N. villosa fridge method

[mluk27]

Just wanted to share my recent experience with the method of putting your villosa in the fridge. I suggest to not risk doing it. I tried putting it in the fridge as people suggest because my nighttime drops were only getting down to the high 70s and with day time temps of high 80s-90. The villosa was doing fine just not growing. Member recommended to put it in the fridge to give it a nice temperature drop, since it wasn't getting cold enough. I threw it in the fridge and this is what happened.

Now my temps in the fridge are no lower than 48 and there are tons of variables here, since obviously it has worked for some people, but not me. My suggestion is just dont risk it, I know other people do this method fine, but Im making this post so this wont happen to anyone else on such a rare plant. In my experience its better to let the plant be than try and baby because even though the conditions it was growing in were less than ideal, it was still alive. I did nothing to that plant and let it just sit in its sealed cup and it did much better. Every plant that I try to baby never does well and the ones I dont, they acclimate and do just fine. Just some of my thoughts I would share with everyone. You may disagree, this is just my opinion.

PS: I grew this plant for 7 months with no problems

 

[Nepenthesis]

Darn, sorry to see that happen.

I really like the moss, do you know what kind it is?

 

[mluk27]

just normal sphagnum moss growing farther from the light so it gets less compact.

 

[mato]

Mike, try putting it in the oven to counter the effects of the fridge. I hear folks have great luck with that, too.


p.s., For those of you who think this sounds too snide, Mike knows where I'm coming from.

 

[swords]

Fridge temps should not be 48*F, milk is considered unsafe if stored over 40*F so there is something wrong with your fridge or thermostat if it's that warm. My guess is your temps are actually much cooler than that coupled with the fact the plant never had a temp drop before then suddenly a dip to possibly 38*F would be a big shock. My plants get to 40*F nights in the depths of winter but they are acclimated to it with 50*F in summer 45*F in late fall and 40*F in Jan.

 

[mluk27]

Good point Swords, this is why I wouldn't recommend this method because of there are many factors that can cause your plant to die, just like mine.

 

[swords]

Sorry this happened to you, maybe with luck it'll recover...

Also, the cold air in a fridge is dry and not humidified. In my particular fridge the fan is so strong if I put something like a steak or casserole in the fridge without a cover it turns hard and shriveled in a day or so, that kinda air blowing over your high humidity loving Nep would be bad news.

This is why I recommend using cold air from outside a window or from an AC output pushed through a duct into your grow area for the temp drops. It doesn't require moving any plants for cooling and the AC gets to 50*F or so but not any colder. Using outside air can get too cold if you don't watch the winter weather and close the window on super cold nights but better a tad too warm than below freezing.

 

[mluk27]

I had it covered, there was actually tons of condensation in the lid of the cup I had over it, but like you said it was probably much to cold . It would be nice if my A/C vents were in the ceiling hehe.

 

[mato]

As I said in the chatbox, Mike, it appears that the plant may have actually reached freezing temps. Looks a lot like vraev's plants back in the winter.

 

[kevnep]

Well ive had villosa in a tank with fridge components for cooling for a year and it worked great it even pitchered perfectly and increased in size. The only problem was that day temps were in the lowland range so i decided to move it into my gh with lower day time temps and less of a night time decrease and my villosa didnt like it and it sulked but now it starting to grow larger once again. I must say the one thing that villosa needs regardless of temps is very high humidity if you fail to provide that as in the case of a fridge you will shortly have one dead villosa

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Try not to take this personally but I wanted to respond because there are a number of warning signs here and hopefully others may learn from what you can see in just a single photo, and they will be able to spot a problem before it gets beyond fixing.
You are certainly entitled to you opinion but I want to point out that a plant that is in someones care for 7 months and "doing fine just not growing" ... isn't doing fine.

Did the fridge cause it? I doubt it so you can put me in the disagree camp

It did not freeze. Freezing would have occured to the moss as well and from the outside towards the inside. The leaf tips and growth point would have frozen first and they are healthy.
It clearly has rotted from the inside out and from the bottom to the top, hence the false healthy looking growth point.
The plant was struggling despite your 7 months of care. The leaves were getting smaller.. classic example of too warm for an ultrahighland plant.
The larger leaf with the pale color in the center and the greenish tip is also an indication of a problem with the plant and something going on with the stem.
Light levels look to be too little as well based on the spacing between the leaves. Perhaps trying not to get it too hot with lights? But this causes the plant to grow softly and more susceptible to disease. Low light also causes the plant to decline faster because it is not producing as much sugar as it can during the day which causes it to run out sooner during the warm night and basically start eating itself.

 

[carnivoure12]

Tony has confirmed what I suspected. the lack of growth, and smaller leaves of the few new ones that it did make, are indeed an indication of unsuitable conditions. 70F nights is just too warm for villosa's nightime needs, wven with a signifcant drop compared from the day temps.

Also, light seems to be an issue also as Tony pointed out. I stick to what i said earlier about it having declined eventually anyway.

However, I'm sure if you manage to give it more adequate temperatures and more light, it might recover. Freezing temperatures are unecessary, but just because they're tough doesn't ean you can throw it anywhere you want.

So if you can't find a way to give it night temperatures within its tolerance range (50-60F nights) then perhaps consider growing other nep that suit your coniditions much better. ften people use the excuse that they like it or want it to get a plant whether or not they can provide what is needed.

I know there are a lot of neps I can't grow that i'd really like, but they just get ugly and die after a while. There is nothing more disheatening than seeing a plant you like just waste away.

 

[Smitty]

Member recommended to put it in the fridge to give it a nice temperature drop, since it wasn't getting cold enough. I threw it in the fridge and this is what happened.....

I was this so called "member" with all the bogus information... The fact you went on to post a thread and put the blame on someone else's suggestion to try to save a sickly looking specimen that you so proudly brag you "grew" for 7 months makes me wonder why I wasted my time.​

If you pull up the private chat, which I can do for you, you can see I suggested you put it in the heated area of your fridge door...AKA the butter drawer or the crisper area. I never said slam the thing right into the fridge. Why would you not take proper temp measurements to see where the high and low maxes out within the refrigeration cycle? If you have a fridge that is 48 degrees...then you need to look into cleaning the coils off the back..or get another fridge. My fridge runs between 35-39 degrees. I would't be doing any placement of plants at those temps. Considering we talked about this the day before yesterday..that is proof alone you didn't do the homework or try any acclimation into this environment.​

The moss could barely survive...why would you think a UHL'er like villosa was going to thrive in upper intermediate conditions?​

I also told you to put that thing up in better light...but to gradually work it into the main footprint so you didn't shock it. Now if you toasted the plant instead..would that have been my fault too? Would there have been another thread flaming this so called "member"?

I was trying to be of help to you...not a martyr for the death of your plant mang. The fact is that you decided to pick and choose what information you wanted to use on the cultivation of this plant, and your decision not to give this plant the proper conditions ultimately ended in this result. Brush it off and grow some intermediates.

 

[mluk27]

Smitty: just to let you know I was not referring to you. I really appreciated your help and it was much more insightful, but you were not the only person to suggest this. My original post may have come off a callas but I was annoyed that I lost my plant. But what you and tony said is probably true and it was already declining even though I couldn't tell. I made this post just because I just dont think I'd recommend it because of the risk. Sorry if you took offense to this Smitty but I was not referring to you what's ever. I greatly appreciated your advice and I was taking it. I'm
Not blaiminf anyone else for the plant dying. I just said that it caused my plant to kick the bucket, but I'm kind of glad it did since it was a learning experience and I didn't sell or trade this plant to someone else. Idk, just wanted to clear that up.

 

[Dexenthes]

Just to echo what others have said it would appear that your plant was struggling to begin with and then the sudden and harsh transition to the fridge was too much for it to take.

I hope it can recover, but whatever your course of action is - make sure it is is consistent! Leave it one spot from now on and hope it can make a come back, though I'm not holding my breath.

I am sorry to hear about your plant. Stories like these are why I still have never tried looking for a N. villosa.

 

[mluk27]

I was hoping by summer to be able to do something about my hot weather, but I wasn't able to. Like I said in my first post though, this method didn't work for me, but has for other people. I just personally think after this that if you have to fridge it to give it the temperature drops, just don't bother with the plant lol. I don't think I will be trying this plant again, until I live somewhere where I can grow it better.