stable low conditions. In the collections, Nepenthes are always grown in pretty coloured pots (esp black) which will have the soil temps fluctuating to the surrounding temps. All the ultra highland plants will experience different day condions to nights, but the soil will maintain a steady cool temp with very little variation.
Remember the size of the pot, especially as N. argentii is a small plant and is always kept in a small pot. I found when I grew this species and the other ultra highlanders, by keeping the soils cold, it was not a worry with the plant surrounding temps (within reason).
 
  • #83
Oh man..Paladin! Your information is probly the most valuable thus far! Thanks so much for sharing sir.
 
  • #84
Yes Paladin, many thanks for the information, it confirms some things I have been suspecting for a while regaring root temperature and pot size. Excellent habitat pics as well. :)
 
  • #85
Paladin thank you for your priceless contribution.

You are one of maybe three people I have ever heard of or seen pictures of that have hiked this mountain! You are very lucky.
 
  • #86
Well, it's been 9 months since this thread has seen any posts - time for some argen-activity.

I repotted my long-overdue AW N. argentii several months ago & thankfully, it never missed a beat - sending out new pitchers. As it gets larger, it also seems to hang onto more of them now. It has between 5-8. My much smaller BE plant continues to grow very - very slowly and only recently made a new pitcher. Hopefully this is a sign of more to come.

I left the plants in place because digging out the larger one is just too much of a pain and the chances of hacking off a pitcher are too great.

AW plant (top middle)


Thumbnails of various pitchers (click for larger)


The little BE clone
 
  • #87
Very, very impressed, Ron. How old is the Wistuba plant now?

I can't seem to locate the picture in his flickr account anymore, but the largest argentii I have seen in cultivation (even Stewart McPherson said it was larger than any plant he had seen in the wild) belonged to Andy Smith of the UK. Since so many people were questioning the cultivation techniques, he said he grew it in a basic, airy sphagnum mix in a net pot. If I recall correctly, nothing particularly unique or exotic about the requirements.
 
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  • #89
Very very nice plants Ron. I am so jealous. Unfortunately my N. argentii passed away while I went on vacation this Winter. :(
 
  • #90
Amazing plants Ron. Yeah! I lost both my argentii while I was away last year too. Its interesting..it seems the wistuba clone of argentii is a lot more robust than the BE clone. I have seen this in other collections too.
 
  • #91
Mine are plugging along, but I can certainly tell you thise, for once, BE has the inferior clone of this plant. Not only is thiers fickle, but it's, at least in my opinion, far less attractive in regards to pitcher shape.
 
  • #92
Thats probably because we haven't seen pics of its mature pitchers yet. This pitcher shape is typical for its age/size.
 
  • #93
Thats probably because we haven't seen pics of its mature pitchers yet. This pitcher shape is typical for its age/size.

I've seen pics of the BE clone as an adult, the pitchers are far more elongate, and the peristome and lid are completely different.
 
  • #94
Very, very impressed, Ron. How old is the Wistuba plant now?
No clue really since I didn't receive it directly - and their growth rates can be so non-linear -- how to tell? :scratch: My records show that I received it on Sept 10, 2010 (if that helps).

I can't seem to locate the picture in his flickr account anymore, but the largest argentii I have seen in cultivation (even Stewart McPherson said it was larger than any plant he had seen in the wild) belonged to Andy Smith of the UK. Since so many people were questioning the cultivation techniques, he said he grew it in a basic, airy sphagnum mix in a net pot. If I recall correctly, nothing particularly unique or exotic about the requirements.
I'm not remotely deluding myself into thinking mine is the largest out there. I know I read a thread on one of the forums where a guy has one that flowers regularly (iirc). I'm just very happy to see the plant progress from a little finicky wisp to a fairly robust grower that tends to keep its pitchers much longer. I was also amazed that it didn't miss a beat when I repotted into a larger pot - which reminds me -- when I repotted - one of the pitchers out of my normal view had buried itself into another pot. It was 1-2 cm below the surface and about 50% of the size of the normal pitchers - took quite a bit to dig it out without damaging anything.

Very very nice plants Ron. I am so jealous. Unfortunately my N. argentii passed away while I went on vacation this Winter. :(
You :0o: - the species biggest fan? Wowza. I can't imagine you took that shock all too well .... :headwall:

Mine are plugging along, but I can certainly tell you thise, for once, BE has the inferior clone of this plant. Not only is thiers fickle, but it's, at least in my opinion, far less attractive in regards to pitcher shape.
I've seen pics of the BE clone as an adult, the pitchers are far more elongate, and the peristome and lid are completely different.

Maybe Tony can shine some light here. A while back, I came across this pic in Dustin's TF photo album. Dustin said that it was Tony's plant. It 'appears' to have more teeth extending up onto the lid than others I've seen. I've been assuming it was a BE clone -- and this was one of the drivers which motivated me to trade for a non-AW plant. While the pitchers may be a bit more elongated, those teeth are very cool (imho). Either way - having some additional genes to potentially play with isn't a bad thing.
 
  • #95
I'm not remotely deluding myself into thinking mine is the largest out there. I know I read a thread on one of the forums where a guy has one that flowers regularly (iirc). I'm just very happy to see the plant progress from a little finicky wisp to a fairly robust grower that tends to keep its pitchers much longer. I was also amazed that it didn't miss a beat when I repotted into a larger pot - which reminds me -- when I repotted - one of the pitchers out of my normal view had buried itself into another pot. It was 1-2 cm below the surface and about 50% of the size of the normal pitchers - took quite a bit to dig it out without damaging anything.

Oops! Didn't mean for that to sound like I was comparing who has the larger plant. I just meant to address some of the questions earlier in the thread about cultivation. Another example of a plant that was grown well. Regardless, you're obviously doing a very good job.

As it turns out, that large argentii I was referring to is no more. Apparently it had a bit too much competition with a fern it was sharing the pot with. Sad, as it was truly a nice specimen.
 
  • #96
Its my next nepenthes :) Pretty amazing specie !

Thanks for sharing info in this thread, very helpfull.
 
  • #97
This is such an enigmatic and awesome species. There has been so little talk of this plant or any photo evidence of it being actually grown in cultivation for some time now. I am bumping this thread out of love for the species.

Where's everyone's N. argentii's at?? How are they doing? Where are the pictures? Tell me everything.

I know there is at least one person here who may or may not have just recently won a pitcher of the month contest with their little gem.... ;)
 
  • #98
I want to bump this thread up. It has been almost 2 years without updating and maybe more knowledge about how to succesfully grow N.Argentii has been collected. So come on guys, post your pics and tell your story :)
 
  • #99
Seed-grown Nepenthes argentii working on its second and third pitcher in my care.

 
  • #100
So this thing has grown quite steadily since I received it in June. Besides my obvious obsession with this species, something worth noting about this tiny plant is that it appears to be quite voracious already.



This is the most recent pitcher that it is developing, which as far as I can tell, is not open yet. Notice how there are no visible shadows in the pitcher.



You can see that the pitcher on the right, which is the oldest one it's made in my car, is full of something.



The pitchers in the middle and on the right in this photo also have lots of shadows inside the pitchers. The pitcher on the right is very recent, I wasn't even aware it was open but it seems to be.



Anyway, my guess is that they are tiny little soil mites that can't resist the tiny traps. None of my other larger Nepenthes seem to be filled with these.
 
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